When Terry Thomas’ long and messy divorce from Cynthia Guy was finalized in 2014, he was eager to move on with his life. However, his ex-wife had sinister plans that nearly ended his life.
The businessman from Wyoming has come forward for the season premiere of Oxygen’s true crime series “Murder for Hire.” The new show, from executive producer Dick Wolf, of “Law & Order” fame, explores the dark world of contract killings, highlighting some of the most shocking murder-for-hire cases ever caught on tape from across the country.
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Guy, a Central Wyoming Counseling Center therapist, was arrested and charged in 2014 with solicitation of first-degree murder after she asked one of her patients, whom she believed might have gang connections, to arrange for the murder of Thomas and make it look like a suicide or robbery gone wrong, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
The patient acted as a confidential informant for the police and a Division of Criminal Investigation agent posed as a hit man named Frankie.
Thomas, along with investigators associated with his case, including the undercover agent, participated in the docuseries.
Thomas told Fox News he was initially hesitant to relive the horrifying incident for the series, but eventually felt his experience could help educate others and make them aware that anyone could have easily been in his shoes.
“I wanted to let other people know what can happen and how bad things can get really go beyond most people’s wildest dreams — certainly mine," he said.
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But life with Guy wasn’t always terrifying. Thomas first met her through an online dating site in 2004 and the relationship moved quickly. After seven months of dating, the single parents looking for love tied the knot. While Thomas worked as a successful businessman, Guy secured a position at the counseling center, where she treated patients with addiction problems who had been court-mandated to get clean.
“It was a roller coaster,” recalled Thomas. “It started out as most marriages do. You’re in love, you don’t think things are ever going to be bad. But I guess fairly quickly, I saw changes. I guess the best way to describe it really is a roller coaster. It went up and down all the time. Unfortunately, there were probably more downs than ups after a while.”
Thomas claimed that his wife started behaving like “Jekyll and Hyde” and would immediately snap for no apparent reason. The marriage further deteriorated when Thomas found a job nearly three hours away. Guy had no intention of moving with him.
“The relationship became a shouting match on the phone every night,” said Thomas.
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Thomas said he reached his breaking point in 2012 filed for divorce. According to the show, Thomas received a majority of the couple’s real estate assets. While Guy attempted to appeal the divorce decree, it was finalized by the Supreme Court of the State of Wyoming in 2014.
Looking back, Thomas said Guy gave a warning sign of what was to come.
“Before I filed for divorce [two years prior], she made a very odd comment,” he claimed. “She actually said at one point, ‘I’m going to kill you or have you killed.’ Everybody at some point gets angry. A lot of people spurt out ‘I’m going to kill you.’ But 99.9 percent don’t mean it. It’s just something said out of anger that most people in no way intend to follow through.”
“The way she said it, ‘I’m going to kill you or have you killed,’ struck me a little bit differently,” continued Thomas. “I actually went to a safe house here in Cheyenne and requested at that time an order of protection, but could not get it because they said no judge would issue an order of protection or a restraining order based on words alone. Since she hadn’t done anything, there was nothing anybody can do.”
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In the show, it was revealed that Guy approached one of her patients and asked if she knew someone from the “Mexican mafia” who could arrange Thomas’ murder. Stunned, the patient lied and said she had a cousin who could commit the deed. She then contacted police, prompting a weeklong investigation.
The FBI showed up at Thomas’ door with the devastating news.
“I was shocked,” he admitted. “… My gut instinct was that she had made up some horrific story and accused me of something heinous. I actually said to him… ‘What did that crazy b—— do now?’ I was speechless. How can you possibly feel when you find out somebody actually had a hit out on you?”
Even though the FBI helped Thomas go into hiding, he was still frightened. It turned out Guy had contacted more than one person before the patient agreed to help.
“We didn’t know if there was more out there,” he said. “I wasn’t relieved just knowing they’re on to her.”
Hidden cameras showed Guy, who agreed to pay $4,000 for the hit, not only met up with the supposed assassin but showed the undercover agent how to enter Thomas’ home discreetly.
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“You get one shot,” Guy ordered the agent, calling the contract killing "just f——— business.”
“Don’t f—- it up," she warned. "Cause you f—- it up, I will go down.”
The agent later sent a coded text message to Guy informing her that the killing was done. Police then went to Guy’s house and told her Thomas was found dead under suspicious circumstances. Guy attempted to show emotion before she was charged with solicitation of first-degree murder. Guy originally denied having any knowledge of a murder plot, but police revealed the taped conversations were key evidence and showed otherwise.
“How can someone you shared your life with do and say those things?” said Thomas. “It’s just mind-boggling to me. I still don’t understand.”
In 2016, the Casper Star-Tribune reported Guy was sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison. Still, Thomas said the idea of Guy ever being free one day keeps him up at night.
“She is incarcerated with like-minded people,” he explained. “Some of those people aren’t going to be in as long as she is. What kind of plot is she potentially still thinking about? And even though I’m supposed to be made aware of her movements, the Department of Justice has failed miserably. She has been moved several times and I didn’t know about it. When I called to complain after I found out, I was just given an apology. … I have no idea of people she has befriended and whether they’re getting out. What potential is there?”
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Thomas added that while Guy apologized to her family, co-workers and community during her sentencing, she never issued one to him.
“I don’t think she has remorse,” he said.
Thomas is looking forward to his future, but can’t help but be haunted by the past. He has a more difficult time trusting people.
“I am trying not to let her win and affect me to the point that I can’t go on, I can’t enjoy things,” he explained. “So I am doing a lot more. I have a great work life, a very good personal life. I’m just trying to move on. I’m certainly more observant about my surroundings. I have lights on all around the house, even at night. Has it affected me in some ways? Yes, absolutely. I can’t deny that. But I’m trying the best I can to live well.”
If there’s one message Thomas has for audiences is to tread carefully when a tumultuous relationship comes to an end.
“I don’t believe it’s good to stay in a bad relationship, but when it’s time to exit… be aware of what potential is there,” he warned. “Never would I thought it would have come to this. Sometimes people you think you know are the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
"Murder for Hire" airs April 7 at 7 p.m. on Oxygen.