ST. JOSEPH TOWNSHIP (WKZO AM/FM) — Prosecutors in Berrien County say a love triangle and the insurance money were the motive for a murder plot that claimed the life of an Army Sergeant home for the holidays.
Army Specialist Kemia Hassel and another soldier Jeremy Cuellar were charged yesterday with first degree premeditated murder for the death of Kemia’s husband, Sgt. Tyrone Hassel III..
The prosecutor says the two were having an extramarital affair and their motive was to finance that relationship with the Army’s death benefit from her husband’s murder.
Investigators claim they plotted together but Cuellar pulled the trigger on Hassel on New Year’s Eve and then rushed back to Georgia.
The preliminary hearing for Kemia Hassel has been set for January 23. Her bond was set at $2.5 million bond with a tether.
Cuellar is in custody in the Liberty County, Georgia jail awaiting extradition to Berrien County.
