Victim in Model Tara Lambert's Murder-for-Hire Plot Speaks

Kellie Cooke does not mince words when talking about Tara Lambert, the 35-year-old former model and stepmother to Cooke’s two children who admitted earlier this year having plotted to have Cooke killed.

“She’s just one of the most evil people I’ve ever met,” Cooke says in an interview this week on The Dr. Phil Show. (An exclusive preview is above.)

The two-part Dr. Phil, airing Monday and Tuesday, traces the case of Lambert, who met with an undercover detective in 2015 thinking he was a hired killer.

During their meeting, which was recorded, Lambert said she wanted Cooke “gone.”

“I need her away,” she said.

More specifically: “Just put her in a chopper, you know like one of those lumberjack chopper things.”

Lambert, prosecutors said, provided the policeman with a down payment and Cooke’s picture. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the plot was hatched amid a dispute over visitation.

Lambert pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and was sentenced to five years in prison, according to a previous PEOPLE report. State detention records show she is slated for release in March 2022.

Her admission capped three years of legal proceedings that saw Lambert convicted in 2016 only to have that verdict overturned a year later because of an error in the language in the indictment against her.

She was freed from the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville last year; she was initially found guilty on first-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated murder charges.

Lambert had been sentenced to serve seven years. Following her plea this summer, she received more than a year’s worth of credit for time she’d previously served.

In court this summer, Cooke’s 18-year-old daughter read a victim impact statement on her behalf, according to the Dispatch:

“I knew what you were capable of. You lied, manipulated and controlled everything my girls done … You wanted my girls. When you figured out I was on to you, you snapped. You tormented my family for a long time with no punishment. It’s time that you are held responsible for your actions and all of the harm you have caused.”

Along with Cooke, Lambert and her husband at the time of the plot, Brandon Lambert, will be interviewed on Dr. Phil.

The Dr. Phil Show episodes on Lambert air Monday and Tuesday. Check local listings.

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