As I Lay Dying Frontman Arrested For Hiring Hitman

As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis during the band’s ‘The Powerless Rise’ tour in 2011 in Florida. Photo: Louis Blanco on Flickr/ Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

Tim Lambesis, frontman of American metalcore band As I Lay Dying, has been arrested by the San Diego police for reportedly plotting to murder his estranged wife. A statement by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Lambesis has been taken into custody on the afternoon of May 7th at Vista Detention Facility in San Diego and charged for soliciting of another to commit the murder of his wife, the release said.  

Lambesis, who also has a thrash metal solo project called Austrian Death Machine, was arrested in a store in Oceanside, California for hiring a hitman to kill his wife. Lambesis had returned from China two days ago, as part of As I Lay Dying’s Asia tour.

Authorities had previously learned that Lambesis was on the lookout for someone to carry out the killing, San Diego County Sheriff spokesperson Jan Caldwell said. “The information came to us late last week. We acted quickly on it. I believe that we averted a great tragedy,” Caldwell said.

Lambesis and his wife have three children, two daughters and a son, all adopted from Ethiopia. As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine’s record label, Metal Blade, is yet to comment, as are Lambesis’s bandmates.