In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a teen wanted his step-father murdered. 'He gets on my nervous,' he wrote using the wrong word for his problem. 'I want him shot in the head execution style.'

In Lewisburg, Tennessee, a juvenile sought to have a family court judge murdered and decapitated, with the head placed on the judge’s lawn. 

And in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, a teenager wanted a 17-year-old kidnapped, tied up and raped.  

What these cases have in common: All three contacted a website called Rent-A-Hitman to fulfill their requests. They didn't realize that founder Bob Innes doesn't arrange actual hits...he prevents them.

And what those three – and dozens more – show is that in the past view years there has been a massive rise in cases of teenagers who are calling for the violence.

Innes estimates 35 percent of submissions come from minors. 

And he blames that on the Covid pandemic.

‘I absolutely saw a rise in juveniles contacting the site and I think it’s because they were left indoors, locked indoors. They didn’t have anything to do. They spent their time online.’ 

Innes deliberately made Rent-A-Hitman absurd, operating under the alias Guido Fanelli and advertising with slogans like: ‘You Got Problems? We Got Solutions!’

‘Let's face it, we've all had a relationship or two that you just wish would go away,’ the homepage reads. ‘Look no further and let RENT-A-HITMAN take care of the dirty work for you.’

Another section that should tip people off reads: 'Rent-A-Hitman is not affiliated with P-Diddy, Diners Club, the Las Vegas Raiders, the Illuminati, Joe or Kamala (individually or as a combo deal), Jake Paul, New Jersey drones, the Hawk Tuah girl, or the Minnesota Learning Center – no matter what Reddit, TikTok or your cousin says.

'We're not funded by grants, tax dollars, dark money or government "innovation funds". This operation is strictly old-school: out of pocket, espresso-powered, and legally nervous.' 

But there is a serious side to it. After receiving more than 10,000 requests over the years, he has found 211 request that he deemed credible enough to refer to law enforcement – and maybe prevent a murder.

‘Rent-A-Hitman isn’t just satire – it’s prevention,’ he told the Daily Mail.

Innes is no Jason Bourne. At 59, he is an IT specialist from Fairfield, California, who now works for a limousine company. He said that what began as a dark joke has turned into something else entirely: a clearinghouse for real murder solicitations.

Users must fill out a form beginning with: ‘What is the reason for contacting us?’ 

One young man wrote: ‘Hello there. Recently my parents have been complete jerks to me… I didn’t want to hire a lawyer because that would take a bloody eternity. So I came here.’

Asked how he wanted the victims killed, he replied: ‘Slow, painful and LUDICROUSLY BRUTAL!’

A young woman wrote: ‘My parents are abusive to me and i need them gone i cant take it anymore.’

Requested method: ‘Murdered with a silent gun.’

One submission, sent without punctuation, read: ‘I would like my sister dead… I was gonna go on the dark web but I need her beat the f**k up or dead.’

Another was even more blunt: ‘Kill my abusive f**kingass dad.’

Instructions: ‘Go to the bedroom and kill the fatass.’

Sadly, a handful of young people even ask to be killed themselves.

‘Honestly I’m so sick and tired of my life,’ one wrote. ‘Either I kill myself… or have someone do it for me. Please actually complete the mission.’

Innes created Rent-A-Hitman in 2005 after studying IT and network security, originally envisioning it as a tongue-in-cheek reference to network penetration testing – ‘hit’ being the keyword.

‘I did not expect anybody to pay attention to it,’ he said.

For years, the site sat dormant. When he eventually checked its email account, he found hundreds of messages from around the world – many asking basic questions like: ‘Do you operate in these countries?’ or ‘How much for this?’

At first, he assumed it was trolling.

That changed in 2010, when he received what he described as his first credible request – from a British woman stranded in Canada who wanted multiple relatives killed in an inheritance dispute.

‘Helen was the first red flag,’ he said. ‘The information was corroborating, and I couldn’t let it go.’

He reported the case to police and came to a realization. ‘A simple $9.20 website just prevented three murders,’ he said.

Since then, he has continued forwarding serious submissions to law enforcement, referring more than 230 cases involving both adults and juveniles.

While prank messages still come in – often naming cartoon characters or fictional targets – Innes said credible threats tend to include real names, addresses, deadlines, photos and even payment discussions.

What alarms Innes most is how easily serious intent can take shape online.

‘A juvenile no longer needs to know anybody in the underworld or have some elaborate plan,’ he said. ‘All they need is a device, a grievance and a willingness to cross the line.’

Forensic psychologist Dr. Joni Johnston said the dynamic reflects a deeper psychological shift.

‘The decision to hire a killer rather than be one is itself a tell,’ Johnston told the Daily Mail. ‘It represents what researchers call instrumental detachment – the reframing of lethal violence as a transaction.’

‘For a teenager, typing a name into a web form creates an ocean of distance between intention and consequence,’ she said. ‘The target becomes a data point. The murder becomes a service request. The killer becomes a “field operative". Language does the dehumanizing.’

Johnston added that parents often underestimate how serious these dynamics can become, particularly when teens are influenced by peers or romantic partners.

‘Sometimes parents don’t understand the seriousness of these relationships,’ she said. ‘It can be very tricky.’

In juvenile cases, the targets are often close to home, Innes discovered.

‘Control, discipline and resentment of authority are the number one reasons they want to kill their parents,’ he said. ‘Many juveniles describe their parents as controlling, strict or ruining their lives.’

Other motives include financial gain, emotional instability, abuse allegations and fantasies of independence.

The cases keep coming in. In July 2023, in East Brunswick, New Jersey, a girl sought to have her sister killed before later claiming it was a joke, prompting a police welfare check.

In Champaign, Illinois, a case took a different turn when a girl allegedly tried to frame her boyfriend by submitting multiple emails in his name. Police later determined he had been set up.

Elsewhere, requests have involved classmates, bullies and even doctors. In one case in Stockton, California, a juvenile allegedly sought retaliation after a fight, prompting Innes to flag potential gang connections after reviewing the target’s social media.

In Bensalem, Pennsylvania, a girl requested retaliation against a teacher – ‘to give her a higher grade or just murder her’. 

The pattern, he said, is consistent: online grievance, adolescent impulsivity and startling ease of access.

‘It’s like DoorDash for dummies,’ he said.

For all the absurdity of the site’s premise, Innes said many of the most troubling users appear not to grasp the seriousness of what they are doing.

‘They don’t think about the repercussions,’ he said. ‘What they type could ultimately have them in prison for years.’

He said he has no hesitation about contacting authorities.

‘I have had no guilt over making sure that people are unharmed and alive,’ he said.

He knows the disposition of some cases, but not all, as his communication with law enforcement usually ends after he sends them the information about people making threats he’s deemed credible. 

One case that particularly disturbed him involved Jasmin Paez, an 18-year-old Florida mother who allegedly wanted her three-year-old son taken ‘far, far away and possibly killed’ after a boyfriend told her ‘lose the kid'.

Paez reached out to Rent-A-Hitman in July 2023.

‘I was so pissed off that a mother would want to do this to her kid,’ Innes said.

Innes later testified in a hearing that resulted in the termination of Paez’s parental rights through the Miami-Dade Family Court. She is barred from talking to her child until her probation runs out in 2040.

The Paez case helped spur his effort to launch a nonprofit, From Threat to Thrive, aimed at intervening before threats escalate into violence.

The site also snared a wannabe hitman who fell for its 'careers' page. In 2023, 21-year-old Josiah Garcia, a Tennessee Air National Guardsman, pleaded guilty after applying through the website to become a killer-for-hire.

For Innes, the strange afterlife of Rent-A-Hitman has revealed something darker than he ever anticipated – a place where fantasy, rage and family conflict can collide with real-world consequences.

‘These are not just crime stories,’ he said. ‘These are often missed warning signs.’

And despite the site’s satirical branding, the takeaway is anything but a joke.

‘Not every website is safe just because it portrays to be,’ he said. ‘This is the perfect example.’