Find Yura: Manhunt on the Dark Web

0:00Music

0:09I'm no different than any other teenager in America.

0:17I love my family and my friends. My two dogs and my cat. I love writing. I love reading. Despite me trying to be a normal teenager, someone does want me dead.

0:49This is the picture of me, a description of me, where I lived, where I worked, that Mastermind365 posted about me. On the Murder for Hire website? Yes. Hi, my name is Yura. We have hundreds of gang members, criminals, and people who love to kill for money.

1:12They are anonymous. You are anonymous. So come and get rid of those nasty problems. This is deadly serious. This is talking about the murder of a human being. It definitely changed my life. I kept looking over my shoulder. I didn't know who I could trust. I could be killed on my way to work. I could be killed on my way home from school. And that terrified me. You can submit your orders to kill the people you hate.

1:53We've got some significant leads on who Yura might be. Do you think you're getting close? Yeah, absolutely. As a dark web intelligence analyst, my job is to uncover that which is hidden. Is there a chance, as I look up on your screen, that may be our guy?

2:18Everyone can be found. Yura can be found.

2:25So we are literally a car ride from where we're talking right now to where you believe Yura actually lives. Yes. We're going to make a left at the next street. Go slower, go slower, go slower. Where's the house? It's this one right here. Yeah, it's this house right here. Where Yura might presently live. Wow, my heart is racing. That's simple. I'm alive. Go. Are you Europe? Stop recording right now.

3:12Late on a frigid night in February 2019, 18-year-old Alexis Stern was driving near her hometown of Big Lake, Minnesota, when she says she noticed a white van in her rearview mirror. So we started driving around town, taking detours. But the van stuck with her. In a growing panic, she called authorities, who later located and spoke with the van's driver. He claimed he was lost. He didn't know where he was. You have no doubt you were being followed, right? Yeah. Alexis had every reason to be worried because of something that had happened just months earlier when out of nowhere, the police had called her.

4:01You have to talk to you. It's dire and you need to come now. It's dire, he says. Yes, he said it was urgent. I had no idea what to expect. Did someone die? Is someone hurt? Like, am I in trouble? When Alexis arrived at the police station, she got stunning news. He was just like, I think you should sit down. Someone put a hit out on you and they want you dead. I was like, this is a joke, right? It was not a joke. On the dark web, someone using the alias Mastermind365 had gone to a hitman for hire site and paid about$5 ,000 worth of Bitcoin for Alexis to be assassinated. giving chilling details.

4:51Where I lived, where I worked, my picture of me, a description of me, everything. FBI and Homeland Security agents soon got involved. Although many dark web sites are scams, Alexis knew someone out there wanted her dead. And that terrified me. Authorities promised to investigate. The aspiring horror book author had read about the dark web, A hidden online marketplace where criminality ranging from human trafficking to illegal weapons is advertised for sale. Even murder. The more you start to dig, the darker it starts to get. It was in 2017 that 48 Hours first investigated dark web murder for hire.

5:38The next year, we exposed about 20 active murder plots. Police received a tip from the CBS News program 48 Hours. 48 Hours alerted law enforcement, leading to arrests in two states and two foreign countries. Our investigation also led us to this mysterious figure known as Yura, who has been operating Hitman sites for about five years. We don't know his real name or location, but he sent us these video diaries. I am doing this video diary entry to give you official statements. Looking for criminals on the dark web is not for the faint of heart. For most of her career, this woman has lived in the shadows.

6:33I was a member of the intelligence community. Now, she's a CBS News consultant who we hired to help us look for Yura. What makes it challenging is this isn't your traditional law enforcement investigation, where there's DNA and there's fingerprints and a weapon and a crime scene. Lisa, as we'll call her, has altered her appearance for this interview. In the world of the dark web, DNA is email addresses, usernames, passwords. Lisa analyzed Yura's writings. His English is very good. But she says the evidence suggests he is foreign-born and doesn't work alone. There's definitely some support. She says the murder-for-hire sites are all about making big money and that she found millions of dollars of profits in an online account she believes is linked to Yura.

7:32Upwards of, I think,$5 million. Apparently, about$5 ,000 of those profits was allegedly paid to kill Alexis Stern. When her parents found out, they weren't taking any chances. You left Minnesota? Yes. We just started driving. It was scary. But who would want her dead? Alexis thought she knew. Back in 2016, she was a high school sophomore, struggling with her self-esteem. She was just 15 when a friend introduced her to an older man online. I ended up meeting a guy named Adrian. Adrian Fry. Yes, Adrian Fry. She was intrigued to learn that Adrian Fry lived in England. I was always partial to British accents, so I thought it was kind of a bonus.

8:28Adrian was 20. He said he was training to be an accountant and liked to stream video games online. His screen name? Rocket Wind. What is up ladies and gentlemen? My name is Rocket Wind and welcome to another patch note. I wanted to have a boyfriend and it was the perfect opportunity. In August of 2016, Fry flew to Minnesota and got a hotel room near her house. This is Adrienne right here. Yes. Do your parents have any idea this is going on? No, they had no idea. The two began a relationship. Alexis had just turned 16. He was already pretty much talking about getting married, honestly. He was 100 % sad on being with me.

9:16Adrian Fry visited Alexis twice more, in the summer of 2017 and in the spring of 2018. She says her feelings were changing. He really started trying to control my normal, everyday life. They had considered themselves a couple for about two years, when Alexis told Adrian it was over. He freaked out. He did not like that at all. It was a lot of pleading, a lot of begging. A few months later, when she told him she had a new boyfriend, she says he became angry. Pretty much saying you deserve everything horrible that happens to you. Do you sense that he's basically sending you a message? A hundred percent.

10:01And what is that message? That it's not going to end that great for me.

10:19Someone could sneak into the house and kill me. I could be killed on my way home from school. We asked Alexis Stern to read the disturbing emails between the person who wanted her dead, codenamed Mastermind365, and Yura, the alleged murder-for-hire kingpin on the dark web. I can see on your website that the services you offer are murder, assault, arson. Kidnapping is the job that I had in mind. Mastermind 365 sent this picture of Alexis to Jura. Then for some reason, about a week later, he upgraded his order from kidnapping to, I would just like this person dead. I would just like this person to be shot and killed.

11:16It was another cold and clinical Minnesota hit order that triggered our original Dark Web Murder for Hire investigation. In 2016, a 43-year-old dog trainer named Amy Allwine was killed in nearby Cottage Grove. Police questioned her husband, Stephen. We're a normal family. There's nothing, nothing unique, nothing strange. Like Mastermind365, Stephen Allwine had paid Jura thousands of dollars to arrange a hit. When it didn't happen, Allwine took matters into his own hands and shot his wife in the head. In 2018, he was convicted of murder. Do you have any doubt in your mind who put out the contract on your life?

12:12I have no doubt in my mind that it is Adrienne Fry. Adrienne Fry, her ex-boyfriend from England. When she saw the kill order dated July 15th, she says the timing suddenly made sense to her. What had happened the day before July 14th? That is when I told Adrian that I was dating someone else. And it wasn't just the timing of the hit order. She says it was the language, too. It sounds very British. I would just like this person dead, but if there's any more information you would like, inbox me. I don't know anyone in America that uses the term inbox me. Adrian, on the other hand, often would say that.

13:01Alexis noticed Mastermind365 sometimes referred to himself with a lowercase i. She says when Adrian wrote her, he did the same thing. She also saw that Mastermind365 wrote thank you as one word. In Adrian's messages to her, he'd done that too. It's a quirk that would become more significant later in our investigation. And there was more. Mastermind 365 to Euro. My problem is that I don't currently have an extra five grand, but I will have it in about a week's time. This part is from Adrian to me. If there is a chance you may like me in years time, then I will happily wait. The phrases weeks time and years time are common in British English.

13:52In writing them, both Mastermind365 and Adrian Fry had left off an apostrophe. So there's a couple of phrases that matches Adrian's patterns. Yes. She also realized Mastermind365 seemed to have grown impatient with Yura over time. And that's when she saw one particular message that sent a shiver up her spine. Do you guys sell guns? I need a pistol with a silencer. He's asked you to help him get a gun with a silencer. Mm-hmm. What does that tell you? It sounds like he is willing to take matters into his own hands if it doesn't get done. Just like Stephen Allwine. And that's what worries our dark web expert, Lisa.

14:45She believes Yura's websites are a scam and that frustrated clients may be moved to violence. The fact that he's a scammer, as opposed to an actual hitman for hire provider, does not remove the fact that he is a threat or is a criminal. There are people out there who believe it is a real hitman website. Alexa Stern says after more than a year with little apparent progress on her case, she became frustrated and agreed to try her luck with us. I decided I might as well take a chance and see what 48 hours can help me with. She is determined to see Justice catch up to the man she says ordered her murder and the person who promised to arrange it.

15:39Lisa, we have always thought in our investigation that Yura must live overseas. Are we right? No, Peter. Yura might live right here in New York City.

16:05A Hitman Marketplace is like any other auction site. It brings customers and vendors together. He's still out there somewhere. The CyberGhost Yura. Still uncatchable in a hidden world. Still a confounding mystery. It's probably no surprise that our global manhunt for Yura began on a computer. So I ventured into a very strange place for the first time in my life, the dark web. In 2018, we wrote to him on his website asking for an interview. Much to our surprise, he agreed to sit down with us on camera in London.

16:52We were already there to interview a self-styled cybercrime researcher named Chris Montero, who'd been monitoring Jura and his hitman sites for more than three years. And some people tracked to the website are very, very nasty individuals. So we've flown from New York to London, rented this studio. You can see the lights behind me for the big interview. And we even brought in a master of disguise who's going to camouflage Jura's face. Now all we need is him. The elusive Jura never showed up, claiming we could have been followed by police. But he did start sending us those video statements. We will be waiting for you to come place your orders and get rid of your problems.

17:42Yura, who seems to enjoy taunting 48 Hours, sent us this email in June 2019. Unfortunately, after your show, the business has decreased tremendously. People concluded that the site is a scam. Yura even claimed he's going legit, moving away from the murder-for-hire sites into the real world. I opened a restaurant business, and I live nice. Lisa, our dark web expert, doubts Yura has left his criminal past behind. He's still very much in business. He's still working. Absolutely. And as the cases of Amy Allwine and Alexa Stern show, So, even if Yura's hitman sites are scams, the customers paying him to have people killed are horrifyingly real.

18:40A lot of people want other people killed. Correct. All across the United States. And the world, yes. Lisa is determined to unmask Yura. Everyone can be found. Yura can be found. And she quickly spotted her first clue. A massive trail of hacked digital data. Digging through that treasure trove, Lisa believes she's unearthed a few gold nuggets. Hi, this is Eura again. Including Eura's likely password from one of his early murder-for-hire sites. In this case, we've got this very unique password of Frenza 22. F-R-U-N-Z-A 22. So this sounds like a lead. From a digital forensics perspective, this is a huge lead.

19:31Lisa immediately launched a worldwide search across the dark web and the regular internet for that password possibly linked to Europe. In a matter of hours, she zeroed in on two hits from different sides of the planet. Just on the Google search, Franza 22 actually led us to Moldova, of all places. The Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state in Eastern Europe. There's a village here called Franza. It's also a common last name. Franza 22 gave us all this intelligence with which to work and narrow down who Europe possibly could be. Lisa discovered that the online seller of this car in Moldova had also used Fronza 22.

20:26Could there be a link? The license plate for this car obviously gives us more information. Do you have an answer yet as to who owns this vehicle? Unfortunately, we do not. We're coordinating with people on the ground in Moldova to see who this car is actually registered to. But the most compelling clue, Lisa says, connects Yura's possible password to a standard email address here in the United States. I was able to identify that with a very high probability with an older Russian woman in New York. Lisa thinks the woman could be Yura's relative. The cyber search for Yura and his anonymous dark web connections will involve a tedious, time-consuming process of following digital breadcrumbs.

21:22One piece of evidence stands on its own, and you look at it as a breadcrumb, and you try to chase that for a bit, and then you find another breadcrumb. And collectively, when you start to add all of these things up, you have a higher confidence assessment. I keep my identity private. Everything that could help with recognition.

21:46As our global hunt for Jura intensifies, we're reminded that his borderless reach from the bottom of the internet has left shattered lives in his wake. Amy Allwine murdered. And others marked for death, living in perpetual fear. There are people around the world in danger, and I had to do something about it. What Chris Montero did was secretly hack into Yura's websites, dredging up disturbing emails from clients ordering grisly hits. And passing them on to 48 Hours. We immediately informed law enforcement. Three cases we investigated in 2018 in Illinois, Tennessee, and California have led to explosive conclusions.

22:40Do you understand the terror that you have caused? Woodridge, Illinois. Tina Jones, a registered nurse, got involved with a married colleague. When he ended the affair, she allegedly paid Yura about$12 ,000 to kill the man's wife. 18 CF, 8, 5, Tina Jones. That was Jones, brother, and approaching the bench. This was a nurse, someone who saves lives. truth really is stranger than fiction. Woodridge Police Sergeant Daniel Murray, acting on the 48 Hours tip, brought a chillingly calm Tina Jones in for questioning. It'll be easier to go for everybody involved. So I'm just going to ask you right now, did you make any threat or did you try to have somebody do something on your behalf to Jeff's wife?

23:34No. Okay, you sure about that? Pause. You buying it? No. Why not? She just doesn't come off as believable. I really don't know. Moments later, the truth. What you got to tell me now? I did. You did? Yeah. Tina Jones just pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder. In August 2019, Tina Jones learned her fate. She will spend the next 10 years in prison. 418 hours. 48 Hours also tipped off Detective Michael Ulrey in Clarksville, Tennessee, who broke the news to then 22-year-old Sidney Minor, a single mom. Someone went on the dark web. There is a Murder for Hire website, and someone has paid to have you murdered.

24:39What? Sydney, who was pregnant with her second child, quickly identified the father of her unborn baby as a suspect, Brandon States. Sydney says he had pressured her to get an abortion. He's married. Didn't know it at the time. The only person in our mind was Brandon States because it was his child. And she refused to get rid of the child. Brandon States eventually pleaded guilty to attempted premeditated murder. In March 2019, the Army Specialist was sentenced by a military court to 15 years in Fort Leavenworth. By his final court hearing, Sidney had given birth to a little girl named Sailor.

25:28Brandon States asked to meet his daughter before going to prison. Sidney reluctantly agreed and handed the little girl to the man who had paid money to kill them both. Give me a sense of what was going through your mind at that moment. Fear. A lot of fear. She had to meet him in a courtroom with police officers and armed guards. I told him, I'll never forgive you for what you've done.

26:06Around the same time in San Luis Obispo, California, this man awaits trial. We know that you wanted your stepmother murdered, but we don't know why. Why did you do it?

26:24You wake in the middle of the night alone in your apartment, And that feeling starts to set in that something is wrong. Realizing your home is no longer safe, you plan your escape. But he has other plans. The details are the kind that stay with you, water running in an empty apartment. A locked door that shouldn't be locked. That uneasy feeling of being watched. That's the setup for Unhinged. the new immersive game experience on Netflix. Your phone becomes your controller, flashlight, and lifeline to your best friend. As the attacker in your building closes in, the phone in your hand will ring.

27:11The question is, will you answer? Play now, only on Netflix.

27:22In late 2019, Bo Brigham, a one-time YouTube star, I never did it for the money. I did it because I had a lot of time on my hands. is on trial for solicitation of murder after 48 hours tipped authorities to his case. In 2018, Brigham allegedly had paid Yura to arrange the assassination of his stepmother. During questioning by detectives, he seemed to acknowledge ordering the hit. I remember going on some f***ing stupid site, and I was in a rage, just sending a bunch of stuff. I do not deny he went to the site. I absolutely deny that he had any intention whatsoever of hurting his stepmother. Defense attorney Ilan Funky-Bilu says Brigham wasn't serious.