GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested two men in what the state patrol is calling a murder-for-hire plot. The Nebraska State Patrol says 37-year-old Robert Honken, of Aurora, was arrested Monday after he agreed to pay an undercover investigator to kill his estranged wife.

Authorities say Honken gave the investigator a cash deposit and agreed to pay the rest after the murder.

Honken drove away after the deal, but was stopped by a state trooper and taken to Hall County Jail on a conspiracy to commit murder charge.

Another man, 30-year-old Derrick Shirley, of Bradshaw, was also taken into custody on the same charge. Officials say Shirley was involved in a previous arrangement to kill Honken’s wife.

Court records don’t list attorneys for the men.