The case... Online Plot THOU SHALT NOT KILL?
Was it a contract killing or suicide? Or did the preacher shoot his wife?
Stephen and Amy Allwine were deeply religious.
The couple had met at Christian college, and then married.
Stephen was a preacher at the religious organisation United Church of God, and offered marriage counselling to fellow churchgoers.
Amy was also a member of the church, and ran her own successful dog-training business.
The happily married couple from St Paul, Minnesota were well-liked and respected.
But, in early 2016, their lives took a bizarre turn.
The FBI got in touch with them.
Leaked e-mails had landed on its desk, regarding a plot to have Amy Allwine bumped off!
Accessing the dark Web – the criminal underbelly of the online world – a user named ‘Dogdaygod’ had found a site called Besa Mafia, supposedly run by Albanian gangs.
These gangs offered to assassinate people – for a hefty price.
Dogdaygod claimed to be a jilted wife. And she said of Amy to the Besa Mafia, She tore my family apart by sleeping with my husband.
She requested Amy’s death should look like an accident.
She’d paid $6,000 (around £4,300) in the digital currency Bitcoin to the criminals.
And she had given them details of Amy’s whereabouts, so that they could carry out the hit. However, the date agreed for the killing came and went, and Amy wasn’t dead. Besa Mafia made excuses as to why each murder attempt failed, while demanding more money. Dogdaygod eventually realised it was a scam. But then hackers cracked into Besa Mafia, leaking its hit list to the FBI. Agents alerted the shocked couple that someone wanted Amy Allwine dead – yet Amy had no known enemies.
She was no home-wrecker, and hadn’t had an affair.
Stephen Allwine claimed he had no idea of what was going on, either.
In the end, the law enforcement agents suggested the couple increase their security, and the ‘hit’ was written off as a mystery.
That August, Stephen bought a 9mm Springfield XDS handgun, and stashed it at their home.
And, three months later, in November 2016, he called the police…
Stephen Allwine claimed he’d arrived home to find Amy lying dead in their bedroom.
Police officers found her on the floor next to the bed, blood pouring
from a huge hole blasted
in the side of her head.
Stephen’s handgun lay next to her left arm.
At first glance, it looked as if Amy had committed suicide.
But when investigators looked closer, they quickly suspected foul play.
There were no blood spatters on the wall, or marks on Amy’s head, suggesting the gun had not been pressed to her temple when the trigger was pulled.
Amy’s hands were free of gunpowder and blood, making it unlikely she’d been holding the gun that killed her.
Now, suddenly, the foiled dark Web murder plot of months earlier took on new significance.
Had Dogdaygod finally succeeded in killing Amy and, if so, who was Dogdaygod?
A murder investigation was launched – and now the police looked at Stephen Allwine, as CCTV showed only him going in and out of the house.
Gunpowder was found on his right hand.
Had Allwine actually been Dogdaygod all along?
Frustrated at being conned online, had he taken matters into his own hands?
Computer forensics were called in, Allwine’s multiple phones and computers seized.
Allwine, an IT specialist, had told officers he had no knowledge of the dark Web.
Yet investigators found evidence that he’d been accessing it as early as 2014.
Steven Allwine was charged with Amy’s murder.
This January, Allwine, 44, went on trial at Washington County District Court. He denied killing his wife. But the prosecution alleged he’d dosed his wife with scopolamine – a medication used to treat motion sickness and post-operative nausea and vomiting, which incapacitates and makes users drowsy – before shooting her.
Large amounts of the drug were found in Amy’s system.
And a search of Stephen’s computer showed that he’d sourced the drug on the dark Web.
Due to the lack of blood spatters, prosecutors alleged Allwine had shot Amy in the hallway, then dragged her body into the bedroom, before trying to make it look like suicide.
Computer forensics also linked Allwine with a Bitcoin account – and the Dogdaygod username.
But why would he want his loving wife dead?
Further analysis of his computer showed that, despite his squeaky-clean image, Allwine had a secret.
The devout preacher had broken one of the Ten Commandments...
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
In fact, he’d signed up for a private account on an infamous infidelity website for cheating spouses, through which he’d met and slept with at least three women. The court heard that Allwine longed to leave Amy. However, divorce was forbidden by his church. So he’d burrowed into the dark Web for an answer, found Besa Mafia. He’d decided that, with Amy dead, he’d be free to openly date as many other women as he liked, without being judged by the church. But the site had turned out to be a scam, leading him to take matters into his own hands – he’d have to murder his wife himself. The evidence was stacking up against him. However, Stephen Allwine’s defence also had a case to present.
His lawyer claimed that the crime scene had been contaminated by police officers after Amy’s death.
He called Allwine’s affairs ‘red herrings and distractions’.
‘Just because he had an affair doesn’t mean he killed his wife,’ the defence told the jury.
He also stressed the prosecution didn’t have any fingerprints, eyewitnesses, DNA evidence or a confession – meaning Allwine couldn’t possibly be proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Still, Allwine had broken one of the Ten Commandments by cheating on his wife.
Had he broken another by killing her..?
Why would he want his loving wife dead? amy: What really happened?
Stephen Allwine was found guilty of murder, yet before he was sentenced, he still insisted he was innocent.
‘I didn’t hurt Amy,’ he said. ‘I loved her so much. The grief of losing her is tremendous.’
But the judge remained convinced of Allwine’s guilt, telling him he was, ‘incredibly cold and incredibly calculating’ and handing him a mandatory life sentence in prison.
After the verdict, Amy’s family released a statement saying, ‘We can summon no words to describe life without Amy. We loved her and miss her tremendously. We now turn to the path ahead of privately healing and grieving.’