PARKERSBURG — The case of a Parkersburg woman who was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband so she could claim the money from his life insurance policy will be featured on the Oxygen Network show “Murder For Hire” this Sunday at 7 p.m.

Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said he and Williamstown Police Chief Shawn Graham were interviewed over the summer for the show in regard to the 2009 case of Deatra Dannell Gunn-Halley, who approached an undercover police officer, posing as a hitman, about killing her husband, Robert Butch Halley Jr., offering to pay $15,000 after the husband’s death.

Graham was with the Wood County Sheriff’s Department who investigated at the time and Lefebure was an assistant prosecutor at the time, but did not directly participate the case. He was interviewed for his perspective of the case and what was happening at the time. Lefebure said a crew of around 20 people came to the area to film and do interviews.

“They spent a week here over the summer filming,” he said of the TV crew.

“I would say it’s the only murder for hire case I’ve had in my career,” Graham said Friday.

The investigation was especially notable because of an unexpected failure of recording equipment during Gunn-Halley’s meet-up with an undercover officer.

“It was an investigation that, because of some of the hurdles we had to face with our equipment, it drug out a lot longer than we wanted,” Graham said. “That first meeting, our intent was to make an arrest. We had to change our plan. We had to set up another meeting, and that strung it out another 10 days.”

Graham said successfully arranging that second meeting was key.

“We were absolutely convinced she wasn’t going to drop this,” he said.

Graham said police were tipped to the murder-for-hire plot by a man who came into the office one day to share a recording he’d made of Gunn-Halley discussing her plan. Graham said while he normally would not use the name of a tipster, the show talks about him openly.

“A lot of people worked on this case, there was a lot of collaboration, but if there is one hero in this case, it is Frank Robinson for bringing this forward,” Graham said. “Otherwise I believe we would have had a murder.”

In December 2010, Gunn-Halley pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit a felony crime of violence. She was sentenced in February 2011 to 3-15 years in jail by Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane.

Graham said Gunn-Halley served less than five years before being released.

“She only served four-and-a-half-years, which I find terribly disappointing,” Graham said. “I don’t think four-and-a-half years was enough of a penalty for trying to murder someone.”

A clip of the “Murder For Hire” episode can be viewed online at https://www.oxygen.com/murder-for-hire. Graham said the True Crime Podcast on YouTube also will feature the story in an episode called “Not Your Average Grandma.” Graham said that episode was expected to be released Friday.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com. Michael Erb can be reached at merb@newsandsentinel.com.