Mother allegedly attempts to hire hitmen to kill witnesses in son's murder case

LAKE WORTH, Fla. (CBS12) — A mother is accused of attempting to hire someone to murder two witnesses involved in her teenage son's murder case.

Authorities learned last month that Josefina Cardona-Cardona, 43, was allegedly trying to hire an undercover law enforcement agent to kill the witnesses, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. According to her arrest report, she allegedly said she would pay $4,000 to have two people murdered, for a total of $8,000.

Cardona-Cardona was booked on two counts of solicitation to commit murder. At her initial court appearance Tuesday morning, a judge set her bond at $550,000. He told her if she's released, she is to have no weapons and no contact with the two intended victims. PBSO says she is in the U.S. illegally and faces the possibility of deportation once the criminal case against her is concluded.

Her son, Manuel Marcos-Cardona, of Lake Worth Beach, who was 14-years-old at the time, was arrested for allegedly stabbing a young man at a birthday party in Lake Worth Beach in June 2022.