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In an unexpected turn of events, a hired hitman chose to save a life rather than take it.
Aaron Wilkinson, a resident of Kentucky, found himself in a precarious situation while searching for drugs in a rough Charleston neighborhood in early April 2013. His erratic driving caught the attention of law enforcement, leading to a traffic stop, as recounted in Oxygen’s Dateline: Secrets Uncovered.
Wilkinson, eager to cooperate, admitted to the officers that he was operating the vehicle with an expired license and was a convicted felon. However, it was his subsequent revelation that truly captured their interest.
While officers discovered a loaded revolver in his car, Wilkinson, accompanied by his wife and dog, was seated in the back of a patrol car when he confessed a far graver intention: he had been contracted to commit murder.
Reflecting on his decision to come clean, Aaron stated, “I just felt like it was a good time to just get what I knew out in the open.”
Charleston’s Nancy Latham Targeted in Hit Plan
The target was Nancy Latham—now known as Nancy Cannon—a successful real estate agent and trusted member of the South Carolina Lottery Commission. Nancy’s husband Chris Latham was the city’s highest paid banker and, for a time, the couple enjoyed life as members of society’s elite.
Yet, by the time Aaron had been stopped by police, Nancy and Chris, who shared two daughters, were going through a bitter divorce and were just days away from a court hearing.
Back at the station, Aaron told officers that his friend Samuel “Sammy” Yenawine had enlisted him in the plot to take Nancy’s life. The two had met in prison while Aaron was serving time for forgery and Sammy serving for killing a man—in what he alleged was self-defense—and then setting fire to his own home.
The two men continued their friendship after they were released and, according to Aaron’s account, he initially believed he was heading to Charleston on a road trip with Sammy to buy drugs, then later learned they’d been hired to kill someone.
Investigators Find “Hit Packet” With Photos, Instructions
Aaron—who insisted he was “just not violent”—hesitated, but ultimately agreed to just ride along in exchange for a large sum of cash. He told detectives that during the trip they met with a woman—later identified as Sammy’s ex-wife Wendy Moore—to collect a “hit packet,” including a map, instructions and photographs of their target.
Wendy, who once worked as an exotic dancer, was then working as Chris’ executive assistant and had started a romantic relationship with her boss.
Wendy allegedly gave Aaron and Sammy a deadline to carry out the murder, coinciding with the upcoming court hearing. However, the trip fell apart when Sammy got into a fight with his girlfriend and had to return to Kentucky. For Aaron, however, he feared he knew too much to be able to safely walk away, so he agreed to return to South Carolina to carry out the hit on his own. At the same time, he said, he was hoping to figure a way out of the predicament.
That opportunity presented itself when Aaron got stopped by police. Although surprised by his story, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, now assisting with the investigation, went to Aaron’s hotel room and found the hit packet just where he said he’d left it.
“It included, you know, her age, her car, her license plates and also how she came and went from her neighborhood and what grocery store she shopped at,” remarked Joseph Boykin, a Senior Special Agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “It even gave the killers a way to access her house undetected to commit the crime.”
Now fully cooperating with investigators, Aaron agreed to record Sammy discussing the plot. During the call, after Aaron claimed it was hard to get her alone, Sammy even instructed him to kill anyone who may be with Nancy.
Nancy Latham Learns She Was Target of Attempted Hit
Knowing Nancy’s life was in danger, investigators went to the house to notify her and her youngest daughter Madison of the plot and safely usher them into hiding.
Nancy was particularly unnerved after seeing the last family picture the Lathams had ever taken together at a Japanese steakhouse inside the hit packet. It had been ripped in half so that the photo only showed her and Madison.
“It felt like somebody had kicked me in the stomach,” Nancy remembered. “Essentially saying, these are the two people that are going to be in the house, do whatever you have to do.”
From the beginning, Nancy believed her estranged husband Chris was behind the plot, but investigators would have to prove it.
Meanwhile, Wendy was captured in surveillance footage trying to buy a prepaid phone and was seen at the hotel where she had rented a room for the two hitmen. Traffic cameras and cell phone triangulation data also put her at the spot where Aaron insisted they’d been given the hit packet. Investigators even found receipts showing money she’d sent to Sammy, using a fake name, and evidence that she had used her work computer to look up and print items found in the hit packet.
Aaron, Sammy and Wendy were all taken into custody.
Wendy Moore, Chris Latham Deny Role in Planned Hit
In an interview with Dateline’s Keith Morrison, Wendy insisted she had nothing to do with a plot to take Nancy’s life, adding that she was only giving Sammy money to purchase a car for their oldest child. She claimed she’d rented him the hotel room and given him the phone after he had lost his own.
“I never set anybody up for murder,” she insisted. “I never paid anybody money to murder someone.”
Wendy did admit, however, to having a romantic relationship with Chris.
“I really got to know him as a person and how sweet he was and how, I mean, kind,” she said. “Chris has a good faith in God too, and that means a lot to me.”
Chris also confessed to the romance but denied wanting his estranged wife dead.
While Wendy was in jail, the two shared steamy phone calls, pledging their undying love.
Chris told her, “I can’t wait to ravish you” and promised she’d be home soon.
But, behind the scenes, investigators were working to build a case against Chris too. They learned that on the day Sammy and Aaron went to Charleston, Chris had done searches on his computer for maps of Nancy’s residence, then printed them from his computer. Those same maps were discovered inside the hit packet, tying him to the plot. Phone records showed he’d also taken a photo of his wife’s vehicle that was included in the packet.
“That was significant because that was one piece of evidence that came directly from Chris Latham,” ATF Agent Bobby Callahan explained. “That couldn’t have originated from any other person.”
Chris was arrested on Aug. 6, 2013. He argued to Dateline: Secrets Uncovered that he’d been gathering information for his private investigator as part of the divorce process and said he “never saw” the hit packet until his arraignment.
He added, “I’m saying Sam and Aaron Wilkinson did this on their own.”
Nancy Latham Offers Forgiveness
Sammy died by suicide before the case went to trial. Meanwhile, Wendy was found guilty on charges of solicitation and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. She was released in 2021. As for Chris, he was found guilty of one count of participating in a murder-for-hire and sentenced to 10 years. He was released in 2022.
The night before Aaron was sentenced to four years in prison, Nancy went to see him in jail, thanking him for saving her life.
“I have prayed for you,” she told him. “I wish I could do something other than to tell you, thank you, but it’s just, there’s nothing else. I mean, you saved me. You saved my daughters, and I’m so appreciative.”