Arrested: Melisa Schonfield, 57, a social worker, has been charged with arranging a hit on her daughter's ex-boyfriend The daughter of an upstate New York social worker who has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot targeting her ex-boyfriend spoke out in her defense Tuesday. Melisa Schonfield, 57, was arrested Friday after allegedly hiring an undercover detective in the parking lot of a Walmart to kill Ernesto Negrillo. The mother-of-two, who is married to a well-respected dentist, had allegedly agreed to pay the bogus hit man $11,000, telling the officer the best way to dispose of the body was 'feeding it to alligators.'
@highlight
Melisa Schonfield, 57, accused of arranging contract killing in a upstate New York Walmart parking lot
@highlight
She allegedly agreed to pay an undercover cop $11,000 for the hit
@highlight
Her daughter, Alexis, said Schonfield was just trying to protect her young son from her ex-boyfriend, Ernesto Negrillo
@highlight
Negrillo denied being abusive to Alexis Schonfield and said he has not spoken to her family in a long time
@highlight
Melissa Schonfield is married to respected dentist and lives in Brownville, New York
The woman, who has a 2-year-old son with @placeholder, said her ex-boyfriend had been verbally abusive toward her, but she noted that her mother has not admitted to trying to have him killed.