Shelby County Sheriff’s Office investigators Tuesday arrested Kimberly Dawn McGuffie of Columbiana for allegedly attempting to hire a hit man to kill her ex-husband.

McGuffie, 42, is charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry said information came to the sheriff’s office one week ago that a resident was searching for someone to commit a murder. Curry said the office then began working with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

“The Alabama Bureau of Investigation was very helpful in making available to us an undercover agent that met with McGuffie and in the course of that meeting and those conversations confirmed that that was the intent, to have her ex–husband killed,” Curry said.

Reportedly, McGuffie wanted the man to kill her ex-husband by putting drugs in his drink. When the agent met with her in the parking lot of a Calera shopping center, officers uncovered multiple drugs including methadone, morphine and Xanax. McGuffie also had drugs inside her vehicle.

McGuffie had been arrested Aug. 24 after a warrant was issue for her arrest on a third–degree domestic violence harassment charge. The event supposedly occurred at her ex–husband’s house in April. Curry said officials had not determined the exact motive behind McGuffie’s desire to have her husband killed, but think it related to the couple’s two children.

“Probably, it involved the custody of the children, perhaps a dispute between the parents about the custody of the children,” Curry said. “That was one of the motivating factors, whether it was the major one or not I could not address.”

Curry said although murder–for–hire cases are rare in Shelby County, this is not the first.

“I would certainly hope our residents don’t think in terms of killing someone as an answer to a problem,” Curry said. “The misconception that you can do this and get away with it … that is a failed concept.”

McGuffie is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a total of $545,000 bond.