An investigation into an alleged murder-for-hire led police to a stolen and variety of drugs inside a woman's Atlantic City hotel room.
Elizabeth Dever, 53, was taken in for questioning May 10, in connection with an alleged plot to kill her husband, a state trooper, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.
But she was not charged in the attempt.
Instead, a search of her room at the Showboat led to various drugs and a stolen handgun, according to the charges. There were no details about from where the gun was taken.
"My client is not charged with anything close to a murder for hire," defense attorney Yvonne Maher told Judge Jeffrey Wilson during a detention hearing Thursday. "She was nothing but cooperative."
Dever spoke to investigators for two hours, and then consented to having both her room and her cell phone searched, Maher said.
It was when the search got to a locked safe in a closet that there was an issue.
The woman told investigators that the safe belonged to two men who also live in the apartment, Maher said, referring to them only as "the Brown brothers."
The Fire Department was called to break into the safe, where the stolen gun was found along with 649 folds of heroin, an ounce of crack cocaine packaged for distribution and various paraphernalia used for packaging.
Dever was already on pretrial intervention, which is a diversion program that allows first-time offenders to avoid incarceration. It is likely she will be terminated from that program amid the new charges.
She had drug several drug cases in 2019, including out of Hamilton, Galloway and Egg Harbor townships.
Dever previously worked as an EMT in Atlantic City, BreakingAC confirmed.
But now she is working as a drug dealer, the state alleges.
Witnesses, including Dever's estranged husband, said she "suddenly had an influx of money, which she didn't before," Assistant Prosecutor Paige Cramer told the judge.
Wilson determined Dever was not a risk and released her with conditions, including checking in with court weekly and avoiding contact with the two men who she alleged owned the drugs.
