CBS 12 News, May 2025
A Vero Beach man is under arrest in what authorities say is a murder for hire plot. This is just the latest of several south Florida murder for hire cases. According to a criminologist we spoke with, there are about 20,000 murders in the United States each year. Only a small percentage of those are murder-for-hire cases. But we’ve seen a number of them that’ve made headlines right here in our area. “This guy is an absolute animal,” said Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers, referring to Andrew Mustapick. Mustapick, 70, is accused of hiring a hitman to kill an underage girl he’s accused of having sex with multiple times. The goal–so she couldn’t come forward in court. “He’s willing to give him money to have her killed, or at least not testify is crazy,” Sheriff Flowers said.
What Mustapick didn’t know is he was being recorded on a hidden camera talking with an undercover deputy posing as a hitman. They also got video of Mustapick throwing his laptop into a river. Mustapick is just one of several people in our area arrested in murder for hire cases.
