As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis charged with soliciting wife's murder Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying is accused of trying to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife. THE lead singer of heavy metal band As I Lay Dying, who is charged with plotting to kill his estranged wife, had recently become obsessed with bodybuilding and had started acting dangerously distracted around his children, his wife said in divorce papers. Tim Lambesis was charged late on Wednesday with one felony count of solicitation of murder and was scheduled to be arraigned today, San Diego County district attorney spokeswoman Tanya Sierra said. Lambesis' estranged wife, Meggan Lambesis, said in the court papers obtained by The Associated Press that her husband had fallen asleep while caring for the couple's three children near a pool and had begun spending endless hours at a gym. He had also begun to spend thousands of dollars on tattoos, she said in the papers filed last autumn. Meggan Lambesis didn't express any concern in the documents for her own safety, however. Police say her husband tried to hire a hitman to kill her, but the person he approached was actually an undercover detective taking part in a sting operation set up following a tip to law enforcement last week. The 32-year-old frontman of the Grammy-nominated band was taken into custody on Tuesday at a store in Oceanside, California. The musician's wife also said in court papers that Lambesis toured six months a year and had taken two last-minute trips in a month to see his then-girlfriend in Florida. She said he owned two "high-end" Harley Davidson motorcycles, dined out for almost every meal and lived in a spacious suite at his parents' $US2 million ($1.96 million) home. She asked the court to order an expert to examine their music-related businesses and other assets. She submitted a tax return showing the couple grossed $US233,000 in 2010 but did not specify an amount she was seeking for spousal support. The couple adopted the children - ages 4, 8 and 10 - from Ethiopia, and Tim Lambesis continued to see them for about 10 hours a week when he was not on tour, even though the couple was no longer living together, according to court documents. Meggan Lambesis said in the court papers that he would ignore the children while texting or talking on the phone. The stay-at-home mum said the children need a stable parent to help them adjust to their new life. She said they would try private mediation to work out the children's custody and visitation issues. Tim Lambesis' comments about his Grammy-nominated band's latest album, Awakened, indicate he may have been struggling. The singer, who has a degree in religious studies, is known for his growled vocals and philosophical lyrics, which he has said are written from his perspective as a Christian. The band's website says the album - released the same month Lambesis' wife filed for divorce after eight years of marriage - is a "far darker, more pessimistic beast" than previous albums. As I Lay Dying formed in San Diego in 2000 and has released six albums, including 2007's An Ocean Between Us, which reached No.8 on Billboard's charts.