Man Fakes His Own Death to Help Police Catch Wife in Murder-For-Hire Plot

A Houston boxing coach faked his own death to help police investigating his wife's murder-for-hire plot. He released gruesome photos of his supposed "corpse" to convince his wife she succeeded in having him murdered.

After Ramon Sosa found out his wife was offering $2,000 to have him killed, he teamed up with police to build a case of against his wife, Maria "Lulu" Sosa. Sosa told The Daily Mail that he found out about the plot because Maria asked a man named Gustavo to kill him, without realizing that Sosa and the man were friends.

Up Next: Woman Claims 'Sexy' Courtroom Outfits Turned Jury Against Her

"I knew him, because I'd coached him. He'd been in trouble in the past, but had turned his life around," Sosa told the Daily Mail. "At first, when he called and said he needed to see me, because someone 'wanted to kill me,' I thought he was joking."

Then, the two friends plotted to catch Maria offering money to have Sosa killed in 2015. They taped her talking about the murder and turned the tape over to the police. It turned out that his 43-year-old wife really wanted him dead.

"It was for financial reasons. The business was not as successful as it had been," Sosa said. "Gustavo told me she was clearly serious and had held her fingers to her head, in a gun-firing gesture."

After hearing the meeting, police came up with a plan to gather more evidence of the murder-for-hire plot. The FBI, Texas Rangers and local police staged Sosa's "murder" by painting blood on him and taking a picture of him in the Texas desert. Sosa also stayed in a hotel for three days after the staged "murder."

A hitman — who was really a disguised police officer — showed Sosa the photos. She later pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder and has been in prison since October 2016. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

More: Actors Who Have Been Charged With Murder or Manslaughter

"I think [the sentence] is fair for what she did," Sosa, who has three children with Maria, told the Houston Chronicle back in October 2016. "I'm just happy that it's over with. I've got to move on."

Sosa told the Daily Mail he is in a new relationship.