Dateline: The Night of the New Moon - 5 harrowing details about Weldon McDavid Jr and Diana Lovejoy's murder-for-hire plot, revisited

NBC’s Dateline: The Night of the New Moon follows one of the more shocking cases of a bitter custody battle turning into a murder-for-hire plot. When 47-year-old computer programmer Gregory Mulvihill was shot in September 2016, he never imagined that the person behind it would be his own wife. Greg’s wife, Diana Lovejoy, was convicted of hiring her shooting instructor, a US Marine veteran, Weldon McDavid Jr., to kill her husband.

The Dateline episode uncovers the investigation and the trial with accounts from the authorities and acquaintances.

5 harrowing details from Dateline: The Night of the New Moon

Diane Lovejoy had a happy married life with Gregory Mulvihill until it turned sour

Gregory Mulvihill was a computer programmer in California, living a regular life. He met Diana Lovejoy, a software technical writer, in 2005 through a dating website. They had a whirlwind romance for two years. They married after two years and welcomed their baby boy in 2012 at their home in Carlsbad, California.

However, as per Dateline, things took a turn in 2014 when Greg became unemployed and Diana became the breadwinner of the family. The burden became too heavy, and her health also started to be affected because of it. This would ultimately result in their separation. One of the biggest challenges in their co-parenting routine became their child’s custody.

Greg gets shot after getting a mysterious call

Dateline takes us to the day of the appalling event that would change their lives forever. On September 1, 2016, Greg received a call informing him that the caller wanted to sell some information about Diana, which could help him with the divorce. Greg’s friend, Jason Kovach, who was with him at the time, shared that he had accompanied Greg to check out the evidence.

When they arrived at the isolated dirt road given by the caller, they noticed someone dressed in camouflage with a rifle. And though they had a baseball bat on them, seeing the gun, they tried to run away. After a few rounds, the shooter manages to shoot Greg under his armpit. Jason immediately called 911 to report that his friend was bleeding.

Diana alleged that Greg abused her

Greg was able to slowly recover after his surgery. He informed the police authorities that Diana and he were going through a difficult divorce proceeding, and he was worried for their son’s life.

According to Dateline, Diana felt that her son was gravely ill, and Greg was dismissive about it. She also alleged that Greg was abusive towards her, and possibly even drugged and r*ped her. But Greg vehemently refuted these accusations.

The court stated that there was no evidence of abuse and that the custody of the child should be shared equally between the estranged couple. In addition to this, Diana was asked to pay Greg $120,000.

Diana takes up firearms training with Weldon McDavid Jr.

The Dateline episode brings forth the surprising turn in Diana’s endeavors as she takes on firearms training with a former U.S. Marine sniper, Weldon McDavid Jr., who had also helped install a security system in her house. Weldon was supportive of Diana through the divorce proceedings and did not like the fact that she had to share custody of her child with her ex-husband.

After authorities learnt of Diana’s gun training, they got a match between Weldon’s DNA with a towel covered in feces at the crime scene. They also got the gun that was used to shoot Greg at Weldon’s property. They managed to trace the burner phone used to make the mysterious call to Greg before the incident.

Diana revealed that Weldon and she were having an affair, and he wanted to help her get her son’s custody as well as deal with the financial burden.

Diana and Weldon were charged with attempted murder

Diana was to pay Weldon about $2,000 to carry out the murder, Dateline reported. Diana and Weldon were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. The news shocked Greg, their family, and friends. The two conspirators were found guilty on all counts.

During the trial, they both pleaded not guilty. They said that they never planned to kill Greg despite Weldon firing several shots. They blamed the prosecutors, family members, and detectives for misleading investigations. As per NBC 7 San Diego, Diana cried in the court. She said,

“I would never take (my son’s) father away from him. I would never be able to do that.

Weldon insisted that he never wanted to shoot Greg, and if his intention was murder, he would have done it as he never misses a shot. He said in the court,

“I did not intend to shoot Mr. Mulvihill. It was an aiming error as I stated previously. There was no intent to kill. That’s not who I am… If I intended to kill Mr. Mulvihill he would’ve been dead.”

On November 13, 2017, after the jury’s verdict was announced, Diana fainted in shock. While Diana was given 26 years to life in prison, Weldon received 50 years.

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