Arrest report details estranged wife’s suspected role in highway murder plot

By Brian Nordli

Published Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 | 11:19 a.m.

Updated Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 | 5 p.m.

Two men tried to kill Robert Bessey, 49, on Nov. 14 at 4:35 a.m. as he was driving south on Interstate 15 near Valley of Fire.

A gold SUV pulled up to his rear driver’s side window and a shot was fired, striking Bessey in the back of the neck, police said. Bessey was in the midst of a divorce with his wife, Amy Bessey, 32, of North Las Vegas. If he died before the divorce was finalized, his wife and children would collect $400,000 in life insurance and other benefits, a Metro Police arrest report said.

But Robert Bessey survived.

On Friday, Amy Bessey became the third person arrested in a suspected highway murder plot, joining her son Michael Bessey, and her brother, Richard Pearson, according to the report.

The report indicated the following:

At 3:30 a.m. Nov. 14, a Chevron store video surveillance placed Michael Bessey and Richard Pearson in the suspect’s car on the night of the shooting. Michael Bessey was arrested on Nov. 15 in connection with the shooting, and Richard Pearson was arrested on Dec. 12.

Michael Bessey’s cellmate, Tremel Palmer, claimed Bessey told him he was the shooter in the front passenger seat and had tried to shoot his father in the head. Palmer then said Michael Bessey told him they went to a diner to wait for Amy Bessey to pick them up.

Robert Bessey said both his wife and Michael Bessey had made various statements wishing he were dead, and that his wife had made threats to his life throughout the divorce. At one point, a witness overheard Michael Bessey’s ex-girlfriend say that Amy Bessey had offered her $50,000 to kill Robert Bessey on Father’s Day.

There were also accusations that Robert Bessey had a history of abusing Michael Bessey and Amy Bessey. Michael Bessey told police that his father had mentally and physically abused them, while one witness told police Robert Bessey had pulled a gun on Amy Bessey in the past.

Meanwhile, Robert Bessey said his wife and Michael Bessey also shared an “unnatural relationship,” and cited a letter Michael Bessey had written to her from the detention center that included the line “I miss touching you.” Michael Bessey’s former boss, a security guard at Treasure Island’s country-western nightclub, said he had witnessed Amy Bessey and Michael Bessey being “over affectionate,” and touching each other intimately.

Robert Bessey said Amy Bessey had called him Jan. 4 begging him to drop the charges, but he refused. Amy Bessey then turned herself in to police later that day.

Michael Bessey, Richard Pearson and Amy Bessey are all charged with attempted murder with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and battery with a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm, police said. Richard Pearson was also charged with violation of parole.