Many are aware of the impact Facebook has had on divorce, from making it easier to coordinate affairs to obtaining evidence against a spouse in custody battles. MSNBC reports the way an Indiana woman going through a custody battle recently used Facebook as a way to spy on each other and positively influence their custody case.

The ex-wife had apparently set up a false Facebook account, posing as 17-year-old "Jessica Studebaker," posting a trashy picture on the profile. She then "friended" her ex-husband, who accepted her invitation, and the two became confidantes.

Soon enough, the 38-year-old ex-husband revealed his "plan" to hire somebody to murder his 29-year-old ex-wife, and asked "Jessica if she knew of anybody who would do the deed for him. He also asked the teen to run away with him after his ex-wife was taken care of.

After discovering the plot, the ex-wife revealed the information to the police, who arrested him and took him into custody for four days, charging him with illegal installation of a GPA device on his ex-wife's car to track her down. His ex-wife used the conversations as the basis of a restraining order against her husband.

The charges against the man were quickly dropped, however, when federal prosecutors received an affidavit filed by the ex-husband prior to any of the conversations with "Jessica," which detailed that he knew she was not a real person, and that he suspected it was either his ex-wife or a friend of hers. He explained in the affidavit that he planned all along to use the exchanges to demonstrate to the court that his ex-wife was attempting to "tamper in my life," and that he had no plans to harm anyone.

The judge in charge of the case against the ex-husband has since dismissed the charges against him. Sources did not indicate how the Facebook double-cross will impact the couple's custody case.

Source: MSNBC, "Facebook murder plot: Double-cross by exes?," Athima Chansanchai, 10 June 2011.