Mildred “Millie” Horn–Lawrence Horn Murder-for-Hire Case Was the True Story Behind Deliberate Intent

Lawrence Horn, the killer dad who inspired the movie Deliberate Intent, is dead, according to a recent Investigation Discovery TV series. Lawrence Horn, also known as Lawrence Thomas ‘LT Horn, hired a man from Detroit to kill his quadriplegic son and his ex-wife in 1993. Here’s what many Investigation Discovery Channel viewers didn’t know—there is a true-story movie based on the Lawrence Horn murder case.

Millie Horn

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Deliberate Intent aired on television for the first time on August 6, 2000. It premiered on the FX Channel before airing on Lifetime Television for the next several years. The movie was based on the book Deliberate Intent: A Lawyer Tells the True Story of Murder by the Book by First Amendment attorney Rod Smolla, which examined the Horn murders and the subsequent lawsuit against the publisher of the book Hit Man.

Deliberate Intent was based on the 1999 book Deliberate Intent by Rod Smolla and starred Timothy Hutton as Rod Smolla, Ron Rifkin as Howard Siegel, Clark Johnson as James Perry, James McDaniel as Lawrence Horn, Yanna McIntosh as Elaine, Karen Andren as Tiffani Horn, Alexandra Johnson as Tamielle Horn, Courtney Johnson as Trevor Horn, and Kelly King as Millie Horn.

The Lawrence Horn, Millie Horn case made headlines in the 1990s when it was revealed that Lawrence Horn, a former Motown recording engineer, hired a man who used the Hit Man manual to kill his victims. The family took the publishing company to court and won a settlement. Trevor Horn, Millie Horn, and nurse Janice Saunders were inside the Maryland home when James Perry entered and killed them. Trevor, who was quadriplegic, was smothered, and his breathing tube was removed. Millie and Janice were shot. Tamielle Horn, Trevor’s twin sister, was spending the night at her Aunt Elaine’s home on the night of the murders.

Today, Tamielle Horn, who goes by a different last name, is a beautiful woman in her thirties. From her Facebook page, it looks like she has a son of her own, who looks a lot like Trevor Horn. Tamielle Horn did not appear in the Shattered documentary.

The TV movie based on the murder of Millie Horn tried to show the “deliberate intent” with which Lawrence Horn acted when he decided to kill his family for cash. Tiffani Horn visited her father in prison before he died in February. She said her ill-looking father was glad to see her but never apologized for what he did. He was serving three life sentences in prison before his death.

Deliberate Intent was mostly a courtroom drama that told the story from the perspective of Rod Smolla and his relationship with the lawyers. It also depended heavily on the details of the book and how well James Perry followed the manual's instructions.

Fans of movies based on true stories made the connection to the movie after a viewer posted the information in a Facebook forum. Many remembered there was a hitman movie, but they didn’t realize that it was the Lawrence and Millie Horn story.


Read my original write-up about the Trevor Horn story and find out what happened to James Perry, the hitman, here. The murder case also inspired an old episode of The New Detectives and The FBI Files.

Deliberate Intent based on Mildred Millie Horn-Lawrence Horn case


Mildred Horn, Trevor Horn: Motown Exec Hired Hitman, James Perry, To Kill Ex-Wife, Paraplegic Son On ‘Shattered’
Mildred “Millie” Horn, Trevor Horn, and Janice Saunders were murdered execution-style in a Maryland home in 1993 by a man Mildred’s ex-husband hired to kill her, the night nurse, and her paraplegic son. ID’s Shattered will tell the story in their episode titled “Sins of the Father.” Lawrence “L.T.” Horn, a former Motown recording engineer, hired hitman and spiritual advisor James Perry to murder his family for money. On Shattered, Mildred’s daughter, Tiffani Horn, will describe how she was unwittingly brought into the murder plot by providing her father with information about Mildred’s whereabouts.

The Marriage Wasn’t Made In Heaven
Mildred Maree (Millie) was a beautiful American Airlines flight attendant who met Lawrence Horn in the 1970s. He was on top of his game, working as a talented recording engineer at Motown Records. The couple fell in love and married in the early 1970s. However, their marriage became strained. Lawrence was married to his work, and Mildred Horn was spending time at her home while her husband worked out of town.

According to UPROXX, when Mildred and Lawrence Horn decided to separate, they still spent intimate time together, and Mildred ended up pregnant with twins, Tamielle and Trevor Horn. Trevor was born with severe problems and was paraplegic. This required around-the-clock care, putting even more stress on an already-fragile marriage.


Before long, Mildred Horn wanted a divorce and demanded child support from Lawrence L.T. Horn, who was no longer earning a substantial income. In fact, Lawrence Horn eventually lost his job at Motown. In the end, he was living in a small apartment in the seediest part of Hollywood.
Prosecutors said Lawrence Horn became so bitter about the comfortable lifestyle Mildred Horn was living with their son that he hired a hitman to get rid of them. Years prior, Mildred Horn sued Children’s Hospital over the injuries Trevor suffered, and the family reached a malpractice settlement after a botched medical procedure left Trevor with further injuries. A portion of the settlement was placed in a trust for Trevor, and prosecutors said Lawrence Horn stood to inherit the money.


Mildred Horn’s greedy ex-husband also wanted to get his hands on the money from Trevor’s trust, which was estimated at around $2 million. Lawrence became so distraught over his money situation that he visited his cousin, who then introduced him to a spiritual advisor named James Perry. This introduction would prove to be deadly for Mildred and Trevor Horn.
Instead of advising him spiritually, James Perry agreed to help Horn get rid of his family. A hitman guide taught him exactly how to do it. On the night of the murders, Lawrence Horn was sitting in front of his television, knowing miles away his ex-wife would die.


A Sister’s Grisly Find
The bodies of Mildred Horn, 43, Janice Roberts Saunders, 38, and Trevor Horn, 8, were found the next morning by Mildred’s sister. Trevor Horn was smothered to death, and his breathing tube was removed. Mildred and her overnight nurse, Janice Saunders, were shot in the eye, a technique James Perry learned from the book.
The investigation into the murders quickly pointed to Lawrence Horn. Because of their thorough investigation, detectives were able to link Lawrence Horn and James Perry together. They were arrested and convicted. Lawrence Horn was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole, while James Perry was ultimately sentenced to three life sentences without parole after his original death sentences were overturned.

About Hitman James Perry

Note: I wrote two articles on this story in 2019. I have updated the information where possible.

James Perry was originally given three death sentences. However, those sentences were overturned. He received three life sentences instead. According to The Washington Post, James Perry died of natural causes at the age of 61 sometime between 2009 and 2010.

Tiffani Horn was away at college when she got the news that her mother and brother had been killed. She cried the entire way home.