Rocker charged in murder-for-hire scheme

Associated Press

OCEANSIDE, Calif.

The lead singer of the Grammy-nominated metal band As I Lay Dying was in jail Wednesday in Southern California on suspicion he tried to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife.

Tim Lambesis, 32, was stopped by police while shopping in Oceanside, five days after detectives received information that the singer had solicited someone to kill his wife, who lives in the nearby beach town of Encinitas, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

A task force from several law-enforcement agencies launched an investigation that led to the arrest late Tuesday.

As I Lay Dying formed in San Diego in 2000. Its 2007 album “An Ocean Between Us” reached No. 8 on Billboard’s charts, and the song “Nothing Left” was nominated for a Grammy.