BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- A federal grand jury accused multimillionaire Albert Schuholz Jr. of offering as much as $500,000 to have his estranged wife and her sister killed.
Mr. Schuholz, 66, of Crittenden, was indicted on three counts of traveling in interstate commerce with the intent that a murder be committed. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000 on each count.
The charges were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Covington. Arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 21.
Investigators previously said Mr. Schuholz met twice with a confidential informant to discuss a "hit." But the third meeting mentioned in the indictment hadn't been disclosed.
The indictment alleges that Mr. Schuholz left Cincinnati on or about June 25 and traveled to Kenton County seeking to have his fourth wife, Norma Schuholz, and her sister, Martha Schomaker, killed for $500,000.
The indictment also accuses Mr. Schuholz of traveling across the Ohio-Kentucky border to Campbell County on or about July 1 for the same purpose and offered an unspecified amount of cash and a car in return.
The final count says that on or about July 14, Mr. Schuholz returned to Campbell County for the same reason, offering a car and $5,000. FBI Special Agent Larry Adams testified last month that in taped conversations, Mr. Schuholz suggested using a knife to cut their throats and make them "bleed like stuck hogs."
Covington attorney Bob Carran pleaded not guilty for Mr. Schuholz at a preliminary hearing July 21 but said Wednesday that he is no longer representing Mr. Schuholz.
Mr. Schuholz, a retiree who investigators say apparently is involved in business investing, is being held in the Campbell County Jail. He was arrested July 17, two days after the FBI says he was notified -- falsely -- that the two women were dead.
The women and Mr. Schuholz were embroiled in a financial dispute in Boone County over more than $350,000. He said the money was his, but a judge disagreed and ordered that the women's corporation be allowed access to the money.
The new allegations have renewed interest by Sharonville investigators in a 1981 double slaying there. Police questioned Mr. Schuholz numerous times then in the beating and stabbing death of his wife of 16 years, Marie Schuholz, but no one was charged. Police also found the body of her roommate Starla Burns.
