Charges: Army officer claimed he hired hit man to kill wife, boss

Pierce County prosecutors have charged an Army officer accused of hiring a hit man to kill his estranged wife and his boss.



Lt. Col. Robert E. Underwood, 46, has been charged with three counts of felony harassment for allegedly targeting his boss, his wife and his girlfriend.



According to the statement of probable cause, Underwood, who is in the middle of bitter divorce proceedings, told one of his daughters "going to do something crazy and it would be on the news, the world would know about it and he was going to resign his commission."



The allegations first surfaced when Underwood's girlfriend contacted his wife earlier this month and told her Underwood was "on edge" and threatening to kill his wife and his boss. He claimed to have paid a man $150,000 to kill the pair, and added he had used foreign accounts to hold the funds so as not to leave a trail, the woman said.



Underwood's girlfriend also said she had seen on his laptop a photo of his teen daughter, naked and sleeping. The man had also searched the Internet for information on "how to to get teens drunk and have sex with them," the statement said.



The woman said when she confronted Underwood about what she had found, he told her "her head was on the chopping block." The woman felt Underwood's words were a credible threat.



Underwood's estranged wife told investigators the man has "nothing to lose" and has "an arsenal of weapons" as well as the "ability to save the $150,000 and hide it."



Investigators contacted Underwood's employer, who had him undergo an involuntary mental evaluation. Underwood had been deployed multiple times, but military officials determined he does not suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.



However, investigators did add that Underwood, as a young child, "witnessed his mother kill his two siblings," and was himself shot multiple times by his mother, who left him for dead, the statement said.



Underwood was arrested on Monday night, and remains in custody.