http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=8&recordid=1358&returnurl=index.asp%3Fpage%3D8%26pagenumber%3D1%26pagesize%3D300%26deptid%3D%26archive%3D0%26sl_month%3D12Hune 22, 2009
SANTA ANA – A mother and her son face trial today for conspiring to have her third husband murdered to save money by not paying for his cancer treatments and to financially profit from his insurance and 401k death benefits. Sandra Jessee, 58, formerly of Placentia, and her son Thomas Dayton Aehlert, 39, Gold Canyon, AZ, are charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder for financial gain and one felony count of conspiracy. If convicted, both defendants face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Opening statements are expected to begin this afternoon, Monday, June 22, 2009, at 1:30 p.m. in Department C-34, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
In the spring of 1998, Sandra Jessee’s third husband of 15 years, 56-year-old Jack Jessee, was diagnosed with cancer. Sandra Jessee wanted to move to Arizona, where her co-defendant adult son from a previous marriage, Aehlert, had recently moved. The victim did not want to leave California, where his adult children all lived.
Between June 1, 1998, and July 1, 1999, Sandra Jessee and Aehlert are accused of conspiring to hire a hit man to murder Jack Jessee for financial gain. Sandra Jessee is accused of wanting to have the victim murdered
because she didn’t think that all of his cancer treatments would be covered by insurance and she did not want to deplete their retirement savings. **************
The woman arrested was a neighbor of a friend of mine.