- In the criminal justice system,
detectives and prosecutors face daunting challenges
when money is the motive for murder.
[dramatic sting]
- The Bellush homicide was the big case
on all the news feeds.
- This is Sheila's last moment alive.
- The murder of quad mom Sheila Bellush
reveals a vicious plot driven by greed.
- We can link it to the money that leads to the conspiracy.
- Prosecutors are tested
by the killer's high-priced legal team.
- This is horrific.
Footprints all over the floor of the children in blood.
- We knew this was about the money.
The problem was proving it.
- These men and women dedicate their lives to law and order.
- This was the case I'll always remember.
[dramatic music]
- These are their true stories.
[dramatic sting]
[phone line beeping]
[sirens wailing]
- The first deputy on scene--
when he entered the house and saw what had happened,
he immediately knew something was wrong.
* *
- The first thing our deputy sees is four toddlers,
and they're covered in their mother's blood.
In the kitchen,
he discovers a 13-year-old girl
standing beside the body of her mother.
* *
- Police learned the 911 caller
was 13-year-old Stevie Bellush,
who discovered the crime scene after school.
- When I arrived at the house,
myself and Lieutenant Ron Albritton
were made the lead detectives in this case.
Ron Albritton was a supervisor
in the Detective Bureau at the time.
His strengths were keeping the supervisors above us
off our backs.
- Detective Chris Iorio--
very thorough, very experienced detective,
a little bit cocky--
exactly what you want in a good detective.
Very quickly, Chris found out that the quad mom from Texas
is our victim in this case.
[baby crying]
- We first introduced you to the Bellushes
in December of 1995, when they had quintuplets.
- Francis Anthony is named after my father.
- It was a very joyful time.
- The Sheila Bellush homicide
was the most sensational story I had ever been part of.
She was a young mother. She had two teenage daughters.
And she had four quadruplets with her husband,
Jamie Bellush.
- First week-- oh, that was scary.
[laughs] I didn't have sleep for two days,
and it was pretty rough.
- It's overwhelming,
and, unfortunately, I do a lot of out-of-town travel.
So I had to get my wife some help.
- They were still new in the neighborhood.
They had relocated to Sarasota from Texas.
Jamie was a very successful pharmaceutical salesperson,
and Sheila Bellush was a legal secretary.
- I met Sheila through a mutual friend.
We were like the Three Musketeers,
you know, running around, doing things.
She was a fun mom,
always making the kids laugh, very active with them.
I really looked up to her.
It was about midday.
I got a phone call
that my friend Sheila had been murdered,
and I just dropped the phone.
Knowing Sheila the way I did,
what happened to her didn't make sense.
How could anyone...
even think of doing this?
* *
- Initially, when I walked into the house,
I just walked in and took a Polaroid
and walked back out.
This is the only time in my career
that I've had four toddlers that I had to photograph.
They didn't have any injuries,
but they didn't understand why all these strangers are here.
That was very emotional,
but you can't break down in front of four little babies.
So you have to move on and focus
on the next piece of evidence.
* *
In the garage, there was a towel
that had what appeared to be gunshot residue
and a hole in it,
apparently trying to make a silencer.
There was a casing on the dryer,
as well as a bullet hole in the utility-room wall.
So we dusted for prints and managed to get
a print off of the dryer.
In the kitchen, there was a bloody knife
with a bent tip,
which appeared consistent with the knives
on a magnetic rack.
It looked like the murderer switched to the knife
because the towel jammed the gun.
So not only did she have a bullet hole,
she had knife wounds to her neck.
* *
- This is Sheila's last moment alive.
Tries to get the phone to dial 911 and get help.
And she was so close.
She gets her hand on the phone,
and the blood smear slides down.
I think that was a mother's instincts
kicking in and protecting-- - I totally agree.
- She's thinking about protecting her kids.
- I totally agree. Yep.
Poor little guys. - Yeah.
* *
- Jamie Bellush showed up, found out what happened.
Of course, he was, you know, grief-stricken at the time.
And once he collected himself,
we told him we would like to talk to him
about the situation.
He said, do I need an attorney for this?
- That was a surprise statement for an innocent person.
Why does he need a lawyer?
Is he hiding something?
* *
[dramatic sting]
* *
- With suspicions aroused,
investigators questioned Jamie Bellush,
looking for opportunity and motive.
- Jamie Bellush was a strongly built former Marine,
short-cut hair, a no-nonsense type of guy, tough guy.
He wasn't going to take crap from anybody.
You could tell he was worried about his kids, the quads.
And he was worried about his stepkids,
Stevie and Daryl Bellush.
They were the natural children of Sheila
with her ex-husband, Allen Blackthorne.
- Jamie was able to tell us that this ex-husband
was really a tyrant.
There was issues with paying child support.
He was complaining about how much money they all got.
- Jamie Bellush had an alibi in Fort Myers,
running his pharmaceutical sales routes.
- He's a person of interest,
but without any evidence,
we can't put him in the crime scene.
We got to keep looking.
- As investigators examined Jamie Bellush's story,
they needed to also talk
to Sheila's millionaire ex-husband, Allen Blackthorne.
- I called him on the phone,
and he was very nonchalant about it.
He'd already seen it on TV.
There was no grief or anything
about his ex-wife being murdered.
But after we started looking into him,
we found out he had an airtight alibi.
He was on a golf course at the time of this murder.
Hundreds of people could say,
oh, yeah, he was golfing that day.
[dramatic sting]
* *
- A lot of people in our community
seen this story on the news, and calls started coming in.
But it's so rare that those phone calls to us
would end up relevant to the case.
However, we received a call from a lady
who worked at a gas station on Bee Ridge Road,
and she told us
a male came in asking for directions
to Markridge Road.
That's where our homicide took place.
She described the male
as either Hispanic or Italian.
He had on combat gear or camouflage.
And she provided him with a map of Sarasota,
trying to tell him how you get to Markridge Road.
- She said, I still have the map if you want it.
Of course, we wanted it.
And it was this laminated map
that was perfect to develop some fingerprints.
We ended up processing it
and got a match to the thumbprint on the dryer.
I said, are you kidding me?
* *
And then we got a tip that was like
what every cop goes to bed and prays for at night.
- We get a telephone call
from a fella by the name of Jacob Mast,
working on the lawns here that day.
He sees this guy come up,
and he's like, this guy doesn't fit this neighborhood.
He goes back to work, but he does one more thing.
He makes up a rhyme that allows him
to remember the tag number.
We ran it as a Florida tag, of course,
and we got back absolutely nothing.
Sheila Bellush was from Texas,
Allen Blackthorne is from Texas.
So we run it as a Texas tag.
Bingo.
There is a car registered out of Texas
with that tag number on it.
Sounds pretty good to us.
We're off to Texas.
We got so much more than we bargained for.
- They located the camouflage gear, the boots.
- I find out that he's very nervous about something.
- What is his motive? Does he know the Bellushes?
He thought his testimony
should be his get-out-of-jail-free card.
- As investigators sought answers
in the killing of quad mom Sheila Bellush,
her murder quickly made national headlines.
[dramatic sting]
- The day Sheila Bellush was killed,
the man the employee described for this composite sketch
came to her asking for directions to Markridge Road.
- I'm 95 years old.
It's the worst crime I ever heard in my life.
- I was not prepared for the gravity of the situation
at the funeral.
CNN and a lot of news media were there.
Everybody was just devastated
that it happened in front of the babies.
Jamie had said they were so little
that he was hoping they wouldn't remember.
In their little eyes,
you can see that there's something going on--
more than just them smiling or being kids, you know.
They had something horrific happen to them.
They witnessed it all,
and you didn't want to believe it, you know?
[somber music]
- When we run the tag on our suspect's car,
it tells us its owner
is Maria Del Toro of La Pryor, Texas,
and she's a woman in her 60s.
We're off to Texas the next morning,
on the first flight out at 6:25.
[dramatic music]
- Maria Del Toro said, yes, it is her car,
but her grandson is who drives it all the time.
His name is Joey Del Toro.
- Joey Del Toro was a star football player
at his high school-- the running back, you know.
Very popular.
He's not an accomplished criminal.
He's more of a party boy, you know, a fun guy.
Everybody loves Joey.
- And then we get a call from the forensic unit saying,
we got the fingerprints back from Texas on Del Toro,
and we've got a match to the fingerprint on the dryer
in the laundry room.
- We now know Joey Del Toro's in our crime scene,
and now we have probable cause.
- We actually went by the address
of his girlfriend's house in Austin,
and we spotted the car.
- Authorities entered the apartment
and discovered that Joey wasn't there.
Joey's girlfriend revealed that he had fled days earlier,
leaving behind his car and a small duffel bag.
- Inside the duffel bag, we get camouflage clothes
consistent with what's being reported back in Sarasota,
that people saw on our suspect.
We have Joey's vehicle towed
to DPS crime scene in Austin.
And we got so much more than we bargained for.
- There was receipts
from Sports Authority and some other stores
for the camouflage gear, the boots.
And they located the gun, which was a Colt .45,
and it had three magazines.
- That .45 ultimately matches
the one we get at the crime scene.
- Anything we can imagine was there.
We found a map of Florida, directions to Florida.
The question of the day was,
why would he drive from Texas to Sarasota,
kill Sheila Bellush, and drive back?
What's his connection?
- Does he know the Bellushes?
Did he meet them at some point in the past
back in Texas?
* *
- Investigators interview Joey's contacts
to reveal where he could be hiding out.
- Pretty much without exception,
they were all telling us his cousin, Sammy Gonzales.
- Sammy Gonzales is brought back
to the Texas Ranger station.
The only thing we wanted to get out of Sammy is,
where's Del Toro?
[dramatic sting]
I started interviewing him,
and I find out that he's very nervous about something.
And not just about, you know, knowing where his cousin is.
Little by little,
we found out that Gonzales was involved in this conspiracy.
- A friend of his, Danny Rocha, had asked him,
did he know anybody
that would beat up somebody for some money?
You know, maybe a few thousand dollars.
- We're like, who is this Danny Rocha guy?
What is his motive?
That's not clear.
- Sammy referred Danny Rocha to his cousin, Joey Del Toro.
- During the summer of '97,
the conspirators get together in Texas.
- Of all the people involved,
nobody really needed the money that bad.
It was easy greed.
I mean, they assumed they could do this and never get caught.
- Detectives realized they had uncovered a murder-for-hire,
but Sammy was unaware of who had paid Danny Rocha.
Whoever had pulled the strings and the murderer
had yet to be brought to justice.
- Jamie Bellush checked out.
He had nothing to do with this. We eliminated him.
- We work with Sammy and try to get information.
Where's Joey?
Sammy tells us
he got a frantic phone call Monday morning.
Joey became aware that the cops from Sarasota
is here asking questions.
And at 3:00 a.m. on Monday morning,
Del Toro took a bus from San Antonio to Laredo
and crossed the border to Mexico.
So now there's legal roadblocks
involved in this case.
It's torturous because we know who the people are
behind the murder of Sheila Bellush,
but they're not in jail yet.
We're on the right track with the right people,
[dramatic music]
- Across the border, radio stations there
have been receiving calls--
people saying they've seen Del Toro walking around.
* *
- At this point, we know everything that had happened
in Florida,
everything that had happened in Texas,
and Del Toro in Mexico.
So we're working with prosecutors in Florida
and in Texas before we proceed any further.
- Investigators continue to track down Del Toro,
while prosecutors begin to build a case
against the conspirators of this murder-for-hire.
- Thank you.
We work closely together.
He's a workaholic.
- We didn't have anything else to do.
- [laughs]
- Families didn't really want us at home,
and this was the place to be.
- And it was a joke around here.
We went to lunch together virtually every day
for 30 years.
We got to be close friends.
- In this case, it was very clear
that Joey Del Toro was enlisted
basically by his cousin Sammy Gonzales
and by Danny Rocha to commit murder-for-hire.
At one point, there was talk about $10,000
to have Sheila killed.
So the picture was fairly clear.
The problem was, why was Danny willing to have her killed?
- Rocha's financial records revealed a membership
to the Oak Hills Country Club,
a club whose members included another person
very familiar to detectives.
- Turns out Danny Rocha
is Allen Blackthorne's best golf partner.
We have a suspect golfing
with Sheila's ex-husband.
* *
- Danny played golf, but he didn't golf for fun.
He golfed for money.
And Allen, from all appearances,
was a bottomless well of money.
They would bet just staggering amounts on a golf game.
And in one year, Danny got about $300,000 in cash
from Allen, betting on golf.
It appeared that Danny
was hustling Allen Blackthorne.
In fact, it was the other way around.
- Our theory was that Allen recognized
that he had somebody in Danny Rocha
who might be able to serve
his still-ongoing vendetta, as it were,
against Sheila over the payments after their divorce.
- The financial records of Blackthorne's company
revealed multiple medical patents
worth millions of dollars.
After the divorce, Sheila Bellush
was due a payout of over a million from Blackthorne.
- With Allen Blackthorne, there's monetary advantages.
There's motive.
- He didn't want to pay her a dime,
and he knew that he could manipulate Danny
to cause harm to Sheila.
Allen would fertilize
the discussion with things like,
he was thinking about building a golf course.
Danny, you could run the golf course,
and I'll give you an interest in it.
He knew that Danny would respond to this,
and so he was fairly easily manipulated.
The problem was proving it.
Allen had been particularly devious and successful
in putting distance between himself
and the actual commission of the murder.
- Prosecutors believed that Allen Blackthorne
had ordered the hit,
but they needed Danny Rocha to prove it.
Investigators set sights
on getting Danny to turn on his boss.
[dramatic sting]
- While doing a drive-by
at Danny Rocha's aunt's house, where he is frequently,
we see him come out of the house
on to the front porch.
We get out and confront him.
Danny's demeanor is,
I knew this was coming, and I want my attorney.
So, at that point, we really don't get to interview him.
He's not under arrest at this time.
In fact, Sammy Gonzales is not under arrest at this time.
So things progress slowly.
- We figured, you know what?
We have to go try to talk to Allen Blackthorne.
So we drive to this mansion in Texas.
- It's this big, gaudy pink mansion.
You know, big, humongous entryway,
"double front doors" kind of a thing,
just a huge, huge home.
* *
- His current wife,
Maureen Blackthorne, was there,
and she invited us in.
She knew who we were
and probably figured we were coming eventually.
- Maureen gets on the phone, calls Allen,
and says, we have company--
clearly a code as to who's here,
because within one minute, the telephone rings,
and she answers it.
And she says,
this is Roy Barrera, Allen's attorney, on the phone.
He would like to speak with one of you.
And his first question is,
are there any warrants for my client?
I said, no, not at this time.
And he said, well, my client will not be allowed to talk
to anyone without me being present at any time.
And at that moment,
Allen Blackthorne walks in the door.
He certainly wasn't going to talk to us.
* *
We got what we expected.
We got what we were prepared for at that point, you know.
- Yeah. Cocky. - Yeah.
- Real cocky, arrogant. - He's got money.
He's got lawyers. I don't have time for you guys.
- You guys are from some little bitty town in Florida.
- Yeah, right.
- You ain't going to get me. - Right. That's...
- He did.
- Basically what he didn't say, but you know was his attitude
and what he was thinking when it come to us.
Everything was against us at this point.
Joey's in the wind, nowhere to be located,
and now Allen Blackthorne's lawyered up.
As a detective, you have to make this work,
and you can't give up on the case.
It's up to you to seek that justice.
- This was at her baby shower-- three boys and one girl,
so the one pink bootie's for the one girl.
She's sitting there telling my husband that--
They have their birthdays one day apart,
and she would say,
hey, Terry, you need to respect your elders.
And we would all giggle and laugh about that,
'cause she was funny.
I miss her every day.
During their nasty divorce,
Allen would drag her into court
for whatever reason he could think of.
He was battling her with his lawyers constantly.
She would never, ever...
let him have full custody.
Allen was awful, but he was making all that money.
He could get away with it.
But in the end, she beat him in court so much
that she got a lot of money,
and he did sign over custody, you know,
so he wanted to make sure that she suffered in some way.
I just think he didn't want her to have the money.
[somber music]
After her murder, I knew that Allen...
[sniffles]
Had her killed.
* *
I just kept praying that they're going to prove it,
and he's not going to get away with it.
* *
- When it comes time to do any prosecution in this case,
everybody's saying, why isn't Allen arrested?
Why haven't you gotten this guy?
Let's remember--
Allen Blackthorne had the best lawyers that money can buy.
You can put an awful lot of circumstances
that says Allen Blackthorne is behind this,
but what's the one piece of evidence that says
he's the mastermind?
You need Danny Rocha for that direct testimony.
- Danny Rocha wasn't going to talk about the murder
or anything like that.
We thought, well, you know what?
An arrest would get somebody to talk.
We got with Texas and Florida prosecutors.
We said, at this point in time,
we think we have enough evidence to arrest them.
Let's go ahead and arrest Rocha and Gonzales.
- When we get there, Danny Rocha looks at me,
and he says, is it time?
It's time, Danny.
[dramatic music]
While all this is going on, Del Toro is in Mexico.
- Eagle Pass Police hoping Jose Luis Del Toro's photo,
now splashed across newspapers,
will eventually lead to his arrest.
Mexican authorities are cooperating fully
in their search for Del Toro,
a 21-year-old drifter wanted for murdering Sheila Bellush
in Sarasota, Florida, almost a week ago.
[dramatic sting]
- And then on the 18th of November,
I get a phone call.
They just arrested Joey in Monterrey, Mexico.
- When the Mexican authorities find out
that Joey failed to get a visa,
they were able to bring him in and put him in jail.
So now we need to see if we can get him
back to the United States.
- We start extradition procedures.
All of a sudden, there's roadblocks.
We can't have him back. We can't get him back.
- With Joey at least temporarily
out of the picture,
hopes rested in convincing Sammy and Danny
to flip on Blackthorne.
Sammy Gonzales was the first to cut a deal--
a plea bargain in exchange for his testimony.
- He was going to testify against Del Toro.
He was going to testify against Rocha.
Sammy wasn't our big fish,
but he was a big part to get to the big fish.
- Prosecution was making that bridge
from Joey Del Toro up to Allen Blackthorne.
- But we need the testimony of Danny Rocha.
He arranged the conspiracy on behalf of Blackthorne.
However, the same deal we offered Sammy Gonzales--
20 years, where he really does 15,
and he'll be out in exchange for his testimony--
Danny Rocha turns down.
He thought his testimony to give us Blackthorne
should free him and be his get-out-of-jail-free card,
and no deal was ever brought
because he thought he would never serve time in prison.
That's what he's banking on. He's betting his life on it.
[dramatic sting]
- Daniel Rocha, the defendant,
on trial for first-degree murder.
- When you tell someone
that it would be easiest to shoot her to get your money,
you are conspiring to commit first-degree murder.
- It wasn't something that the evidence shows
that he wanted to happen.
- Sheila's widower, Jamie, usually calm,
released his frustration and anger.
- Danny blamed everything on Joey Del Toro.
She was supposed to get beaten,
and Del Toro took it upon himself to kill her,
so why was he responsible for that?
It was a tough case to present,
because he didn't pull the trigger.
The law's in Florida
that if you conspire to murder somebody,
you don't have to actually even be there.
We had to try to convince the jurors
that everybody had their little part in this thing.
And you take one piece out of the puzzle,
and it doesn't happen.
Sheila Bellush is alive.
- Since prosecutors believed that Blackthorne's motive
was to avoid a massive payout to his ex-wife,
they needed to prove
that Danny had provided a cheaper solution--
murder-for-hire.
[dramatic sting]
- Halfway through trial, Sammy testified to the jury
that Danny was telling Joey, look, you can do this.
The easiest way to get your money is to shoot her.
- And at the end of that trial,
Danny rolled the dice and come up snake eyes because...
- We, the jury, find as follows
as to count one of the charges--
the defendant is guilty
of principal to murder in the first degree.
- He lost.
At that moment, Danny Rocha knows
he's spending the rest of his life in prison.
- Allen played him for a sucker.
It aggravated him that he's in prison for life
and Blackthorne's golfing
and living the life of a millionaire.
And he figures, this isn't right.
- Danny, at some point in time,
realized that he was being used.
- While awaiting Joey Del Toro's extradition
from Mexico,
prosecutors prepared their case
in order to bring charges against Allen Blackthorne.
[dramatic sting]
- I am 100% convinced that everyone involved in this case
will be eventually arrested, prosecuted,
and sentenced to prison.
- Including Allen Blackthorne? - Everyone involved.
- It's tough when you're guilty until proven innocent.
It's a tough spot to be in.
I pray no one else has to find themselves in that position.
- The district attorney for the state of Texas
wanted to try the case.
- But the state was having difficulty
getting around the accomplice witness rule,
which is a rule of Texas procedure
that a person cannot be found guilty
based on the uncorroborated testimony
of a witness who participated in the crime.
Allen offered them X dollars to kill Sheila.
In manipulating Danny and Sammy,
there was nobody left to testify,
and Allen Blackthorne
was protected by the accomplice witness rule.
And so that's how it came to John Murphy and I.
In federal court,
there was a fairly recently enacted statute--
the Violence Against Women Act.
One of the provisions of that act
made it unlawful for a spouse or former spouse
to travel in interstate commerce
to cause harm to their former partner.
It was almost, like, tailor-made
for this particular case.
- We had to show interstate travel,
and the idiot used his cell phone.
- Yeah, what we did was we took the telephone records,
but each one of these was a location and a time and a date
where he connected with a cell phone tower.
He's hit Macon, Georgia, after the murder...
[clears throat] And comes across.
He gets to Hillsboro, Texas, the next day at 9:21 a.m.
So he drives straight across.
[phone rings]
We filed a motion to detain Allen Blackthorne
on the two charges that he caused another person
to travel in interstate commerce
to commit murder-for-hire, and we were off to the races.
[dramatic music]
- They went out to Oak Hills Country Club.
They waited for him to finish golfing.
When he came out into the parking lot,
they arrested him.
* *
- I went to San Antonio to cover the federal trial.
This case that has stretched 2 1/2 years
was finally coming to an end.
- Prosecutors say they're anxious to try the case--
the first real test of two charges
stemming from the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.
- It was a big story.
The place was packed with reporters.
The family was there. Allen's wife was there.
He had his five lawyers.
- Allen's been waiting a long time.
We feel that his innocence will be demonstrated
in this courtroom.
- The courtroom was always full,
but I don't pay attention to the gallery.
I'm concerned about the jury's reactions.
And so our first day's evidence was the 911 call.
[person crying]
So the foundation was laid.
We used a lot of photographs.
[camera shutter clicking]
- We had the crime scene tech--
called her as our next witness,
and she was allowed to describe
footprints all over the floor of the children in blood.
They were left for hours
with their mother in a pool of blood.
I'm sure they were hungry, they were cold,
they were scared.
So the jury got the message.
- There were a couple of jurors
who really physically reacted to the photos.
- It's horrific.
So we got their attention early on, and it was just--
immediately set the tone.
This is very serious stuff.
And then we called Stevie.
- So Stevie, in 2000, at the criminal trial,
had turned 16 years old.
* *
- She pretty much held up.
She may have cried a couple times.
Finding your mother in a pool of blood with her throat slit
and your four brothers and sisters covered in blood.
- I covered every moment of that federal trial,
and seeing Stevie up there was heartbreaking.
Her mom is dead, and her father is probably going to prison.
And she, at that point,
had stopped referring to him as Dad.
Certainly, it didn't help Blackthorne.
- That was his daughter up there describing
the most horrendous crime scene you could think of,
and he has no emotion.
Just not a care in the world.
- It struck us as unnatural.
He had zero empathy...
none.
So sad.
The next phase of it was, we put on Danny Rocha.
- Every day Danny Rocha was sitting in prison,
he knew Allen Blackthorne was out playing golf,
having a great time.
And trust me, that worked on Danny Rocha.
His first statement on the stand was,
I have nothing to lose or gain.
- The jury heard how it came about
that Allen Blackthorne had Sheila murdered.
* *
Over time, as the events were occurring
concerning child custody and money,
Allen's anger at Sheila was increasing.
The terms, the intent, they changed over time,
and he wasn't going to be satisfied
with just beating her up.
There was talk about $10,000.
At another point, it was up to $50,000,
if I get the girls back.
And that came out of Danny's mouth.
- Danny's testimony made his motive clear.
Once Sheila was eliminated,
each of the conspirators received a split of $10,000
and the promise of more to come.
- On cross-examination, Lubin, the defense attorney,
he kept harping on the idea
that Danny's worthless as a witness.
He's a liar, and he could never be trusted as a witness.
- Their theory coming into the case was,
this case depended solely on Danny Rocha.
- As prosecutors presented their case
against Allen Blackthorne,
the trial took an unexpected turn.
[dramatic sting]
- Allen Blackthorne arrived at federal court
once again this morning, handcuffed and shackled.
- After we arrested and they put on a couple of witnesses,
they announced that Allen Blackthorne
was going to testify.
- Normally, a murder suspect never gets
on the witness stand,
because a good prosecutor can open all kinds of doors.
But Allen Blackthorne, again,
part and parcel to his entire mentality was--
I'm so smart, I'll convince a jury I'm innocent.
- His lawyer, Lubin, took Allen through his testimony,
and what his explanation was--
how much he loved the girls,
and all of the things that he did were in the interest
of his love for the girls.
- Nonsense.
I said, how many times have you sent gifts to Daryl?
Well, none.
I said, how many Christmas cards, birthday cards
have you sent her in the last four years?
Mm, none.
He had no contact with them whatsoever
after he had their mother butchered.
And I said, you go to the golf course and lose $20,000.
You haven't given your kids a penny
since you had their mother killed.
He couldn't deny that.
He didn't like the "had her killed" part.
- He had a line that came up-- did you hate Sheila?
I didn't hate Sheila. I hated the things she did.
Blackthorne had made himself a target for ridicule.
So the ridicule was, well, he didn't hate Sheila.
He just hated the things she did,
and then he did this and this and this,
but he didn't hate Sheila.
He just hated the things she did.
By the third time you do it,
most listeners are going to get, yeah, yeah, sure he did.
- With closing arguments completed,
the jury convened to deliberate.
Hours passed with no verdict.
- When the jury was deliberating...
[phone ringing]
We get the phone call.
The murderer, Joey Del Toro,
is going to be flown from the Mexican prison
to Miami International Airport
and handed over to us.
Chris and I leave to go pick him up.
- I ran over to the jail.
I figured, if he's ever going to tell me anything,
it's going to be now.
[dramatic sting]
- So he tells me he watched her for an hour,
and he makes eye contact with her, with Sheila.
He says, I was just getting ready to leave, and she saw me.
And then I had to do it. Can you believe that sh--?
- The horror that she had to feel
at that particular moment.
- He could have got the hell out of there,
and we wouldn't be here today.
[dramatic music]
* *
- Joey Del Toro finds an open window unlocked,
and that's how he gets into the house.
From there, he takes a vantage point
and starts watching Sheila Bellush--
laying in wait, in effect waiting his opportunity
to kill her.
* *
It's something you don't forget.
It's something you'll always remember.
You can't forget that.
* *
- Joey Del Toro was finally stateside and facing trial,
but Blackthorne's trial wasn't over.
After 33 1/2 hours of deliberation,
the jury reached a verdict.
- It's a moment of apprehension.
You don't know which way this is going to come out.
- The jury hands the paper to Judge Prado,
and he reads the verdict.
- He said, on count one, we the jury find
that the defendant, Allen Blackthorne, is...
guilty.
And as to count two, we the jury find him guilty.
* *
- I screamed and jumped for joy.
I ran outside, and I fell to my knees,
and I looked up to the sky, and I said, yes, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
- Joey Del Toro decides he's going to plea,
knowing that he's going to get life in prison.
So, for, you know, maybe a few thousand dollars,
Joey Del Toro got life in prison.
Not much compensation to ruin the rest of their life.
- We were very relieved.
Justice is done,
and it's done fairly to the right outcome.
* *
- At Thanksgiving, we left Texas,
and we come home.
Cops have families, too.
Every case has a lesson,
and the lesson learned from this was very clear--
your family, your loved ones, the people you care about,
all that can change in a moment.
[voice breaking] So we came home
and spent Thanksgiving with our families.
- There's a lot of closure
that's going to be brought about today.
Thank you for considering all the evidence carefully,
and thank you for delivering the proper verdict.
I just tell them Mommy's in heaven with Jesus.
When they're old enough, we'll be able to...
talk about what this is all about.
- One of the most remarkable coincidences in this case--
and yet so appropriate, as it turned out--
it was that Allen Blackthorne
was all about money and control.
Now his whole life is about to be controlled for him.
Of all people,
even Allen Blackthorne is now going to have to pay the price.