Reality TV star charged in murder-for-hire plot that left nephew dead

James Timothy Norman obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew in 2014, prosecutors say

James Timothy Norman of reality TV series, 'Welcome To Sweetie Pie's' was arrested surrounding the death of his 18-year old nephew Andre Montgomery in 2016 (WireImage)

A man who starred in the US reality TV show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of his nephew.

James Timothy Norman, 41, of Jackson, Mississippi, was arrested on Tuesday over the 2016 fatal shooting of Andre Montgomery, who was gunned down near a park in St Louis.

Mr Norman faces a federal charge of conspiring to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a murder-for-hire, resulting in death.

Both Mr Norman and his nephew appeared on Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s which ran for five seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network starting in 2011, The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Mr Norman is the son of the owner of the St Louis-area soul food restaurant that was the setting for the reality show.

In 2014, when Montgomery was 18, prosecutors say Mr Norman obtained a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew that listed Mr Norman as the sole beneficiary.

Two years later, Mr Norman allegedly conspired with a woman, Terica Ellis, in the killing, according to the US attorney’s office in St Louis.

“In the days leading up to Montgomery’s murder, Ms Ellis, of Memphis, Tennessee, communicated with Montgomery and informed him that she was planning to be in St Louis,” the attorney’s office said in a press release.

Prosecutors alleged that Ms Ellis’s phone location information places her in the vicinity of the murder at the time of the homicide.

“Immediately following Montgomery’s murder, Ms Ellis placed a call to Mr Norman, and then began travelling to Memphis, Tennessee,” the attorney’s office added.

Prosecutors say Ms Ellis, who faces the same charge as Mr Norman, later deposited more than $9,000 in cash in a number of bank accounts.

A week after the killing, Mr Norman contacted the life insurance company to try to collect on his nephew’s policy, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors declined to say who they believe the alleged shooter to be.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press