I know nothing of the particulars of this case, but a person could order a fake hit and then kill themselves in order to make it look like a murder to ensure the life insurance payout.

For purposes of a life insurance payout, ordering a real hit on yourself, and dying in it, is most definitely suicide.

I mean maybe, if you thought the hit was real and were disappointed when nothing happened you might go that route.

Or if you fully intended to commit suicide and were only interested in a hit as a way to make sure the insurance pays out.

Trying to make sure someone gets a life insurance pay out is a really common feature of a lot of stories about suicide.

Most life insurance policies actually do cover suicide.

After 2 years.

Remember to check the terms of your contract, folks!

> about as criminal as murdering someone

If you think insurance fraud is anywhere near as criminal as murder, then I worry for whatever juridiction you live in.

I think killing yourself for insurance fraud is definitely near murder. But that's just me.

That's just you. Killing yourself is nowhere near as serious as killing someone else; the insurance fraud leaves that conclusion untouched.

If the one ordered to do the killing knows the target is the one ordering the kill and the target is of a sound mind, I would call it assisted suicide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_death), and I wouldn’t call what the killer did murder.