(NBC News) – When Ohio resident Pat Sabo is offered $50,000 to kill someone hundreds of miles away, he calls the police to report the incident. Acting quickly, investigators set up an elaborate sting operation to bring down those behind the murder-for-hire plot.

Here’s a preview of Andrea Canning’s report:

Eastlake police had reason to believe a man’s life was at risk, but they needed more evidence to be sure.

DETECTIVE CHRISTOPHER BOWERSOCK: it’s a murder for hire. It’s– it’s– it’s very serious.

Serious and also a puzzle. Investigators were missing key pieces about the target.

PAT POLICE INTERVIEW AUDIO: I was never given his name or anything he gave me a picture and his address.

Detectives ran a background check. And they learned the person who lived at that address was named David Metter. David was the target.

DETECTIVE CHRISTOPHER BOWERSOCK: We– Found out that– he was a prominent businessman.

A businessman who lived nearly a thousand miles away in Gwinnett County, Georgia. From what detectives could tell, David seemed to have it all — a good job, a nice house — and a happy marriage with a new wife. So why did David have a price on his head? That was a question the police were asking. And Patrick Sabo had the answers he was about to tell detectives the rest of the story including why the man wanted David dead.

PATRICK SABO: Just spite, hate, venom, vitriol comin’ out of him.

Watch “Dateline” tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC4.