A New Hampshire court Monday heard audio recordings on which an 83-year-old woman accused in a murder-for-hire plot could be heard laughing and saying she wants her son’s ex-wife dead.
Prosecutors played phone calls between Pauline Chase and a hit man. The octogenarian mother and her son, 63-year-old Maurice Temple, both of Plainfield, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and attempt to commit murder.
Temple and Chase were arrested in late July after the prospective assassin, Mark Horne, went to the police, helped set up a sting operation and ultimately thwarted the alleged plot.

Chase is also heard on a recording saying of her son’s ex-wife, Jean Temple: ‘She is money hungry. I want to be rid of her and so do you.’
At another point, the elderly woman accuses Jean of making her son ‘miserable’ during the years the couple had spent together, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Horne asks Chase several times if she is certain she wants to go through with the plan.
‘We’re talking dead dead. She’s going to be gone,’ the hit man-turned-informant tells Chase.
On one recording, a mirthful Chase is heard talking about ways to dispose of Jean Temple’s body after the killing and inquires of Horne, ‘Got a meat grinder?’
She then asks several times if her former daughter-in-law would be dumped in the ocean.
Maurice Temple’s lawyer argued in court that his client was not part of his mother’s plan until the hit man persuaded him to get on board.
In one taped conversation, a wary Temple asks Horne if he is wearing a wire, which the latter denies, and expresses concern that if anything happens to Jean, the suspicion would fall on him.
‘This could be a set up,’ Maurice tells his mother and Horne, according to Valley News. ‘I don’t want to go to prison.’
The octogenarian and her son are being held on a $1million bail in what’s believed to have been a murder-for-hire plot in New Hampshire.
Pauline Chase, 83, and Maurice Temple, 63, were arrested in July and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and attempt to commit murder.
The two Plainfield, New Hampshire, residents are scheduled for court appearances Friday after an investigation into their allegedly hiring a man to kill Temple’s ex-wife.
Both the mother and son are being held on a $1million bail and are prohibited from having any contact with each other, officials said.

According to court documents obtained by Valley News, the mother and son duo who live together had ‘multiple conversations’ with a man, identified as Mark Horne, about killing a woman named Jean Temple.
Each now need $1 million apiece to make bail on conspiracy and attempted murder charges stemming from the alleged plot to kill Jean Temple, Maurice’s former wife.
Earlier in the week, Maurice Temple told police he would only leave his home “in a body bag” when they came to arrest him on a separate matter, according to legal filings.
Authorities said that Maurice was in the room when Chase gave the man about $5,000 cash as a ‘down payment’ for killing Jean, who was later identified as being Chase’s former daughter-in-law.
The mother-and-son duo also offered Horne additional incentives, including property, to carry out Jean’s murder, and Maurice repeatedly checked Horne to make sure he wasn’t recording their discussions, according to the Boston Globe.
WMUR reports that Maurice and Jean have been fighting over an $18,000 debt he owes her, stemming from their divorce. In early July, Maurice was arrested and put in jailed after he failed to make court-ordered payments to Jean. Maurice runs an excavation and snowplow business.

Pauline Chase,appears in a wheelchair during her probable cause hearing in Claremont District Court on Monday. 

Maurice Temple’s lawyer argued that his client, seen in court was not part of the murder-for-hire plot which was cooked up by his mother, on her own

Maurice Temple and Pauline Chase, waived arraignment Friday afternoon in Claremont Circuit Court. Neither entered any plea. Chase, who like her son listened to the proceedings via video conference, said “she’s the one that needs to be arrested” when Jean Temple’s name was mentioned in court, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.
They are facing three charges each, Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway said Friday: conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and attempt to commit murder.
The arrest followed an investigation that included the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, State Police Troop C and Major Crime Units, Plainfield police and the Sullivan County Attorney’s Office.
Hathaway said the arrest affidavits, which detail the allegations, will remain sealed for now as the investigation is continuing.

‘She’s the one that needs to be arrested,” Pauline Chase, 83, blurted when the name of the alleged target of the murder-for-hire plots was read in court Friday, July 28

The murder-for-hire discussions allegedly took place between June 20 and July 27.
The state police crimes unit, the attorney general’s office’s drug task force and the Sullivan County attorney’s office were involved in the investigation.
Details on the allegations haven’t been released.
During a probable cause hearing, prosecutors played phone calls between Chase and Horne could be heard laughing about the murder plot
When discussing ways to dispose o the body, Chase is heard asking Horne, ‘Got a meat grinder?’
Maurice Temple’s lawyer argued in court that his client was not part of his mother’s plan until the hit man persuaded him to get on board. Prosecutors said Maurice was in the room when Pauline Chase gave the man about $5,000 cash as a ‘down payment’ for killing his the mark, who was later identified as being Chase’s former daughter-in-law.
Plainhfield police said they couldn’t comment on the case which was described as ‘still fluid’ and the investigation as ‘active.’
During Friday’s arraignments, prosecutors said that Horne himself tipped them off about the murder plot.
Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway said his office do not expect to charge anybody besides Chase and her son in the murder-for-hire plot, noting Horne’s cooperation.
As the investigation is ongoing, further details of the arrest affidavits are being kept sealed, reports the New Hampshire Union Leader.
A cash-only bail of $1million per person was set for Chase and her son. A condition of bail is that neither of the two can contact either Jean or anybody in her immediate family.
Mother and son are due back in court on August 7 for a probably cause hearing.