Details of the terrifying plot have emerged. Credit: TheStewartofNY / Getty
Terrifying new details reveal a disturbing plot to kidnap, castrate, and murder Justin Bieber at his fame’s peak.
A jailed killer obsessed with the pop star reportedly masterminded the plan.
Dana Martin served two life sentences for raping and killing 15-year-old DeAndra Florucci in 2000.
From prison in Las Cruces, New Mexico, he plotted to kidnap and murder Justin Bieber.
Martin tattooed Bieber’s face on his leg and sent him several handwritten letters.
He failed each time to reach the pop star through mail.
On Hollywood Demons, former officer Edgar Pinon recalled disturbing talks with Martin.
“One morning, he asked to speak to me alone,” Pinon said.
“He immediately mentioned his Justin Bieber tattoo,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
“He kept going on about contacting Justin,” Pinon said. “Then he started telling us a disturbing story.”
Martin revealed he had sent two people to the East Coast with a hit list.
He recruited Mark Staake, a fellow inmate, and Staake’s nephew, Tanner Ruane, for the job.
Their plan started with killing a couple in Vermont before heading to New York.
They intended to abduct Bieber and his bodyguard during his Madison Square Garden show on November 28, 2012.
The plan collapsed when Staake and Ruane accidentally crossed into Canada on November 19, 2012.
U.S. Border Patrol officers stopped them and searched their car.
Authorities found shears and neckties — tools for the planned crimes, Pinon said.
In an interrogation tape, Martin admitted wanting to kill Bieber for fame.
“There’s these people I wanted to get killed,” Martin said, according to Daily Mail.
He confessed: “The whole point was killing Justin Bieber.”
“I’m a nobody in prison. I want Justin Bieber to know who I am. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
Martin allegedly planned to castrate Bieber himself using handheld hedge clippers.
Despite the severity of the plot, Pinon believed Martin didn’t truly want Bieber dead.
“In my opinion, Dana didn’t want to murder Justin Bieber,” Pinon said.
“He knew killing him meant no more music or updates about him.”
Pinon believed Martin craved recognition from Bieber more than anything else.
“He wanted Justin to know, ‘Hey, I’m here, I’m a huge fan,’” Pinon added.
After their arrests, authorities convicted Staake and Ruane of conspiracy charges.
In 2015, Staake received nine years for two conspiracy-to-commit-murder counts, served concurrently.
Ruane had been convicted on similar charges in 2014.
Authorities transferred Martin to New Mexico State Penitentiary in 2013.
He later bragged, “I completely got away with putting a hit on Justin Bieber.”
Bieber was only 18 during the plot and riding high on global fame after hits like “Baby.”
Hollywood Demons: Stalking the Stars premieres April 28 from 9–11 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max.
