VISTA, CA – Timothy Lambesis, the Greek-American lead singer of the Grammy Award-nominated heavy metal band As I Lay Dying has pleaded guilty to attempting to hire a hit man to kill his wife.

The hit man, an undercover detective, was part of an undercover investigation that began in April after Lambesis allegedly told an employee at his gym that he wanted to get rid of his wife. The agent, Howard Bradley, said that Lambesis, thinking him to be a hit man, met with him in May and said he wanted his wife, Meggan, “gone.” Bradley says when he asked Lambesis specifically whether he wanted his wife killed, the 32 year-old rock star said “yes, I do.”

As TNH reported upon Lambesis’ arrest in May, he originally pled not guilty, and his attorney stated that due to the rocker’s rampant drug use, his thought process had become “devastatingly affected.”

Lambesis pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation of murder, a felony punishable by a maximum of nine years in prison, NBC News in San Diego reported.
The gym employee, personal trainer Brett Kimball, testified at a pretrial hearing that Lambesis wanted to know if he knew anyone who could carry out the hit, NBC reported.

Bradley said Lambesis provided him with $1000 in cash and his wife’s address and security gate entry code, pictures of her, and dates on which he would have their children – ages 4, 8, and 10 – so that he would the murder could take place during such a date, thereby creating an alibi, NBC reported.

The couple filed for divorce in September 2012. Meggan Lambesis alleges that her husband had become obsessed with bodybuilding, distracted, irresponsible with the children – having fallen asleep while watching them – and had spent thousands of dollars on tattoos, reported NBC, and Lambesis, in turn, wanted her dead because she was going to get up to 60 percent of his income and prevent the children from going on tour with him.

In September, NBC reported that dozens of vials containing steroids were found in the couple’s home.

As I Lay Dying formed in San Diego in 2000 and has released six albums, including 2007’s An Ocean Between Us, which reached No. 8 on Billboard’s charts, AP reported. A single from the album, “Nothing Left,” was nominated for a Grammy for top metal performance.

The band plays in an aggressive style that features lightning-speed metal guitar riffs. The group’s philosophical lyrics have attracted a following of Christian rock fans, AP reported.

Lambesis had carried on numerous affairs, Meggan said, Rolling Stone magazine reported, and he had written her a letter stating he no longer loved her and had lost his faith in God.  Billboard Magazine, in fact, reported that he lost some of his Christian fan base because they accused him of having turned to a Satanic musical direction.