Jet-set equestrian who hired hitman to kill her husband is found dead outside a bar after heartbreaking final FaceTime call
A California woman convicted of a murder-for-hire plot against her husband has died by suicide, the Daily Mail has learned.
Tatyana Remley died just outside the Princess Pub & Grille in San Diego’s Little Italy area shortly before 9pm on December 18, according to her estranged husband, Mark Remley.
Police have not released her name but confirmed over the weekend that they were ‘investigating a death that appears to be a suicide.’
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the Daily Mail on Monday that Remley, 44, died by suicide. The cause of death has been ruled as ‘gunshot wound to the head.’
Mark told the Daily Mail that his estranged wife called him at around 7pm that Thursday while she was at the bar. He said she complained about a man she was with at the time.
’She FaceTimed me while in the bathroom stall and told me, “I’m with this guy and he’s being a jerk,’ a distraught Mark said. ‘I told her to just leave.
‘I told her, “Do you have this, because I can send help if you need it. I can call 911 if you’re in trouble.”
‘She answered, “No, I got this.” She hung up and that was our last conversation.’
Model and socialite Tatyana Remley died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 18, according to authorities
Remley, pictured with her husband Mark, was arrested and charged with solicitation of murder, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and possessing a loaded firearm in public, in 2023
San Diego Police Department officials told the Daily Mail that a firearm was recovered at the scene where Remley was pronounced dead at 9.02pm.
When he didn’t hear from her the next day, Mark called San Diego Sheriff’s authorities and filed a missing person’s report.
Officials with the San Diego Medical Examiners called Mark and confirmed his estranged wife had taken a gun and shot herself outside the restaurant.
No one else was injured at the site, police said.
On Sunday, Mark fought back tears as he grappled with the news that his wife, who once tried to hire hitmen to kill him, had taken her own life.
‘I tried so many times to get her help because I saw her struggle with life throughout our marriage,’ Mark said. ‘I did not see this coming. I loved her and yes, our marriage ended very badly.
‘I couldn’t stay any longer after she tried to hire someone to kill me. I fled for my life and went to the other side of the country. But this was the last thing I thought would happen to her.’
The Remleys’ tumultuous love story started 15 years ago when the tech entrepreneur met the striking blonde model in the posh Del Mar enclave of San Diego. The two quickly bonded over their love for horses, fast cars, sex and polo matches.
The couple first gained notoriety when they attempted to launch a multimillion-dollar equestrian acrobatics show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds called Valitar in 2012. However, they had to shut it down and left performers and trainers in the lurch after only four or five shows.
Despite the failure of that venture, the couple tried to start other businesses and lived in multiple mansions in California and Hawaii.
Mark, who made millions through real estate investments and formerly served as executive vice president and chief information officer of Signal Corporation, was worth around $30 million when they married in March 2011, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail.
Remley, who had two children from previous relationships, often paraded in skimpy lingerie and posted their luxurious lifestyle on social media.
Mark Remley told the Daily Mail this was the last picture taken of Tatyana from her cell phone shortly before she died on Thursday, December 18
The couple were together for 15 years and were in the midst of a divorce when Remley took her own life last week
The couple even appeared in 2017 on a Showtime series called Naked SNCTM, which was about an elite sex club for swingers.
In a clip from the show, a scantily clad Remley said, ‘I’m all about pushing limits’ as a woman touched her body.
In the episode, Mark is heard saying, ‘Sex is probably the biggest part of our lives.’
Mark told the Daily Mail that after more than a decade into the marriage, he wanted to ’slow down’. Tatyana, however, ‘got bored’ and refused to work despite his encouragement for her to find a career, Mark claimed.
The marriage continued to dissolve and Remley filed for divorce against her husband in July 2, 2023.
In the filing obtained by the Daily Mail, Remley accused Mark’s friends of threatening her life.
In the divorce papers, she maintained that friends of her husband ‘[broke] my expensive horse statue in the yard and put the head of the horse in my bed, Godfather style.’
Mark has denied allegations that he or his friends threatened or were violent toward his wife.
In 2023, Remley asked a mutual friend to find a hitman to kill her husband, according to investigators. Mark immediately went to authorities, who then set up an operation with investigators posing as hitmen.
The San Diego Sheriff’s Department orchestrated a sting using an undercover sheriff’s detective posing as a hitman who met Remley at a Starbucks.
Remley was arrested on August 2, 2023, and charged with solicitation of murder, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and possessing a loaded firearm in public.
She pleaded guilty to the charges and would only serve a year of her three-year-and-eight-month sentence. She was released early from a California jail in January but was arrested again in September on arson charges.
The former socialite was supposed to appear back in court in March 2026 for allegedly trying to burn down the $6 million Del Mar mansion they once shared.
The Remleys first gained notoriety after Valitar collapsed in 2012, leaving performers and crew members unpaid
Photos obtained by the Daily Mail showed the destruction the fire caused in the once lavish six-bedroom home
On Sunday, Mark told the Daily Mail they also were close to coming to a settlement over their divorce.
Since she was released from prison, however, Remley changed her tone and told her estranged husband she still loves him and wanted to reconcile.
In a taped deposition for the divorce taken on August 14 viewed by the Daily Mail, Remley denied she wanted to hire a hit man despite pleading guilty to the charges.
‘If someone is hiring a hitman .. why would they bring a gun to the scene, Mark,’ she asked her husband in the taped deposition.
Mark responded, ‘Tatyana, you’re talking nonsense to me. I wasn’t there. I have no idea.’
‘It was to kill myself,’ Remley responded. ‘And not to actually shoot myself, as in, I will pull the gun out and the cops will shoot me.’
Mark said, despite their breakup, he would still pick up her calls and listen to her updates about her life since she was released from state prison in January.
Remley talked about writing her memoir and had apparently signed a deal to appear on a Netflix documentary.
In her social media, Remley posted pictures of herself smiling while shooting scenes with a camera crew.
A 2016 picture of Tatyana Remley posing at their Del Mar home. The model was known to date wealthy men for their money, a former friend told the Daily Mail
Remley had penned a memoir and was excited for the release of her project with Netflix, her estranged husband said
Before marrying Mark in March 2011, Remley was briefly married to Seattle multi-millionaire biotech tycoon Ken Woolcott.
In their divorce, Woolcott accused his former wife of using his credit cards on shopping sprees to buy clothes, only to return the items and pocket the money. Woolcott obtained full custody of their son, who is now in his 20s.
Remley also had a daughter with San Diego real estate developer Greg Agee.
Mark said he has been in touch with both men to see how they would like to proceed with her remains.
‘I want to leave it up to them because they are the fathers of her children and we never had kids,’ Mark told the Daily Mail. ‘They have the very difficult task to tell the children that their mom is gone now.’
An emotional Mark said he didn’t understand how his estranged wife, who was a convicted felon, was allowed to remain free despite facing fresh arson charges.
‘I just know she would be alive if this DA and this judge didn’t allow who to get out without bail,’ he said. ‘I don’t understand how someone who was convicted of murder-for-hire and was again arrested for arson was allowed to roam the streets with a gun! She was mentally ill and definitely should not have been out of that jail.’
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.
