From the dark web to a suburban murder plot | Forensic Files

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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website in the spring of 2016
Detective Sergeant Randy McAllister was sitting in his office at the college Grove police department where he had
worked for nearly 20 years if you're going to be a police officer you could do worse than being stationed at Cottage
Grove Minnesota Cottage Grove population 36,000 lies on the north bank of the Mississippi River a half hour drive from
the Minneapolis City Center it has its share of problems just like any other suburb of a major metropolitan area but
nothing like the problems of the inner city Brenda McAllister liked the quiet and predictability of working for a
low-crime small city community serious violent crime was rare and over his entire career McAllister had known of
just two murders both of which had been in the previous four years the 31st of May 2016 was much like any other day
until the monotony was broken up by a visit from the FBI although not an everyday occurrence it was not
completely out of the ordinary for the FBI to contact local police as a courtesy to let them know that they were
investigating a crime in their area special agent Asher silky informed detective sergeant McAllister that the
FBI had intercepted a threat made on the Internet involving a possible victim in
Cottage Grove Sukie asked if a local police officer could accompany him to notify the
potential victim threat reports are a common issue they usually come via the internet or text messaging but this one
was a little different it had come by a something called the dark web there was a term that Randy McAllister
had heard but like most people didn't really have much understanding of he signed one of his detectives to
accompany the FBI agent to visit a mrs. Amy Alwine at her home on 76 24 110th Street south Cottage Grove one hundred
and tenth Street is a long semi rural road of very large blocks the old ones lived in the last house on the right
before a 20 car park led to the gray cloud dunes sand gravel Prairie the Prairie was popular with walkers and
often sunset Watchers would sit in parked cars enjoying the view the letter boxes along the street were peppered
with neighborhood watch stickers but there were rarely any incidents that required reporting the house owned by
Stephen and Amy all one was no Shack but the simple dwelling could not compete with the significantly larger and more
elaborate homes of their neighbors there was the epitome of the worst house on the best Street a prefab home that had
been shipped in pieces and assembled on the property it comprised four small bedrooms an open-plan kitchen living
area and three bathrooms and attached a double garage provided an alternative entry to the house via a mudroom that
doubled as a laundry the 28 acres also held a large barn that had been refurbished
for house Amy all wines dog training business active dog sports the rest of the land was rented out for truck
gardening when Special Agent silky end of the local detective knocked on the door of number 76 24 it was answered by
a thin blunt man in his early 40s he was Steven Alwine he explained and his wife Amy wasn't home the two law
enforcement officers told him they needed to speak to a me urgently though they didn't think she was in immediate
danger they made arrangements for Amy to attend at the Cottage Grove police department as soon as she could
Steven and Amy attended the station the next day June 1st 2016 when the FBI agent tell them why they
had been called in the story that unfolded was unbelievable [Music] the dark web is a sort of parallel
internet that can only be accessed by downloading special software once it's installed on a computer a user can visit
websites that can't be found on the regular Internet sites on the dark web include black
market selling weapons drugs forgeries banking details stolen goods credit cards and in new identities illegal porn
forums and file-sharing sites political dissent and hate sites and hacking communities the dark web is
covered in greater detail in case 76 of case file Silk Road many people refer to
the dark web as the Wild West of the Internet where anything goes it's the Internet's evil twin where
people have total freedom to buy sell share or create anything they want confident that they can not be found
some people want to buy murderous substances and implements some want to sell people others want to share live
streams of torture or create pictures and films of such depravity they're seasoned cops who view them need
counselling and some people want to hire a hitman in 2016 the most popular and profitable murder-for-hire outfit on the
dark web was called Besser mafia Besser mafia opened shop on the dark web in December 2015 with a slick and
professional side borrowing from the success of dark net markets like Silk Road Besser mafia promised to match
buyers and sellers of services someone could either sign up as a potential customer or to offer their services as a
potential killer Parker thug or loan shark when a customer posted a job besa mafia
would assign a nearby operative holding the money in escrow until the job was done to the customer's satisfaction
while some dark web hitman sites had tried to convey the impression they were the suave shadowy figures of popular
culture Besson mafia admitted outright that their hitmen what gang members and drug addicts
mostly stupid but willing to murder a stranger provided they were paid on April 25 2016
the Besser mafia website was hacked revealing an extensive database of names addresses and photographs of people who
had been targeted for murder at least a dozen of these names had Bitcoin addresses attached to them meaning that
the people placing the hits were serious enough that they had paid large sums of
money Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and is the favorite method of paying for illegal goods and services on the dark
web among the files was order number 3 0 3 1 to target Amy Alwine description about 546 looks about 200 pounds the
order asked that they hit be taken out when Amy would be at La Quinta Inn and Moline Airport in Illinois she would be
driving a dark green toyota sienna minivan there was a link to a photograph that showed a happy Amy on a family
holiday in Hawaii the associated Bitcoin address showed that Bitcoin worth around
12 to 13 thousand dollars had been paid to Besser mafia for her murder the person ordering the hit called
themselves don't day God dog day God first contacted Besser mafia on February 15th 2016 sending an email that said I'm
looking to hire you for a hit but what is the recommended way to convert cash to Bitcoin anonymously Dog Day God was
concerned that pulling out a large sum of money to buy a Bitcoin would raise suspicion of the authorities so they
wanted advice on how to hide the transaction the response from Besser mafia was swift and helpful the customer
service administrator provided dog day God with the names of a couple of Bitcoin traders that didn't require
identification and suggest that there were several ways to explain away the missing money investment purchasing
goods and services or gambling online dog day God wrote back the target will be traveling out of town to Moline
Illinois in March what is the price in Bitcoin for a hit ideally making it look like an accident
several emails went back and forth between dog day God into the administrator of the Besser mafia saw it
the starting point was five thousand dollars which would be a hit by a low-level gang member wearing a
turtleneck and using a handgun staging an accident would usually cost an extra four thousand they eventually settled on
six thousand dollars for a gang member to wait at a predetermined location Andrea Mamie with a stolen car Dog Day
God provided details of a trip Amy would be taking to a dog training event in Moline on March 19 2016 the best mafia
admin agreed to take the job and told Dog Day God on March 19 make sure you were surrounded by people most of the
day or in public places where they have video surveillance if you have a good alibi they can't do anything else then
say it was an accident and close the case don't die God responded thank you for the reminder I will make sure I have a
good alibi the transaction was completed the Bitcoin paid and everything set for
a me all want to be killed in Moline Illinois on March 20 don't day God wrote to Besser mafia asking whether the job
had been carried out besa mafia replied no not yet the Hitman has followed her but he didn't have the
chance to do the hit yet he needs to be in a position where he can hit her car to the driver door to make sure she dies
besa mafia suggested a sniper might be a better option provided nobody would suspect don't they God if amy was
obviously murdered don't de God responded no I would not be a suspect on fine with whatever you think is best
besa mafia are assured Dog Day God that a sniper had a 100% success rate but would cost another $6,000 Dog Day God
didn't have the amount handy and the hit man was apparently unable to find an opportune time to rename his car so the
hit was not carried out the next day besa mafia wrote we don't usually ask this because we are not interested in
the reason why the people are killed but if she is your wife for some family member we can do it in your city as well
making it look like an accident or robbery dog day guard right back not my wife but I was thinking the same
thing how much would it be to kill her at home and to then burn their house so that they cannot tell if anything was
stolen I'm not sure if they have anything worth stealing this Thursday I know she will be home between about 9:00
and noon Central Time her home address is 76 24 110 Street South Cottage Grove Minnesota near
Minneapolis Besser mafia are great to kill Amy at home and burn down the house but it would cost an extra 10 Bitcoin
that day God deposited the extra funds the next day and emailed Besser mafia confirmation that the deposit had gone
to a specific Bitcoin address Bitcoin addresses are a string of 34 characters and numbers each address is unique and
is proof that a transaction took place anyone can go online to the site blockchain dot info and see exactly when
and how much Bitcoin has moved into or out of an address although there is no way of telling who is on either side of
the transaction don't de God wrote ok I've got some more details on her schedule I'm trying to get as much as I
can without being obvious it looks like she'll be home tomorrow from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. and Thursday from 12:00 to
1:00 p.m. those are the only times that I know about at the moment let me know the plan
so I can be somewhere else public I know her husband has a big tractor so I suspect that he has gas cans in the
garage but I do not know that for sure she usually drives the sienna so if that's there she should be home Thursday
March 24 came and went and amy was not killed besa mafia said the hitmen had problems
trying to get to the location and asked if the hit could be carried out another time doc de God replied yes I do want it
done but I have to pretend to be her friend to get this information and it's driving me crazy to be nice to her I'm
also afraid that if I dig for information too many more times that it will look strange they rescheduled for
the following Monday morning but again the hit wasn't carried out according to Besser mafia this time the
assigned hitman was stopped by police for a registration check and as he was in a stolen car he was taken in for
questioning Dog Day God was getting frustrated in her robe I realized that things happen but this [ __ ] has torn my
family apart by sleeping with my husband who then left me and he's stealing clients from my business I've had to
continue to act like a friend to get information and I cannot do it anymore I've gone out of my way to try and get
you good information I feel that I am at risk of being suspected if I asked too many more questions you have had three
good attempts at her and none of them have worked a lot to the idea of shooting and fire because I think it
would look like a robbery and cover-up but I'm at the point that I do not care how it's done I believe that if I go
about my regular routine that I will not be a suspect if it's not done in some way by May 1st then I would like my
money back does that sound like enough time for you I cannot get my hopes built up again like I did this weekend I don't
care about date or method you have a picture and address so you can tell her or do whatever you need to do to get the
job done I do know that she is going to take a trip to Atlanta the weekend of April 7 to 10 but I do not know the
details I also was passing by recently when they had the garage door open and I was able
to see that they have three five gallon gas cans just outside the door from the house to the garage and what looked like
a propane tank as well I'm not sure if any of them are full but they are there thanks for your help with this I need
her out of my life so I can move on as the story unfolded in the Cottage Grove police station Stephen and Amy Alwin
expressed the great shock as far as Amy was aware she had no enemies she never even had disagreements with anyone
personal or business she was a normal suburban housewife who had just three things in life she cared about her
family her church and her dogs she was adamant that she had never been and would never be unfaithful to her husband
their marriage was rock solid and that would go against everything she believed in Amy Alwine grew up dedicating herself
to her faith into helping others born to a couple who were adherence to a fundamentalist religion which later
became known as the United Church of God amy was the middle child with an older sister and younger brother the children
were not allowed to take part in extracurricular activities at school nor did they have any friends from outside
the church amy attendant would bury high school where her participation in school
life was limited to lessons nevertheless Amy had a happy childhood and had a social life that revolved around at the
family's faith she was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the church basketball team and put a lot of time into
developing dance routines for the girls on the squad adhering to the conservative values of the church there
were no skimpy outfits or suggestive moves in Amy's choreography Stevan or one met Amy when they were
both students at ambassador College in Big Sandy Texas Stephen was also from a family that worshiped at the United
Church of God not so much an educational institution as a training ground to prepare youthful life and service in
church the college had a motto recapturing true values Stephen and Amy got to know each other through church
socials where they would always choose each other as dance partners after college
Stephen moved to Amy's hometown of st. Paul Minnesota and they married on August 11 1996 in Cottage Grove Amy's
father Charles placed Amy's hand into Stephen's and said take good care of my little girl both Stephen and Amy were
deeply committed to the church God and religion played a central part in their life together the United Church of God
had here strictly and literally to the teachings of the Bible including those of the Old Testament in some circles the
small religion is defined as a cult members are expected to marry only within of the faith which meant
according to one former member the pool was very small Stephen and Amy did not observe Christmas or Easter as the
United Church of God teaches that these are pagan celebrations the old ones attended services every Saturday at a
modest building in st. Paul they would arrive around 12:30 a good hour before the service began and would stay for all
the activities afterwards not leaving until the evening [Music] Stephen and Amy spent most of their
spare time together and to the bulk of that time was devoted to church business they traveled extensively serving
congregations around the world and taking part in humanitarian efforts the two were ordained as deacon and a
Deaconess of the United Church of God in the spring of 2006 after that Stephen rose to the position of elder with
responsibility for canceling married couples giving sermons at church and anointing those who fell ill a year
later they adopted their only child a son Amy bringing him home when he was just two days of there was an open
adoption into the Alwine stayed in touch with his birth mother she had chosen them because amy was unable to have
children they were dog people and they were a very loving and affectionate couple
the desperately wanted child became part of the family and joined the tradition of Friday night dinners with amy's
parents and brother on those nights Amy's mother would put out the good China and silverware while her father
prepared the food Amy always brought dessert usually strawberry pie which was her mother's favorite when he was old
enough their son Joe would join Amy in picking the biggest juiciest fresh strawberries they could find to make the
pie well known and loved for her generosity amy travelled extensively doing charitable deeds and spreading the
word of god to developing countries the entire family amy's parents siblings husband and two later their son would
travel overseas every other year for the full religious festival of their church
the harvest feast amy's primary passion outside the church was dogs she had been
a dog lover since childhood and as an adult she became an active and popular member of the dog training and
competition scene before long her Australian Shepherds were frequent competition winners thanks to Amy's
talent for training that knack with dogs saw Amy turned her hobby into a career training other people's dogs to compete
in agility trials and competitions she opened her training school active dog sports and threw herself into the
business of dog training in a way that was consistent with her values although her core business was the trained dogs
to be competitive she didn't put pressure on owners who wanted to keep the training just for fun her clients
both dog and human adored her the dog training shed on the old wines property was three times the size of
their house and Amy made sure it was kept immaculate active dog sports grew to be a respected and successful
business offering an array of dog related services and leading the way in dog nose work amy sunny personality and
her training by positive reinforcement saw her friendship group among fellow dog lovers grow to become second only to
her church group despite her growing success Amy's first priority continued to be her family in
her church she would never work or attend shows on Saturday which was her Sabbath she was known for being
relentlessly positive friends claimed she was never without a huge smile and who they describe her as a sweet
friendly and a loving person she was never negative never judgmental and never gossipy
whilst being utterly devoted to her faith Amy wasn't evangelical to those who didn't share her beliefs according
to those who knew her in the competitive dog circles one of her most outstanding
attributes was her empathy part of that empathy was her ability to imagine how she would feel if someone were to impose
their beliefs onto her ami Alwine appeared to have it all she seemed to be the last person in the
world there should have been the subject of a dark web here but there was no question that the details provided to
Besser mafia were her the reason the FBI had advised Amy that she was not in any
immediate danger when they first visited her house was because the hack of the Besser mafia website had revealed
something else Besser mafia was a con and build a God had been one of the worst scammed a
total of 147 messages went back and forth between build a god and abasa mafia with plans made to kill Amy all
one one over a dozen different days finally on May 20 2016 doc day God gave up and demanded a refund riding that's
it your local guys suck they cannot do simple things even when given plenty of time I will try again later with one of
your pros but it would need to save up for that can you give me a quote of what I would need to work with a pro and then
I will try to get a new order worked up in a couple months until then please refund more money besa mafia responded
by telling Dog Day God that the site had been hacked and if don't de God didn't cough up another 10 bitcoins their
emails would be forwarded to the police that was a little over a week before the
FBI visited Cottage Grove however the fact that dog day God had been scammed and Amy had never been in any danger
from Besser mafia didn't change the fact that somebody who knew intimate details
of Amy's life and paid a large sum of money to have her killed and to that somebody presumably still wanted her
dead FBI Special Agent silkie asked the old ones if any of the details in the messages made them think of anyone in
their lives Amy was adamant that she had not carried on an affair and that she could not imagine who Dodd day God might
be the best lead they had was the assertion that if Amy died don't day God would inherit her business
Amy's husband Stephen had no interest in dogs and too knew nothing about the business of dog training
Amy reluctantly provided the names of her colleagues including her best friend Sharon and fellow dog trainers Gayle and
Kristin of all of them Stephen and Amy said the clues pointed most closely to Kristin who had helped Amy set up her
computer network and online presence Kristin also watched the irwins dogs for them while they were away in her child
sometimes played with the all ones son but interviews with Sharon Gayle and Kristin went nowhere with no other leads
the police asked Amy to provide a list of everybody who knew her well especially in the dog training world
Amy provided a list of hundreds of names and the FBI made some discreet inquiries
of those who might have accessed to the level of detail about Amy's life that dog day God had the overwhelming
response was that Amy had not an enemy in the world and nobody could think of anyone who would want to harm her every
single person the police spoke to was adamant that there was no way amy was having or had ever had an extramarital
affair with their inquiries going nowhere special agent Pasha Sookie provided Amy
with his business card and told her to contact him anytime she wanted he'd was the all wines to install extra security
at the residence and report any suspicious activity to the police immediately Stephen said about
installing an alarm on the secluded house and put new codes on the garage door he set up notion detection cameras
on each entry point to the house other than the patio door that led to the backyard where the dogs usually roamed
all day and would keep setting the cameras off unnecessarily the old one became more vigilant about their
surroundings and in June 2016 Amy called the police to report a suspicious blue van parked at the end of
the street police attended but it turned out to be somebody who worked in here by taking a
nap [Music] Stephen decided on a further more drastic measure although the old ones
already had a shotgun and two rifles On June 22 2016 he applied for a permit to purchase a handgun for personal
protection pay and Amy went shopping and settled on a Springfield 9-millimeter they kept the gun in a handgun case
under Amy's side of the bed and to the key inside a cupboard next to the bathtub in the ensuite bathroom
the two had date nights where they went to the range to learn how to shoot properly Stephen slept with the shotgun
on his side of the bed Stephen also obtained a concealed carry permit for the 9-millimeter but rarely had cause to
use it the one time he did carry the handgun was when he visited Kristen when she asked him over to help set up a
Wi-Fi security system the old one still weren't sure whether they could trust Kristen but the visit was without
incident after the fbi's visit Amy took special agent silky at his word and started
contacting him regularly she would let him know what was going on in her life and how she was feeling about it the two
struck up why - a silky described as a friendship they had a number of telephone conversations and several
meetings in person Amy's husband Steven attended at least two of these meetings but other times amy would meet with a
special agent alone several weeks went by without incident as often happens with these things Steven and Amy soon
became relaxed in setting the alarm codes on the doors they resumed to their day-to-day lives
Steven working from home and his two jobs from the basement Amy conducting dog training classes and both of them
participating in church activities although she confided in her best friend Sharon and the two of them puzzled over
who could possibly be behind the plot amy kept the threats to herself not even telling her parents who were just
worried she downplayed the seriousness to those who knew because they had been questioned by police from the outside
nobody could tell anything was wrong Amy continued to be the same bubbly happy person when she attended her regular
meetings with the dog community however she would sometimes sit and talk with her sister and admit that inside
she was devastated that there was someone that thought the world would be better off without her and she had no
idea who it had broken Amy's heart to provide names of her friends to police there were people she knew and laughed
and she did not think for a moment they had anything to do with threatening her life on July 31 2016
Amy Alwine called agent Asha silky honey cell phone clearly upset she had just received a disturbing email when she
told him what it said special agent silky jumped into his car and went straight to the old wines house Amy had
received an email from an anonymous email address from someone called Jane it said Amy your family is in danger
last Sunday you received an email with the solution to this problem and you have not done anything about it yet are
you so selfish that you will put your family's lives at risk if you did not see the email then check
your junk mail soon ami did not recall any such emails so she checked her spam folder sure enough
there was an email from the same person calling themselves as Jane dated a few days earlier it said Amy I still blame
you for my life falling apart I don't know how a fat [ __ ] like you got to my husband but because of you he left and
my life has become [ __ ] I'm sending you this email because it looks like you already know about me I see that you
have put up a security system near there not being informed by people on the Internet
the police was snooping around my earlier emails I've been assured that the emails are untraceable and that they
will not find me but I can not attack you directly with them watching here's what's going to happen since I cannot
get to you I will come after everything else that you love I know about your son
your husband and your business and thanks to the Internet I see you have a mother and father in Woodbury a brother
in st. Paul and a sister in Yardley Pennsylvania I've been busy researching topics on the
Internet and have found that if you inject the water into the bright wine then you will cause them to fail what
would happen if the brakes on the truck failed when your husband was hauling a heavy load I found how to blow up a gas
meter and to make it look like an accident I know that the meter on your house and your business are on the east
side and the meter on your parents house is on the south side I'm still watching
you and your family while I did not see your son this week I saw last Friday he was wearing a bright pink shirt I see
that you moved to the RV here is how you can save your family commit suicide if you did not then you
will slowly see things taken away from you and each time you'll know that you could have stopped it which will eat you
apart from the inside by the time I am done you will want to end it anyway so why not do it now and save them I think
it's an easy choice one life to save six lives your family does not need you but
you can save them do not tell anyone about this email what this deal is off and I will come after your family unless
you are a heartless selfish [ __ ] then I expect to see your obituary in the paper
in the next couple weeks amy was understandably upset by this new turn of events Asha silkie asked Amy
about the information specified in the email and she confirmed that details such as the location of the meters and
to the fact that Joseph had been wearing a pink shirt the week before were correct however the author had been
wrong about the address of her sister the threatening email was sent via a disposable Lee mail service where users
can send emails anonymously making them untraceable nevertheless the FBI took the threat seriously and asked Sivan
Alwine for consent to review the family's electronics which he gave immediately the feds took away their
computers imaged them and returned them a day or two later nothing relevant was found the FBI also revisited some of the
people involved in the dog training world and image to their electronics as well again the FBI found nothing through
several email exchanges with the FBI Amy was eventually put at ease by the opinion that a move from trying to
arrange for Amy's murder - telling her to kill herself was an overall de-escalation of the situation
Amy assured Special Agent silkie that she would not be taking Jane's advice to end her own life her family needed her
and it was at complete odds with the teachings of her church a few weeks later Amy enrolled in the eight-week
Cottage Grove Citizens Police Academy under the question on her application asking why she was interested in
attending the Academy Amy wrote I would like to learn more about the police department what it does and how it works
I would also like to see what I can do to support them better as a citizen when it came to the four-hour ride along with
an officer that was part of the Academy experience Amy naturally requested she'd be
assigned to accompany a k-9 officer in October 2016 the all one family went on there
your pilgrimage to the United Church of gods Fall Festival faced in Germany the whole family noted that amy was happier
and more relaxed than she had been in a long time far away from Cottage Grove and to the
person who wanted her dead on the afternoon of November 13 2016 after a morning spent trapshooting Troy
Larson was cleaning his koi pond when he glanced across the road he had lived on
one hundred and tenth Street for 11 years and he had met his neighbors Steven and Amy Alwine but didn't really
know them he noticed with passing interest that heavy white grey smoke was coming from the old wines would burn off
he only noticed because it was unseasonable warm in fact Troy was wearing just a t-shirt and none of the
other neighbors had their wood burners running that day the old ones dogs were barking but the dogs were always barking
so Troy Larson went back to tending to his pond that afternoon several people were in the old wine shed that housed
active dog sports training the large shed was located just meters away from the old whines house some of the
trainers had independent access to the facility which they could book online for private dog training sessions that
day there was a canine no square class that went from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. the class was run by a dog trainer named
Barbara and five students were in attendance the students were startled sometime toward the end of the class to
hear screeching and skidding tires right outside the building as if somebody was
leaving in a hurry it was not enough that two of the students exchanged looks that said what the hell was that but it
was not enough that anybody went outside to check the class finished at 5:45 and everyone
was gone by 6:00 p.m. a little before 7:00 p.m. that evening save an old wine arrived home with his son Joe went in
ahead of Stephen while he unpacked the car as Stephen removed his shoes in the mudroom Joe came back and asked why's
mummy lying on the floor thank you for listening to today's episode we'll be back soon the last defense is an ABC
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file that's MVM t.com / case file join the movement amy was beside the bed staring up at the
ceiling she was warm but there was no pulse which was unsurprising given the blood and brain matter on the floor
beneath her head the gun was near her left elbow and one shell casing was near her right foot Stephen called 9-1-1 and
said I think I think my wife shot herself there's blood all over the operator tried to get information out of
him as he spoke to his anxious son in the background Stephen provided the address as well as
details on the number of a guns in the house he told the operator he had last seen Amy when he left the house sometime
before 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. the operator asked him to check on his wife to determine if she was still breathing
she's not breathing I can't tell where she's shot I don't know [Music] Cottage Grove police department patrol
officers arrived while Stephen was still on the phone the smell of roasting pumpkin emanated from the kitchen
Stephen and his 9 year old son was standing in the garage amy was on the floor of her bedroom a gunshot wound to
her head a 9-millimeter Springfield handgun on the floor beside her she lay flat on her back her arm splayed out to
the sides in a pool of blood beside her neatly made bed her pants were undone and her red sweater slightly pulled up
displaying her stomach and underwear sergeant Gwen Martin one of the first responders was stunned to recognize Amy
from the citizens Academy on her class evaluation Amy had just written I would like to do this again in a few years
amy was passionate about her business eager to learn during the citizens Academy and future-oriented nothing in
her demeanor suggests that she was suicidal sergeant when Martin broke down when notifying Detective Sergeant Rhee
Andy McAllister who was the on-call detective that evening there was an apparent suicide she told him and he
needed to attend MacAlister was perplexed suicides while tragic were a common enough occurrence
for the Cottage Grove police department and not something that required a detective to attend
Gwen Martin's men are also concerned him the sergeant who was also a trained paramedic was abnormally distraught as
her voice choked Martin handed the phone to her partner sergeant Pat nickel nickel taught McAlister that the victim
had been a recent graduate from sergeant Martin's class in the Citizens Police Academy her name was Amy Alwine Randy
McAllister felt the stirring of recognition at the name she was the one that was threatened on the internet that
time nickel filled in upon hearing that Detective Sergeant McAllister lost no time in getting dressed and making his
way to the Alwine property he was on the alert for anything that looked out of the ordinary that occurred to him that a
woman planning on ending her life was unlikely to be cooking dinner shortly before as Amy had been doing there was
also something not quite right with the blood beneath her body and there was a film over the floorboards outside the
bedroom is if they had been recently cleaned there was a large pool of blood on the carpet around Amy's head which
was to be expected but McAlister was more interested in the drops to the left he had seen many suicide scenes over the
years as both paramedic and detective and these look out of place as though they had dripped from something being
suspended from above the area blood from both her nose and mouth had dripped down
the left side of her face despite her being flood on her back facing straight to the ceiling this suggests that that
at some time her head had been on its side and was later placed facing upwards the clean patch on the wooden floor just
outside the bedroom door was at odds with the rest of the house including the bedroom which was messy with dog hair
the police quizzed Stephen Alwine in an attempt to determine Amy's last movements
Stephen tell police he had been working from home that day as he usually did from his basement Amy had said she
wasn't feeling well and he had checked on her throughout the morning they had lunch together around midday after which
Amy went to lie down Amy's father Charles came to the house that afternoon to finish off installing a new dog door
Charles was a frequent visitor to the home and enjoyed helping them with handyman projects he put the dogs in
their kennels in the mudroom so that they wouldn't disturb him doing their job as Amy was feeling poorly and having
a lie-down her father chose not to bother her he finished the job and left the house
without speaking to his daughter Charles had only driven five minutes down the road when he got a call from Stephen
asking him to return and take their son Joe as Amy had decided to go to the hospital
Charles returned to pick up his grandson who was waiting outside for him afterwards Stephen said that when he
went back to Amy she was sitting up and looked a little off she said she was lightheaded and
felt dizzy with a dry mouth Stephen googled the symptoms which he found were consistent with a stroke or
heart issues nevertheless Amy changed her mind deciding not to go to hospital but to
remain in bed Stephen returned to his office in the basement and continued to work Amy the severe migraines sometimes
especially when she had her period and today had been more frequent since the incidents with the FBI Stephen said he
looked in on her one more time before he went to collect their son Joe at around
5:00 p.m. when Stephen left Amy was kneeling beside the bed and he assumed she was praying
usually a the Steven or Amy would take Joe to ninja warrior class that evening but they were running late because
Steven had stopped to get gas and to then spoke to Charles about Amy's health for a while
so instead Steven and Joe went straight to dinner at Culver's a fast-food restaurant about a five-minute drive
from their house they texted Amy to see if she wanted anything but they got no reply Stephen had the receipts for both
gas and dinner when they got home Stephen removed his shoes in the mudroom the dogs were still in their kennels as
Stephen had not released them after Charles had finished installing the new dog door when Joe found his mother in a
pool of blood on the bedroom floor Stephen called 9-1-1 police allowed Stephen to call whoever he needed to his
first call was to amy's parents Charles and Diane to whom he blurted out amy is dead she shot us off Charles and Diane
rushed over along with Amy's brother Stephen also called their pastor Brian Shaw who
dropped everything to come to the house Stephen told officers that Amy had not acted or claimed to be depressed that
day in fact she'd been getting better lately something that was corroborated by her father Charles who stated that
her family were the world to Amy Stephen provided his two phones and their pass codes to police a black
Samsung Galaxy s7 and a silver iPhone 6 he readily submitted to a test for gunshot residue on his hands as well as
DNA samples from both him and his son when amy's parents advised that amy was right-handed and de McAlister saw the
gun placement was by her left elbow that was enough for him to want another set of eyes he called the state Bureau of
Criminal Apprehension and asked for one of its agents to attend the scene the rest of that night
the house was swarming with law enforcement officers some officers went door knocking among the neighbors to
determine if they saw or heard anything one of the neighbors mentioned the screeching car that had left the street
in a hurry earlier law enforcement officers and the medical examiner stayed at the Alwine house until early the next
morning they sprayed luminol on the floor which showed that a significant amount of blood had been spilled in the
hallway then tracked through the house at some stage they bagged Amy's hands to preserve them to test for gunshot
residue and prepared her for autopsy after all the formalities had been taken care of and Amy's body taken away by the
medical examiner the Cottage Grove police set to work one of the first things they did was to go back and look
through the files the FBI had created about the threats made to a me through the dark web one detective decided to do
his own dark web exploring he discovered that Besser mafia wasn't the only website that dog day God had used
somebody with the same username had created an account on the dream marketplace after the final message to
besa mafia dream was one of the large eBay like one-stop markets where buyers could buy any drug imaginable as well as
an array of other illegal goods Dante God had made just two posts on dream the first post was in the
marketplace discussion forum where dog day God wrote looking for drug dealer physically located in Minneapolis area
looking for a partner for a job need to be willing to stay anonymous and be paid
by Bitcoin the second post thug day God made said does anyone have scopolamine for sale scopolamine is a drug used to
treat motion sickness but is dangerous in large doses it is sometimes referred to as the zombie drug as it's said to
induce him neva when too much is ingested it can make the user so drowsy that they are incapacitated and it can
make unsuspecting victims highly susceptible to suggestion although dog day God didn't get a public
response to the first request there were two replies about the scopolamine the first anticipated that it was to be used
for no good and said avoid that [ __ ] mate it's dangerous as [ __ ] and you will
kill someone however the second response provided dog day God with the name of a
seller and the following warning be careful that [ __ ] will make you gladly hand over your kidneys and have no idea
where why or who - when you come back to reality when Detective Sergeant McAllister heard about this he made a
phone call to the medical examiner and made a request that the examiner had never had before he asked her to test a
me Alwine for the presence of scopolamine when detectives invited Stephen auld one
to attend the police station for further chat two days after Amy's death he agreed
immediately but brought two people with him his attorney Kevin Devore and the Regional pastor for the United Church of
God Brian Shaw pastor Brian Shaw oversaw the educational social and recreational
programs of the regional congregations and provided counsel and guidance to local membership Stephen was a preacher
at the Twin Falls congregation and also provided counseling to married couples the church held strong views on subjects
such as infidelity and divorce anyone guilty of breaching the marital vows by either means would not be allowed to
hold a formal position in the church and may even be asked to leave the congregation altogether on this day
pastor Shaw was asked to wait outside as Stephen and his attorney attended the interview with special agent Michele
fraccion of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Stephen said he did not want passed ashore or anyone from the
church knowing that Amy had committed suicide during the two-hour interview Stephen was subdued and softly spoken he
only perked up when he spoke about his church his voice would become stronger and he would sit up to attention he
answered all of the questions about Amy into their life together hunched over the desk not referring to his attorney
at all he told police he couldn't explain a cleaned-up blood on the hallway floor outside the bedroom and
said nobody in the family have had any injuries as far as he knew he said he had not heard of the dark web until the
FBI visited Stephen was asked if he had a gut feeling about who might be behind for threats and emails and he said that
some but not all details pointed the fellow dog trainer Kristen he offered up that he had no idea where
Amy's dog trolls took her but Kristen did and she had made the arrangements for the Moline trip
Stephen then talked about the email from Jane telling Amy to kill herself he said
he didn't believe she would actually do it as anyone who took their own life would
not be allowed to enter heaven when the police asked again about the allegations
in the emails and messages about Amy being a homewrecker Stephen dropped a bombshell it was he who had been
unfaithful Stephen had a lover her name was Michelle and she knew all about Amy Stephen and Michelle had met on a
website called Ashley Madison Ashley Madison was a dating web site with a difference rather than matchmaking
singles looking for love it catered exclusively to those who were seeking an extramarital hookup not surprisingly the
site came under considerable criticism for its unabashed advertising life short have an affair
Stephen claimed he had learned about Ashley Madison from younger church members during his counseling sessions
he turned to Ashley Madison out of curiosity his first attempt dinner at the legends Golf Club ended abruptly
when after the meal his day said she had to go to the bathroom and had never returned his next match Michelle proved
to be more successful Michelle was a small slim blonde in her 40s who had suffered with anxiety and depression
Michelle was married but she claimed it was an open relationship they started seeing each other in
October 2015 when Stephen offered to attend a doctor's appointment with Michelle
after that they would meet for coffee lunch dinner and sex most often when amy was on one of her many trips attending
dog training events and competitions there Troost's would usually take place in Michelle's house but Stephen also
took her away on to work trips as an anxious nervous person Michelle appreciated Stephens kindness
and polite demeanor he sometimes spoke of Amy saying he didn't know what the future hold for their marriage he told
her Amy didn't spend enough time with the family preferring to be working with the dogs and that community he never
spoke of his faith so Michelle was surprised when she googled him to discover that he held a position in the
United Church of God as a preacher his photograph and links to sermons were on their website alongside articles that
laid out the teachings of the church including those that said a member of the Church of God could never divorce
around February 2016 Stephen and Michelle's relationship started to cool off nevertheless they still met up from
time to time they met for lunch on Stevens birthday in March where he was running late
because he had locked his keys in the trunk in April Stephen finally gave in to Michelle's
curiosity about where he lived amy was out of town at a dog show and Stephen walked Michelle through the house April
was the last time they were intimate together a few months later in September Stephen and Michelle met up again for
lunch Stephen told Michelle about the FBI visit and the threats against Amy he told her that the threats were coming
from someone who hoped to take over the business Michelle responded who would want to
kill somebody over a $50,000 business Stephen told police all about Michelle in his interview that day but he
referred to it as having had a short fling a couple of years ago he said it initially started off as a friendship as
Michelle was going through a rough time in her life and due to the fact that he was a minister there was more of a
counseling role he said he had told her about the FBI investigation as it was a stressful point in his life and he
needed to share it with someone Steven decided there was no need to tell his pastor about Michelle he also decided
Amy's parents didn't need to know especially as Stephen and Joe were in the process of moving in with them
Amy's parents had insisted that Stephen and Joe could not possibly stay where the tragedy had occurred police again
interviewed Amy's colleague Kristin whom Stephen had mentioned several times during interrogations
she had a solid alibi she had been in Oklahoma at a dog show on the day of Amy's death something easily verified by
police the test physical pala meaning Amy Alwine system came back positive for an amount of 40 times the therapeutic
dose for motion sickness such a level would cause blurred vision confusion and hallucinations with the victim being
receptive to doing anything someone commanded of them detective Randy McAlister and the rest of the Cottage
Grove police department were now definitely treating Amy's death as murder murders were rare enough in
Cottage Grove murder-for-hire was unheard of terms like the dark web and Bitcoin were unfamiliar to the college
growth Police Department before the Amy auld one case however there had been one
police report lodged and then forgotten about way back in March that popped up when the police did a search on any
potentially related cases someone had walked into the Cottage Grove police department in March 2016 to make a very
unusual report they had been defrauded in a Bitcoin transaction the person said they had entered into a transaction with
an individual known only as mark to purchase training and test preparation materials for $6,000 mark wanted to be
paid in Bitcoin which was acquired and transferred but the goods were never delivered
the complainant suspicions that they had been defrauded was aroused when they noticed that mark had used an
untraceable gorilla mail address confirming the transaction the cottage grove police were not familiar with
Bitcoin and didn't really know what was being recorded to them in any event the person making the report didn't seem too
concerned about the police following up on the crime so the report was taken but
then filed away without any further investigation but now a report involving Bitcoin in early March 2016 the same
time dog day God was paying besser mafia to murder Amy Alwine seemed very significant detective McAllister pulled
out the paperwork to see if it hold any clues the person who made the report was
Stephen old wine now that the police had a reason to look at Amy's husband more closely they became even more thorough
in their searches five officers were assigned to almost full time hours uncovering and sifting through the
unusual evidence the police took a total of 66 devices belonging to Stephen and Amy all wine including computers laptops
phones and hard drives there were thousands of emails and pages of data for law enforcement and an independent
computer forensics investigator to sift through with little hope that anything could be recovered
Stephen Alwine was an IT specialist and if he was guilty he would have covered his tracks
however the specialists were able to recover some evidence from stephen's macbook pro that had not been completely
obliterated Stephen had told police that he had not heard of the dark web prior to being contacted by the FBI however
before the hit was placed on a me his macbook pro under the username s Alwine was used to search for the Tor network
the software required to get onto the dark web the search was also conducted for a system called tails which
eradicate all evidence of Tor based activity from the computer at all the user s all one conducted Google
searches for installing the tales operating system on an Acer computer notably an Acer branded computer or device was
not provided to the police by Steven Alwine shortly after the first message was sent by dog day god tabasum Alfio
Stevens MacBook Pro was used to conduct searches for Bitcoin the user profile S or one made several more searches for
Bitcoin and two made visits to a Bitcoin exchange over the next couple of days just minutes before Dog Day God sent a
message to Besser mafia describing exactly where a me would be in Moline Illinois the user s Alwine on Stevens
MacBook Pro googled canine nose work and reviewed an online event calendar for the trials then used Google Maps to
calculate moline's distance from Chicago this was the precise information that was then provided to Bessemer feel the
photograph of a me in Hawaii was uploaded to the family web site moments before dog day God provided a Tibetan
mafia on February 17 Stevens MacBook Pro was used to look up a $700,000 life insurance policy on Amy Alwine the
beneficiary of which was Steven the user wrestle-1 also conducted several searches for members of Amy's family on
Stevens MacBook Pro just days before Amy received the threatening email from Jane
that threatened her family not only did computer forensics discover what was on Stephen all wines MacBook
Pro they made a note of what was not found namely any evidence of the mysterious mark who had supposedly
transacted with Stephen over email to sell training equipment for Bitcoin other than the single email supplied by
Stephen to the police when making the report there were no other back and forth emails you might expect when
making a six thousand dollar business transaction the email from mark was sent using a disposable email address and
forensics proved that Stephens MacBook Pro had been used to access disposable email at the exact time that was sent
all of this along with other minor artifacts left on his computer and his phone such as access the Bitcoin
exchanges was mounting circumstantial evidence against Stephen or one but nothing that couldn't be explained away
by a clever lawyer investigators started going painstakingly through backups until they came to a backup of Stephens
iPhone created on August 3rd 2016 within that backup was a note which contained a
single line of 34 apparently random letters and numbers the note had been made and then deleted a minute later but
not before it had been backed up to the cloud the 34 characters and letters equated to
the exact address that dog day God had told Besser mafia that they had paid Bitcoin into to carry out the hit the
record showed the note was created around 20 seconds before the message was sent to Besser mafia Stephan had copied
the address and pasted it into the email to the murder-for-hire saw this was a smoking gun Bitcoin addresses are unique
and it created the direct nexus between dog day God and Stephan or one other evidence started coming in as well
Stephan worked for two companies and he said he had been working from his basement all day however both companies
confirmed that he had not logged on to their systems after lunch and he performed no work functions that
afternoon a review of the old ones video doorbell system determined that no person had rung the doorbell that day
until the police did nor had it been turned off the home security system data confirmed that nobody had come to the
house from the time Stephan left until he returned if a disgruntled dog owner had entered the house they somehow
managed to avoid all monitored entry points police contacted Michele who confirmed that she had had an affair
with Steven after meeting him through the Ashley Madison website she also told them about the day Steven had been
running late for that day because he had locked these keys in his car when buying
Bitcoin from someone in a fast food outlet car park upon reviewing the 9-1-1 call Steven had made after finding Amy
something really stood out as Steven spoke to the operator and simultaneously spoke to his son will Amy lay in a pool
of blood the little boy asked his father quite clearly are you gonna remarry Steven
laughed and replied but a no bud the evidence was mounting and it all pointed to just one person Amy all wines
husband Stephen who was currently living in the home of her parents On January 20 2017 Stephen all one was
arrested at a traffic stop on his way home from dropping his son to school Stephen was charged with the
second-degree murder of his wife Amy which suggested a non premeditated killing this seemed surprising given
that Stephen had apparently been planning his wife's murder for nearly a year Stephen soon posted the $500,000 bail
which had several conditions attached including GPS monitoring and only supervised visits with his son Joe Joe
was to stay with his maternal grandparents and Stephen returned to the home he had shared with Amy it was a
matter of just two weeks before Stephen was arrested again after Amy's parents reported to authorities that he had
tried to contact his son with whom he was supposed to have no one supervised to contact Stephen had asked amy's
parents to charge up his son's Smart Watch so that he could track his whereabouts the judge raised the amount
required for conditional bail to $600,000 and ordered Stephen to have no contact with his son or Amy's parents he
once again managed to post bail and was free to return home on March 24 2017 a grand jury elevated the charge against
Stephen to first-degree murder the judge said his unconditional bail at 2 million and a conditional bail at 1
million this time Stephen was unable to post it and he was remanded in custody to await trial on January 23
2018 after six days of questioning 50 potential jurors the opposing attorneys finally settled on a pool of eight women
and seven men to decide whether Stephen Alwine killed his wife three of them were spares
those who were chosen profess the working knowledge of computers but no in-depth technical expertise in his
final case before retirement district judge B William Eckstrom presided over the most bizarre trial Washington County
Minnesota had ever seen over the next week prosecutors drew together the threads of evidence the
point at the Steven auld one being Besser mafia customer dog day God into the men who ultimately pulled the
trigger that took Amy all whines life the prosecution claimed Steven Alwine gave Amy the scopolamine in her lunch
then got his son Joe out of the house before shooting a me while she was disorientated from the drug he then
cleaned up the blood and burned the cleaning cloth and any clothes that have been spotted later he went to collect
his son carefully keeping receipts from the places he visited as an alibi when he returned home he let his son go in
ahead of him to find his mother on the floor of the bedroom Stephen all wines motive for killing his wife was simply
that he wanted out of their marriage however nothing was more important to him than his status in the United Church
of God he would lose his role if he were to initiate divorce proceedings in fact
the church would probably ask him to leave the congregation altogether throughout the trial the courtroom was
filled to capacity with family from both sides Church congregation members and to
the professional dog training community they took their own notes which they would compare during breaks and probe
for inconsistencies in testimony Steven and Amy's pastor would spend breaks counseling family and friends who were
trying to make sense of what had happened Steven showed almost no emotion throughout the trial he did not turn to
look at his family and rarely acknowledged his own lawyer instead he would read through every report and
piece of evidence that was tendered and occasionally pour himself a paper cup of
water sometimes when it seemed appropriate such as when the 9-1-1 call was played and photographs of Amy's body
would spied he would appear to be solving however the box of tissues in front of
him remained untouched the trial called for a wide array of witnesses including an escort a Bitcoin trader a pawn broker
neighbors dog trainers an array of forensic and medical specialists as well as the law enforcement officers who had
attended the incident and worked the case the prosecution elicited responses from witnesses that cumulatively built
an airtight case against the defendant the Bitcoin trader confirmed that he had met Stephen at a fast-food restaurant to
selling Bitcoin and Stephens presence there was confirmed by a call out to roadside assistance when he locked his
keys in his car the escort confirmed she had met the man of God through backpage.com and they had
sex together for $400 for an overnight stay long before his Ashley Madison flings the bloody footprints at the
scene of the crime matched Stephen Erlewine sock fee the gunshot residue test was positive on his right hand the
furnace had been going that afternoon despite it being unseasonable warm which suggested Stephen had burned evidence
the security system showed there were no trips of the front door garage service door or egress window after Stephen
Alwine left the house to go pick up Joe meaning nobody entered the residence through those three entry points the
prosecution's case ended with a detailed timeline of the improbable coincidences
between the actions of Dog Day God and to the actions of Stephen Alwine it was impossible not to draw the conclusion
that both were one and the same all one's defense lawyer did his best with what he had there was a neighbor
who may or may not have seen Amy around 5:00 p.m. when the prosecution said she was dead there were the reports from
neighbors and the dog trainers using Amy's facility that two cars had brought away from the property at around 5:45
that evening it was the unlocked unmonitored patio door that was never tested for prints into the dogs that
were usually in the backyard to deter anyone from entering the house that way were locked in their kennels the
prosecution said Amy had been killed in the hallway and then moved to the bedroom however there was no blood on
the carpet between the hallway and Amy nor had the carpet been cleaned and it's unlikely Stephen could have carried her
with medical evidence ruling out suicide the only alternative theory the defense
could offer was that somebody else killed Amy that evening the intruders would have entered via the patio door
with the dog safely locked in their kennels killed the scopolamine dosed Amy while Stephen was establishing his alibi
and then wrought off in their separate vehicles however with overwhelming computer forensic evidence that fingered
Stephen as dog day God all this theory did was suggest Stephen had finally been successful in finding his hitmen either
way it took the jury just eight hours to declare Stephen guilty of premeditated murder given that Stephen had gunshot
residue on his right hand they determined that having failed to hire a hitman he pulled the trigger himself at
the sentencing hearing Amy's family spoke of the hole left in their lives her parents had come to the trial with
open hearts hoping that Stephen would be proven innocent they had provided Stephen with a home
from the time of Amy's death until he was arrested so they felt doubly betrayed when the evidence convinced
them they had been housing not only an adulterer but their daughter's murderer for the first time
Stephen spoke in a rambling speech that went too long he maintained his innocence and the love for Amy he said
he had been locked up with drug addicts child molesters and kidnappers but that he was bringing God to them three
atheists so far had been turned and were now attending Bible studies regularly judge Eckstrom was having none of it
addressing Stephen directly he told him he believed he was a hypocrite and a gray doctor who could turn tears on and
off Stephen was sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole the United Church of God put out a
lengthy public release that expressed concern about the potential negative media coverage the case could bring the
church given the fact that mr. Alwin was technically a lay minister at the time the barely mentioned Amy
this episode of case file was researched and written by Arlene Ormsby author of the darkest web drugs death and
destroyed lives the inside story of the Internet's evil twin you can read more about amy old wines murder as well as
other dark web-enabled crimes in the darkest web [Music] you [Music]

Case 86: Amy Allwine

The 31st of May 2016 was much like any other day. Until the monotony was broken up by a visit from the FBI. Although not an everyday occurrence, it was not completely out of the ordinary for the FBI to contact local police as a courtesy to let them know that they were investigating a crime in their area...

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Episode researched and written by Eileen Ormsby, author of ‘The Darkest Web – Drugs, Death and Destroyed Lives: The inside story of the internet’s evil twin’ Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://www.casefilepodcast.com/case-86-amy-allwine

Brief Summary

Amy Alwine is murdered; her husband Stephen orchestrates the plot via the dark web and is later convicted of premeditated murder.

Key points

The Dark Web Explained. A chilling overview of the dark web and its criminal activities.
A Hit Ordered on Amy Alwine. A shocking revelation about a murder-for-hire plot against a suburban housewife.
Amy's Empathy and Positivity. Despite her success, Amy remained devoted to her family and faith, known for her positivity.
Threatening Emails. Amy received a disturbing email threatening her family, leading to increased police involvement.
Tragic Discovery. Stephen found Amy unresponsive, leading to a frantic 911 call.
A Tragic Discovery. Stephen finds Amy unresponsive, leading to a frantic 911 call.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The dark web is the Internet's evil twin.

Explaining the nature of the dark web and its dangers.

6:32WatchNov 20, 2018

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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