'Hitman Scam' Threatens to Kill Local Woman if She Doesn't Pay $10K

JACKSON, WI - A Jackson woman called the police to report that she was extremely worried and afraid about a text message that she had received.

According to the Jackson Police, the text message said a supposed "hitman" named Izola Curry was informing her "as a courtesy" that a "contract" had been taken out on her.  The message said she was being watched and shouldn't tell anyone or contact the police. To avoid being killed, the message advised her to wire $10,000 to the hit man's employer.

The Jackson Police department assured the woman it was unlikely that she was marked for death, and that it was a scam to steal her money.

An officer with the police department did some research and discovered that the sender's alias, Izola Curry, was the name of a woman who stabbed Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1958.