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    Man wanted murder to look like bear mauling

    MALONE, New York (AP) — A man who had abused his ex-girlfriend and then plotted to kill her and make it look like she had been mauled by a bear was sentenced to prison for trying to hire someone to kill her in a staged car crash.

    Clyde Gardner gave up on his first idea: Kill a bear, skin it and wear the pelt while using its claws to kill the woman as she took out her garbage. The plan included him wearing the bear's paws on his feet so no human footprints would be left behind.

    Prosecutors said the 57-year-old junkyard owner had carefully watched his ex-girlfriend's movements, hiding in the woods with binoculars to learn her routines after she kicked him out of the house they shared in Malone, near the Canadian border.

    When he abandoned the first plan, Gardner approached a friend and gave him a picture of the woman, her auto license plate number and $500 toward a $15,000 bounty to kill her in a car crash.

    Gardner, an experienced demolition derby driver, advised the man how to make it look like an accident. He also told him that if the crash didn't kill the woman, he should take a piece of broken glass and slit her throat, Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crawford said.

    The acquaintance went to police, who sent him back wearing a hidden recorder to get Gardner on tape talking about the grisly plan.

    Gardner said at sentencing Wednesday that he was drunk and was going to call off the hit once he sobered up and realized what he had set in motion.

    He and the woman had been together about five years and had a child, but it was an abusive and violent relationship, prosecutors said. The woman repeatedly broke up with Gardner and kicked him out on Sept. 25, 2010.

    The case was scheduled for trial in July but Gardner took a plea deal. His lawyer, Peter Dumas, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

    Gardner was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison and will have an order of protection preventing contact with the woman until 2031.

     

    649 comments

    • BRENDA L  •  7 mths ago
      It is really incredible to what lengths some people will go to in trying to kill another person. This man hiding in the woods with binoculars, watching her every movement, without her knowledge must of had a lot of time on his hands!! Now that is scary, and to think they have a child together.
      • Julian 7 mths ago
        No wonder she kicked him out. Sounds like it was long overdue.
      • Neil 7 mths ago
        cops do NOTHING about stalking unless you have a death threat on your answering machine.
      • KendraB 7 mths ago
        would have been funny if he would have been in his lil bear suit,hiding,waiting for her and a REAL bear came after him........that would be ultimate karma.
    • sassysue12  •  7 mths ago
      Abuse anyone is a crime in the first place. I don't care if it is man or woman that does the abusing. I was abused for years by my ex. he spent more time in jail for abusing me then we were married. This guy is an idiot if he thought he could get away with it.Bear attack, gimme a break. This is one will go down on Spike Channel as stupid idiots.
      • One Eyed Jack 7 mths ago
        Something in your nature asks for abuse. Look, you're watching the Spike channel? Normal people don't even stop to watch those shows and yet you do.
      • Who Me 7 mths ago
        Sassy you should take lessons from my ex sister in law. My brother came home drunk one day and hit her. She waited till he passed out and then took the drain hose off the washing machine, rolled him in the bed sheet and wore him out so bad he ended up in the hospital. My brother never hit another woman in his life.
      • KendraB 7 mths ago
        ha!ha!!i like her!!!!!
    • L Bear  •  7 mths ago
      On a serious note, LOVE is caring for your wife and child as much as caring for yourself, Love does not allow affliction.
      If a child sees his father treating his wife with respect and dignity, his son may well grow up to treat women with dignity and respect. Not only are boys’ attitudes affected by their father’s example but girls’ views of men may be influenced by their father’s example.
      • RobertN 7 mths ago
        I can't agree with the influence scenario. I am the adult child of two abusive alcoholics who both smoked about 3 packs of cigarettes a day. Neither my kids or my grand-children will ever see me drink or smoke. My wife of 41 years would testify that these statements are factual. I broke that cycle because I wanted to.
      • L Bear 7 mths ago
        I used the word "may" meaning there is a great risk. You Sir are the "poster child" of those who made a sincere effort not to be like your abusive parents.
    • silentpurr  •  7 mths ago
      Thanks to the "acquaintance" for doing the right thing. this man needs his head examined.
    • huge1  •  7 mths ago
      glad this guy never took up brain surgery
    • legalize420  •  7 mths ago
      He should have combined the ideas.He could have hired the hit man to dress up in a bear's pelt and then plow into her car.It would be less supicous because most bears aren't good drivers.
    • Houston  •  7 mths ago
      Hey there Boo Boo, kill my Ex and I'll give you a pic-a-nic basket
    • Paul  •  7 mths ago
      he was known to have repeatedly hit his head while swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool.
    • scotth  •  7 mths ago
      Was it a "grisly plan" or a "grizzly plan"?
    • skipjackk  •  7 mths ago
      Instead of a bear suit, he should have dressed up as an intelligent guy. THAT would have fooled everyone!!
    • Sig-P226  •  7 mths ago
      "Kill a bear, skin it and wear the pelt using it's claws to kill the woman as she took out the garbage".
      WOW that’s a lot of work just to leave your girlfriend, wouldn’t have been easier to just to leave?
    • r  •  7 mths ago
      If he hated her that much, why not just move on. What a sicko.
    • American Sheeple  •  7 mths ago
      He is a professional idiot.
    • dscjr  •  7 mths ago
      And they call people in the south rednecks...geeez.
    • cri  •  7 mths ago
      I say dress him in that bear suit and put him in a cage with a real grizzly. Let the best bear win.
    • Zeus  •  7 mths ago
      You got to be kidding. LMAO! Skin a bear ..... ???????? God, I'm rolling on the floor!
    • FelixtheMetalcat  •  7 mths ago
      Nice move Clyde.....this sounds like something straight outta Hollywood. Now what woulda been funny is if he had gone thru with the bear skin wearing plan, someone saw it, & SHOT HIM !
    • Paul  •  7 mths ago
      which is more ridiculous, the bear suit plan or the "protection order" ? LOL
    • AnyPartyBut...  •  7 mths ago
      Wear a bearskin?? Sure, that would have fooled her.
    • Mayu  •  7 mths ago
      A bear might show more love towards his ex than some of these people. If people planned their lives half as much as they plan murdering others they would live a good life.
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