Amy Pearson, Las Vegas woman, accused of conspiring to murder husband for life insurance, report says

(CBS) Police said a Las Vegas woman arrested Friday in an alleged plot to murder her estranged husband conspired with her adopted son, whom she was reportedly having an affair with, and her brother, to gain life insurance money, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

Amy Pearson, also known as Amy Bessey, is facing charges of attempted murder, battery and conspiracy to commit murder. Pearson, 42, is due in court on Jan. 23.

Police said Pearson's 39-year-old brother, Richard Pearson, and 21-year-old son, Michael Bessey, were previously arrested for allegedly shooting Robert Bessey in the neck while he was driving on Interstate 15 north of Las Vegas on Nov. 14, 2012.

Robert Bessey survived the shooting and was able to call 911 for help, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reported. He told police that he and Amy Pearson were in divorce proceedings, and that Pearson stood to gain $250,000 in life insurance if he died before the divorce became final.

An arrest report stated that Pearson made statements to Bessey that he was worth more dead than alive, KLAS-TV reported.

According to the police report, Michael Bessey's cellmate said Bessey admitted to being the gunman in the highway shooting and tried to shoot his father in the head, the Sun reported. Bessey reportedly told his cellmate that he and Amy Pearson were to receive $400,000 in total benefits if the murder plot succeeded.

When asked why Michael Bessey wanted his father dead, he told his cellmate that Robert Bessey physically and mentally abused him and his mother in the past, according to the Sun.

According to the arrest report, Robert Bessey said his wife and Michael Bessey shared an "unnatural relationship," citing a letter that Michael Bessey wrote to Pearson from a detention center saying, "I miss touching you." A witness also said he saw the two being "over affectionate" at a nightclub and touching each other intimately, the Sun reported.