248. The Dark Web Killer - The Murder of Amy Allwine

Summary

Podcast Summary: Murder With My Husband - Episode 248: "The Dark Web Killer - The Murder of Amy Allwine"

Introduction

In Episode 248 of Murder With My Husband, hosted by Peyton and Garrett Moreland from OH NO MEDIA, the duo delves into the mysterious and tragic case of Amy Allwine, a seemingly ordinary mother whose life was brutally cut short under suspicious circumstances. This episode meticulously unpacks the events leading up to her death, the initial assumption of suicide, and the unraveling of a dark web conspiracy that ultimately led to her husband’s conviction for first-degree murder.

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Background of the Allwine Family

Amy Allwine, a 43-year-old mother, and her husband Stephen Allwine lived in Cottage Grove, a suburban area southeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Married for 20 years, the couple appeared to lead a typical Middle American lifestyle. Stephen worked as a freelance IT expert, while Amy ran her own dog training business. They were active members of their local church, the United Church of God, with Stephen serving as a church elder.

Key Points:

• Marriage and Family: Amy and Stephen were college sweethearts who adopted a son, Joseph, in 2006.
• Community Involvement: Both were deeply involved in their church and community.
• Professional Lives: Stephen in IT, Amy in dog training.

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The Day of Tragedy: November 13, 2016

On November 13, 2016, the Allwines' lives took a tragic turn. Stephen was working from home when Amy informed him she wasn't feeling well and needed to rest. Later, Amy asked her father to watch Joseph while she considered going to the doctor. However, plans changed, and by the evening around 6:50 PM, Stephen and Joseph returned home to find Amy deceased in their master bedroom, with signs suggesting foul play.

Notable Events:

• Initial Illness: Amy claimed to be unwell around noon.
• Father’s Visit: Amy’s father came over to assist with household projects.
• Disappearance: Amy left to possibly visit a doctor, leaving Joseph in her father’s care.
• Discovery: Upon returning, Stephen and Joseph found Amy dead with a gun nearby.

Notable Quote:

"Amy changed her mind about going and she just stayed in bed." — Stephen Moreland [02:00]

---

Initial Investigation: Apparent Suicide?

Initially, Stephen reported the death as a possible suicide during a 911 call, which captured distressing background noises, including Joseph’s poignant question about remarriage.

Key Observations:

• 911 Call: Included Joseph’s questions, revealing emotional turmoil.
• Physical Evidence: Amy had a gun beside her and a gunshot wound to the head.
• Sergeant Gwen Martin’s Reaction: Recognized Amy and found her death suspicious.

Notable Quotes:

"I think this is suicide." — Stephen Moreland [06:35]

"Who puts dinner in the oven and then decides to go upstairs and die by suicide?" — Sergeant Gwen Martin [15:40]

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Uncovering the Truth: Signs of Foul Play

Upon further investigation, Sergeant Martin and other detectives noticed inconsistencies:

• Gun Positioning: The gun was on Amy’s left arm, opposite the wound.
• Blood Spatter: Lack of blood on Amy’s hands and presence of blood in other parts of the house suggested the scene was tampered with.
• Luminol Test: Revealed additional blood stains and footprints leading from the bedroom to other areas.

Notable Quote:

"You can't die by suicide and then clean up your own crime scene afterward." — Sergeant Gwen Martin [16:01]

---

The Dark Web Connection: Besa Mafia and Dogday God

The investigation took a pivotal turn when it was revealed that Amy was on a dark web hit list managed by the Besa Mafia, a notorious site for hiring assassins anonymously using Bitcoin.

Key Details:

• FBI Involvement: In May 2016, the FBI discovered Amy on the Besa Mafia's hit list.
• Nature of Threats: Amy received threatening emails demanding she commit suicide or face the consequences.
• Besa Mafia Operations: Offered various killing services ranging from $4,000 to $50,000, accepting only Bitcoin for transactions.

Notable Quotes:

"Deadly services... revenge at your fingertips." — Yura, Besa Mafia [25:16]

"I still blame you for my life falling apart... commit suicide." — Dogday God [28:46]

---

Stephen Allwine: The Hidden Culprit

As the investigation deepened, evidence pointed towards Stephen Allwine:

• Affairs: Stephen had been involved in extramarital affairs, notably through the Ashley Madison website.
• Dark Web Activity: Signs indicated Stephen might have been seeking to hire the Besa Mafia to eliminate Amy.
• Bitcoin Transactions: A 34-character wallet code used to pay the hit was found on Stephen's computer.
• Scam Revelation: The Besa Mafia was identified as a scam; payments made did not result in any hits.

Notable Quotes:

"Stephen Allwine was Dog Day God." — Garrett Moreland [32:43]

"The entire website was a scam." — Peyton Moreland [38:43]

---

The Trial and Conviction

In January 2017, Stephen was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, which was later elevated to first-degree murder due to evidence of premeditation. During the trial, his defense argued that someone else could have accessed his computer and orchestrated the murder. However, the prosecution presented compelling evidence linking Stephen to the payment and planning of his wife’s murder.

Key Points:

• Evidence: Dark web transactions, browser history, and Bitcoin wallet code.
• Defense Claims: Alternative access to Stephen’s computer.
• Prosecution's Case: Strong link between Stephen and the dark web transactions.

Outcome:

• Verdict: Stephen was found guilty of first-degree murder.
• Sentencing: Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Notable Quote:

"You're an incredible actor, a hypocrite, and a cold, calculating killer." — Judge [43:41]

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Aftermath and Continuing Threats

The Besa Mafia, traced back to Romania, saw several of its members arrested by 2022. Despite these arrests, similar dark web platforms continue to operate, posing ongoing threats.

Key Insights:

• Ongoing Operations: Dark web assassin sites persist despite law enforcement efforts.
• Community Impact: Amy’s death highlighted the dangers of unregulated online marketplaces.

Conclusion

The tragic case of Amy Allwine underscores the complexities of modern criminal investigations, especially those intertwined with the anonymity of the dark web. Stephen Allwine's deceptive facade and covert online activities ultimately led to his downfall, serving as a stark reminder of the pervasive threats lurking in digital shadows.

Final Thoughts:

"That's the case of Amy Allwine. That's so sad. Amy was just a good mom." — Peyton Moreland [44:22]

---

Reflections from the Hosts

Throughout the episode, Peyton and Garrett reflect on the emotional toll of the case, the irony of Amy's death being potentially used to legitimize a scam, and the broader implications of dark web crimes in everyday lives.

Notable Quotes:

"It's hypocritical... It's crazy how much it happens." — Garrett Moreland [44:32]

"It's so sad. Amy was just a good mom." — Peyton Moreland [44:32]

---

Conclusion

Episode 248 of Murder With My Husband provides a comprehensive and riveting exploration of Amy Allwine's murder, blending meticulous investigative detail with engaging storytelling. The episode not only recounts a heartbreaking personal tragedy but also sheds light on the darker aspects of internet anonymity and the lengths individuals may go to hide behind digital masks.

Transcript

[Peyton Moreland]

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[Garrett Moreland]

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[Peyton Moreland]

And I'm Garrett Moreland.

[Garrett Moreland]

And he's the husband.

[Peyton Moreland]

And I'm the husband. That was a little weird.

[Garrett Moreland]

Why?

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, no, I just said it differently than I normally do.

[Garrett Moreland]

Well, Garrett and I prepared a little special something for you guys for the holidays. So Here we go. 3, 2.

[Peyton Moreland]

What are you doing? I was not informed about this. Nobody told me about this.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, did I?

[Peyton Moreland]

Did I? Did I miss the memoir?

[Garrett Moreland]

No, I just thought about doing that right before we pressed record.

[Peyton Moreland]

It was good though.

[Garrett Moreland]

I thought you were going to send him to do the mean girls dance for them.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, I was going To. And then I got tired.

[Garrett Moreland]

What's your favorite Christmas song?

[Peyton Moreland]

Probably Jingle Bell Rock, to be honest. I know. It's so really. I know. It's so cliche. Yeah, I like that. I like Here Comes Santa Claus. Here Comes Santa Claus. Right down Santa Claus Lane.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like that one. I don't know. Frosty the Snowman. Jolly. I like that one, too.

[Garrett Moreland]

You got weird ones.

[Peyton Moreland]

Those are very normal. What are you talking about? I like a what is yours or what are yours? See, that makes me depressed.

[Garrett Moreland]

I don't even know if that's my favorite. I just really wanted to sing that. What's my favorite? What's my favorite? What's my favorite? What's my favorite? Little Drummer boy.

[Peyton Moreland]

A little litter. Little German. That one's good, too.

[Garrett Moreland]

That's a good one. That one. That one hits you right in your fills.

[Peyton Moreland]

Happy holidays. If you're celebrating holidays.

[Garrett Moreland]

If you're not, Happy Murder Day.

[Peyton Moreland]

Happy Murder Day. Happy murder with my husband. If you're watching on YouTube. I'm sorry. The lighting is off. We usually have blackout curtains right there. They are not there right now, so our set looks different. It doesn't look great, but we're getting it fixed as quick as we can. Thank you for being here. And Peyton and I are probably just at home next to the fireplace, hanging out while you're listening to this. And we love you all.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, you have 10 seconds for this amazing, beautiful episode.

[Peyton Moreland]

Honestly, I don't have anything crazy. I. I think, for the most part, hope everyone's having a good holiday. Hope that you feel loved today. And if you don't, Peyton and I love you.

[Garrett Moreland]

Hopefully, you are loved.

[Peyton Moreland]

You are loved. Hopefully. That is good enough. Daisy has not been a great dog today, so that's been kind of making me a little angry. But that's okay. We all have bad days. That's what I got for my 10 seconds. I don't really have anything crazy. Oh, I do have something crazy. Peyton don't know it yet, but in two days, I'm giving her a gift.

[Garrett Moreland]

Two days? Why two days?

[Peyton Moreland]

No. Two days from when this comes out, I will be giving her a gift. I think she's gonna be really excited about it. I think you guys are all going to love it as well.

[Garrett Moreland]

What? I'm so confused about what it is.

[Peyton Moreland]

Peyton has no idea. I can't say. There is more I can say, but I can't say anything more than that because I don't want to give it away.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's nothing bad, right?

[Peyton Moreland]

It's Nothing bad. It's something amazing.

[Garrett Moreland]

Something amazing.

[Peyton Moreland]

I guess there is somebody else that knows. In my family, you will never, ever in a million years. Guess.

[Garrett Moreland]

You're scaring me.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's not going to be bad. It's going to be great.

[Garrett Moreland]

Is it a dog?

[Peyton Moreland]

I'm excited for you guys to see it. It's not a dog. And on that note, let's hop into today's episode.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay. Leave us all hanging.

[Peyton Moreland]

I will. I have to.

[Garrett Moreland]

All right. Our sources for this episode are newser.com star tribune.com cointelegraph.com the times.com metro.co.uk, twin cities.com fox9.com case law. Finelaw.com CBS news news.com republicaneagle.com thesun.com securitynewspaper.com and oxygen.com so you can find absolutely anything on the Internet nowadays, from old video games dating back to your childhood to that obscure song you heard once and never thought you'd find again. To, of course, more nefarious things like weapons, drugs. Honestly, on the Internet you can even find murder for hire. But the wild and scary thing about the Internet, especially thanks to the help of unregulated currencies like Bitcoin, go crypto, is that it can all remain pretty anonymous. Now, you never know who's soliciting these services. It's hard to find out who is buying them, and most of the time, people have no idea that they are the target. So if you piss off the wrong person, all it takes is a few clicks of the mouse and a quick Bitcoin transaction to land a bullseye on.

[Peyton Moreland]

Your back, which I didn't know this is what we were going to be on the case today. Can I say I do have a decent knowledge of cryptocurrency. I will say that is true, but kind of like not true at the same time. I'm just going to sum it up really easily. Everyone has a wallet basically, right? And that wallet has an address. So if you do figure out who owns that address, you can then basically track it. You can track things.

[Garrett Moreland]

What if it's just like if it's sent to another.

[Peyton Moreland]

There can't be a fake address. It's got to be real address, right? So it can go to another address and then you track it from where the address originally came from, where that's going from there, then when it's going from there, and then when it's going from there. I've worked with cryptocurrency quite a bit. Granted, I'm I'm still learning. There's a lot of things I might have wrong. So someone wants to correct me, go ahead. But it is interesting that it is true. It's like if you. Nobody knows whose address that is, then yes, I mean it can stay hidden, but that address can be tracked like.

[Garrett Moreland]

As far as you have to put in some information.

[Peyton Moreland]

They'll just figure out they know someone sent it. Right. Because that address is still linked to whoever sent that. So if they figure out whose address that is, I mean, game over. Interesting. Anyways, just thought I'd let everybody know.

[Garrett Moreland]

That I guess I just like, okay, this is very off topic and I'll say it really fast. I just don't even understand the concept of. Of. There's a lot going.

[Peyton Moreland]

There's a lot to it.

[Garrett Moreland]

Cryptocurrency.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, there's.

[Garrett Moreland]

It just doesn't even make sense to.

[Peyton Moreland]

Me how there's a ton to it.

[Garrett Moreland]

But I guess we do the same thing with money. Kind of we just print more. Money is not kind of what they're doing with bitcoin. They just dig more bitcoin.

[Peyton Moreland]

Welcome to the United States of America.

[Garrett Moreland]

But it's just confusing because like yeah, yeah, it's confusing. We just created another currency.

[Peyton Moreland]

We'll do an episode another time. All about cryptocurrency.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, if you want to find out about cryptocurrency, go ahead and watch our Twitch live streams on Thursdays at 5:30 PT. Garrett will be talking all about that plus not true.

[Peyton Moreland]

But yes, yes I will come watch me.

[Garrett Moreland]

So anyways, all that to say you could possibly hire someone to kill someone in your life and then pay them bitcoin and might not be able to track it 100%. And that is seemingly what happened to the victim in today's case, 43 year old mother Amy Allwine. At least this is what everyone thought happened at first glance. But we're going to obviously get into it. So the year is 2016. We are about a 30 minute drive southeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's a suburban area known as Cottage Grove, which. Which is like the cutest name for a little city, you know. It's where 43 year old Stephen and Amy Alwine have called home for some time now. The couple actually married 20 years prior, back in 1996. They were college sweethearts who met and fell in love at a Christian university. And to most people as life went on, they seem to live a pretty typical middle American lifestyle. Quiet, content, happy. Stephen was a freelance IT expert. Amy owned her own dog Training business. So there were always tons of furry friends in this couple's orbit. Both were deeply involved in their local church, the United Church of God. So much so that Stephen actually became a church elder, someone who gave sermons and offered guidance to other members of the congregation, like counseling couples in their marriage in times of need. So the All Wines were seen as good people. They'd even adopted a little boy back around 2006 that they named Joseph, who now in 2016 is nine years old. And Joseph was everything to mom Amy. Those who knew Amy said she lit up like a Christmas tree anytime there was a mention of her adopted son Joseph. She would go to the ends of the earth for Joseph and the family that she had built. But In November of 2016, the All Wines faced the absolute unthinkable. November 13, 2016. That morning, Stephen was working from home in his basement office like he often did. Around noon he went upstairs for his lunch break and he ate lunch with Joseph and Amy. But that's when Amy told Stephen that she wasn't feeling well. So she was going to head upstairs to lay down, maybe just take a nap, rest for a bit. And Steven said, okay, I will wrap up my workday so I can watch Joseph. Now, around 1pm, Amy's dad comes over to help them finish some project that they were working on in their home. But around 2pm, Amy says to her dad, hey, can you take Joseph over to your house for a bit so Steven can take me to the doctor? So her dad says, of course. And Amy says, we'll be by to pick Joseph up no later than 5:30pm for dinner. Now when 5:30 rolls around, Stephen is the one who swings by Amy's dad's house so he's alone to get their son Joseph. And when her dad is like, hey, how did the doctor go? Like, what? What did they say? Steven is like, oh, Amy changed her mind about going and she just stayed in bed. So after a little bit longer conversation, Steven and Joseph get back in the car and go home at around 6:50pm and they go inside their house. And when they get to the master bedroom to check on Amy, they find her on the floor. She's in a pool of her own blood and she has a gun beside her. Okay, she has been shot on the right side of her head. So Stephen, the husband, calls 911 and he tells the dispatcher, hey, I'm pretty sure that my wife has died by suicide. Now, this call is pretty disturbing and also memorable to the operator for a few reasons. One, because Joseph is heard in the background asking his father why his mother would do that to herself.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh gosh, it's horrible.

[Garrett Moreland]

So obviously we're not going to play it, but he's only nine years old. And then Joseph the son asks Steven another odd question on the 911 call.

[Peyton Moreland]

Also. I don't know, I guess I'm not gonna speak to it. I was just gonna say it's every parent's different. You compare parent however you want. But wouldn't you like take your kid out of the bedroom and be like, hey, let's not like this is not something for. I mean I think it's pretty obvious that's not something for a 9 year old to see.

[Garrett Moreland]

In the heat of the moment. You're not thinking clearly, obviously. I wonder if it was more important to get on the phone with 911 to possibly save her than to take measures to get the kid out of the room.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's just, you just don't want a nine year old to see that.

[Garrett Moreland]

That's horrible. Well, the other odd thing that you can hear in the back of the 911 call is Joseph asks his dad, Steven, are you going to remarry? Now kids say weird things as a nine year old, especially in moments of distress. But it's actually Steven's reaction to the question that sticks with the operator. Like as she's on the phone she's like, what the. Because Steven, the dad who is calling to report that his wife has died by suicide and him and his nine year old son just stumbled upon it, laughs at his nine year old son's question and just says, I don't know, buddy. So meanwhile, Sergeant Gwen Martin hears the dispatch call come over her radio. And when she hears the address and that a female has died by suicide, she has this sinking feeling in her stomach because she knows that address, she knows who lives there. In fact, Sergeant Gwen knows Amy pretty well. She taught her in an eight week course recently, one that teaches civilians about emergency services and law enforcement. This was a topic that Amy had become interested in. So Sergeant Martin had literally just seen the victim two weeks earlier.

[Peyton Moreland]

Okay.

[Garrett Moreland]

And to her, to Gwen, Amy seemed like someone who was planning for the future. She was definitely someone who would do anything for her kid. So this sergeant thought Amy showed zero signs of someone maybe battling with suicidal thoughts. Now obviously we never know, but she just was stunned I think, as most of us would be. But she also knows in this line of work you can never be certain what sort of demons someone deals with behind closed doors. So Unfortunately, Sergeant Martin is also one of the first people to arrive at the crime scene. And some of what she sees that day kind of validates these thoughts of hers that I just don't think this is suicide. Now, when she first sees Amy, she's lying face up on the floor and her pants are partially unzipped.

[Peyton Moreland]

Okay.

[Garrett Moreland]

And then she notices a smell. There is something cooking in the family's kitchen. Amy had a pumpkin roasting in the oven. Sergeant is like, who puts dinner in the oven and then decides to go upstairs and die by suicide?

[Peyton Moreland]

Which I get that.

[Garrett Moreland]

But also, again, it's a hard.

[Peyton Moreland]

I don't think there's a correct way to or guidebook to do that. Yeah, yeah, but I get, I get the suspicions. It makes sense, especially with how weird the call was. You're like, okay, something's off.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's also the cop's job to question everything. Right? Like they're investigating.

[Peyton Moreland]

I appreciate that. 100.

[Garrett Moreland]

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So once forensics get involved, there's even more that doesn't add up to this story. The gunshot wound to Amy's head. It's on the right side, but the gun is resting on her left arm. There's also no blood spatter or gunpowder on her hands, which if Amy was the one to pull the trigger, she would have both. And then cops realize there's a few drops of blood in other parts of the primary bedroom, which makes them wonder, did someone move her body here and clean up the actual crime scene. Now, sure enough, when they do a luminol test, they discover that the room had been recently cleaned but was covered in blood stains and footprints. Ones that led from the primary bedroom to the mudroom and bathroom on the main floor and then to Joseph's bedroom.

[Peyton Moreland]

How do you make it so that doesn't happen? What I'm trying to ask is how do you hide that? Just lots of bleach. Is there a certain chemical to mask it? So it isn't. So it's not shown by the.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yes, there is something. I think it has to do with if the. Like the grout is. Has been recently sealed it. The blood won't get into the grout.

[Peyton Moreland]

But what if it's on wood? Like, what if it's hardwood? You know what I'm saying?

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Enough about that. Or not sure.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, because when they lumen all test, you can see blood like splatters and like pools. So even if you did clean it.

[Peyton Moreland]

Up, like, I wonder if there's. I'm sure there's a good question. I'm sure there is a certain chemical. It's probably just something that you have to specially buy.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So unless you plan out everything methodically, also, the way blood is and how it splatters, it's, I'm sure, be extremely hard to get.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah. Sometimes there's only one drop that you miss, you know? So I also think it's safe to say that detectives are like, well, you can't die by suicide and then clean up your own crime scene afterward. Right. So by the following day, they already have an autopsy report on Amy's body, and they find Amy had died somewhere around 3:15pm that day.

[Peyton Moreland]

I just love how we can figure all this out like this.

[Garrett Moreland]

Right. But they also find evidence that is inconsistent with suicide, mainly because Amy had scopolamine in her system. And this is a drug that is used to treat nausea. And not only was it about 20 times the regular dose, Amy did not have a prescription for that drug. So how did this large of amount of this drug get into her body? Now, typically, in cases like this, the first person that you're going to suspect is the husband. But this becomes a little more complicated for detectives. For starters, Stephen kept saying that he wasn't home during Amy's time of death that day. And while I'm not sure where he claimed to be, there were other witnesses who said they saw an anonymous vehicle speed away from the house shortly after her time of death. So the husband is saying, I wasn't home at that time. 3:15pm and the neighbors are saying we also saw an unknown vehicle leaving around that time. Plus, Steven seems cooperative. He's willing to go down to the station for questioning. Not to mention, there's something else that the police have to consider once they get to know Amy and her past, because Amy had actually been approached by the FBI the past spring. So Amy was already in law enforcement radar.

[Peyton Moreland]

But the FBI? Why the FBI?

[Garrett Moreland]

Because the FBI was doing an investigation of their own, completely unrelated, and found Amy's name on a dark web hit list.

[Peyton Moreland]

Holy crap.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, so back around.

[Peyton Moreland]

How scary would that be?

[Garrett Moreland]

To have the FBI show up your door and be like, someone put a hit out on you?

[Peyton Moreland]

That's wild.

[Garrett Moreland]

I mean, now you understand why maybe the husband isn't the first suspect.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah.

[Garrett Moreland]

So back around May 31, 2016, this is about five months before Amy's death. She was called in to the Cottage Grove Police Department to speak with them and the FBI. And they asked her the one question that no one ever wants to hear Amy, do you know of anyone who might want you dead?

[Peyton Moreland]

Do you think she told her husband about this or went without him knowing? I'm sure you know the answer, so just keep going. I'll just make that a rhetorical question for now.

[Garrett Moreland]

So it turns out the FBI had just learned about a murder for hire site on the dark web called the Besa Mafia. And so they had received a giant cache of data, including email exchanges between Besa Mafia and their clients. So basically, the FBI uncovered this. This dark web hit list place that you could hire. So they. They have this website, they have the clients, and then the everyday people who were on the hit list. Now, I. It's important to say that the clients didn't use their real names, obviously, but the people on the hit list, it was their real names.

[Peyton Moreland]

And.

[Garrett Moreland]

And Amy Alwine was one of them. They also had the username of the person who had ordered the hit on Amy, and it was someone named Dogday. God. Now, something I learned from this story was you cannot just access the dark web through Google. You actually have to have some special software to access sites like the Besa Mafia. What's interesting is this technology was actually created by the military to hide their secrets on backdoor websites. So it's sort of ironic that the military created this loophole in on the Internet and now it is used for so much illegal activity. But the Besa Mafia is a whole other level of dark web criminals. The site claims to be operated by an Albanian mafia, but it seems like it's run by this evil overlord, a guy who goes by Yura. And basically, Yura and his website will recruit anyone who's up for the challenge, meaning they literally post invites for prospective killers to essentially send in audition tapes to become hitmen for this dark website.

[Peyton Moreland]

Holy crap.

[Garrett Moreland]

A quote from one of Yura's videos on the site says if one searches online for, and I quote, shot dead on street, one will find plenty of news about people being shot dead in the street by unknown people that shoot and then leave. Those are our hitmen. We will be waiting for you to come, place your orders, and then get rid of your problems.

[Peyton Moreland]

Gosh, I can't. I can't believe it's real.

[Garrett Moreland]

And literally on this website, there is a menu of Item options from $4,000 for a basic killing to 10,000 for a shoot and run, and then something as high as $50,000 for a high profile sniper murder. They say it depends mostly on how challenging the job will be to pull off. Like if the target has A bodyguard. They're going to charge more. And by the way, on this website, you cannot pay with a visa. The only currency they accept is Bitcoin because of the anonymity, meaning it isn't tied back to anyone's name or IP address. By the time the FBI discovered the Basa Mafia, they already had a list of 282 hits on this website that had been ordered across 60 different countries. I mean, there's like 17 year old girls in Canada looking to kill ex boyfriends on this website. Literally anyone can log on. And with a few clicks of the keyboard, it's boom. Revenge at your fingertips.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, my gosh. What?

[Garrett Moreland]

But Amy, this woman is seemingly harmless. She's been happily and faithfully married for the last 20 years. She's a working mom who makes YouTube videos, dancing with her church elder husband. Who would want this woman dead and for what? Well, it turns out the FBI got those answers through the leak. There was 60 pages worth of correspondence between Dogday God, this is the username that took the hit out, and the Basa Mafia. So this had all started back in February of 2016, actually. Valentine's Day to be exact. That's when Dogday God first reached out to the Besa Mafia, saying, I am looking to hire you for a hit. But what is the recommended way to convert cash to bitcoin? Anonymously? After a few more emails were sent back and forth negotiating a price, Dogday God agreed to send over $12,000 in Bitcoin for the hit job. And they finally revealed their target was a woman named Amy Alwine. The words they used were, I need this B word dead, so please help me. The message continues said that Amy had stolen clients from this person's dog training business. But it suggested the betrayal went far beyond that, because the email also implied that Amy not only was stealing clients, had been sleeping with the business competitor's husband.

[Peyton Moreland]

All right, so sounds like there may be another wife involved, but let's see.

[Garrett Moreland]

They even offer up the perfect opportunity for the hit to happen. They told the Basa Mafia that Amy had an upcoming business trip to Moline, Illinois. And we have actually been to Moline, Illinois in the podcast history before. And I pronounced it Moline, okay? And everyone told me, little Peyton, it is Moline. So I'd like everyone to know it is Moline, Illinois. They even give them the hotel that Amy's going to be staying at, a description of her car and the route that she would likely take. And on top of that, they offer up ways they would like For Amy to be killed.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh my gosh.

[Garrett Moreland]

They want it to look like an accident, and they don't want the son or the husband to be harmed in any way. Now, clearly nothing happens to Amy during this business trip, as you know. But this exchange continues for the next four months as dog Day God works with the base of mafia to help coordinate other options for this hit. They give them daily updates on Amy's movements when she was at the grocery store, the gas station, heading out of town. I mean, Amy has a full time stalker who's now trying to take a hit out on her. So when the police sit down with Amy In May of 2016, they, they uncover all of this. They pull Amy in. They're like, lady, you are in trouble. And, and she is of course shocked about the whole thing. She tells the FBI, I have never had an affair. She offers the FBI a couple names of people. It could be interesting, but she's like, I don't know anyone in my life who fits this description. Stephen, her husband even asks the police, is there any way they might have gotten the wrong Amy? But apparently Dogday God had even sent basa mafia pictures of Amy. So there's no confusion. They have the right Amy. Which is why the FBI says to the all wines, we think you should take these threats seriously. And they have to, because they don't stop once the FBI gets involved. In July of 2016, five months before her death, Amy receives two anonymous emails, presumably from dog day God. They say, quote, amy, I still blame you for my life falling apart. Here is what is going to happen. I will come after everything else that you love. Here is how you can save your family. Commit suicide. So why not do it now and save them?

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh my gosh.

[Garrett Moreland]

I mean, that's terrifying.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's horrible.

[Garrett Moreland]

That would be so scary to get that email. So Amy does the right thing. She shares these emails with the FBI, who begin interviewing suspects, including some of Amy and Steven's work colleagues. They don't find anything, mainly because that email from Dog Day God was untraceable. So they tell the all wines the best thing for them to do now is get a home security system, install a few cameras, buy a gun. But Amy is living in absolute fear at this point. I mean, she's afraid to even be in her own home. She's worried someone is going to come in during the night and kill her.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah.

[Garrett Moreland]

So now you can see why all of this is especially scary when In November of 2016, Amy Alwine dies by suicide. So naturally, her friends and family are furious with the FBI and local police. They're like, you were warned that she was going to be killed and you did nothing. She was just alone in her house. Even though they claimed they had increased security patrols in the area to keep a closer eye on her, she still was killed. And so, to many, the hired hitman possibility makes a lot of sense. Not only did people report cars fleeing from the neighborhood that day, the mastermind of the Basa Mafia, the guy known as Yura, actually releases a video on the site after her death and says, killed? Yeah. And he masks. No, not of her being killed. He masks his voice and his face. And he says, hey, this website should be taken seriously because we are responsible for Amy's death. We took that hit out, okay? But even if Basa Mafia carried out the hit, it still didn't answer the question of who ordered it. So far, many of the names the Allwines had given the police just didn't check out. Which is why they also haven't totally ruled out the possibility that maybe Stephen, the husband, was somehow involved, especially because of how he acted the day his wife died. Not only did he have that odd conversation with his son on the 911 call where he laughed and they talked about remarry, while he also seemed a bit too calm when he came in for questioning. Plus, as police dig further into Amy's case over the following days, they find one really incriminating detail. Remember how Dog Day God had to pay for the hit using Bitcoin?

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, he bought Bitcoin, didn't he?

[Garrett Moreland]

Well, in order to do that, the user had to send a 34 character wallet code to make that transaction. This is kind of something Garrett was talking about earlier. And that same exact wallet code was later found on Steven's computer.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, see? Yeah. So it's not it. You can definitely hide yourself, especially if no one ever finds that you own that wallet. There's no name on it. But if someone does, game over.

[Garrett Moreland]

They're obviously going to track everything. The husband's computer.

[Peyton Moreland]

Correct.

[Garrett Moreland]

So they learn all of this and they're like, okay, so the husband, Stephen Allwine, was Dog Day God. So the question was, at this point, why would this church elder want his wife dead? Here's a little detail about Stephen and Amy's church. Not only did they not believe in divorce, if a church elder was ever found committing adultery, they would be asked to leave the congregation.

[Peyton Moreland]

He was cheating on his wife.

[Garrett Moreland]

Well, this was something that was definitely problematic for Stephen, who had been seeking out affairs over the Internet for the last two years. He was actually doing this on the site Ashley Madison to be exact, which ironically, he learned about while offering marriage counseling to one of the couples at his church. Anyone who doesn't know Ashley Madison is a popular website that rose to fame in the mid-2000s that encourages extramarital affairs.

[Peyton Moreland]

So anyway, it was a dating website.

[Garrett Moreland]

No. So you can get on, create an account, and it's literally to cheat. Like everyone on there is stepping out on their marriage.

[Peyton Moreland]

I literally thought it was, I mean, probably a good thing. I don't know what it is, but I thought it was a dating website. That's crazy.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So it's kind of like GoDaddy. When I wasn't old enough to know what GoDaddy was, I was like, that sounds like a porn website. Later on I'm like, oh, it's just domains. Yeah, kind of funny.

[Garrett Moreland]

So actually there was a huge leak from Ashley Madison's database in 2015, which is not good. This is not the website that you want to leak because it threatened millions of users. It ruined a lot of lives, a lot of marriages. So whether or not Steven was involved in the leak, I actually have no idea. But it's very possible it scared him into making some pretty rash decisions because this just happened a year earlier. A bunch of people who were using this site get leaked and he's using this site.

[Peyton Moreland]

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[Garrett Moreland]

Amy knew about the at least three different affairs that he was having.

[Peyton Moreland]

Okay.

[Garrett Moreland]

But I do know that Stephen realized there was no way to actually be with any of these new women if his church didn't allow him to get divorced. So maybe Steven had to come up with a different plan. Maybe he needed to have his wife killed so he could go on and be a free man. Which was when Steven possibly took to the dark web and stumbled upon the Basa mafia. Maybe he thought it was an easy way for him to walk away with his hands clean. So maybe he forked over the Bitcoin. Around $12,000 to be exact. And then waited and waited and waited and talked to this website. But there's also the possibility that he was met with every single excuse. They would just keep making a new plan. A new plan. Steven would send more money. Obviously we know nothing was coming of it. Which is why probably In July of 2016, Dog Day God emailed Amy themselves, remember? And told them that they would kill her whole family if she didn't kill herself. But when Amy went right to the FBI with those emails, maybe Steven realized his plan wasn't working the way he expected it to. And it seemed like the base of Mafia the this website on the dark web that he had paid, they were never going to pull through. And Steven wasn't wrong.

[Peyton Moreland]

You know why they took his money?

[Garrett Moreland]

The entire website was a scam.

[Peyton Moreland]

Okay?

[Garrett Moreland]

This website on the dark web was a con to make money off of pathetically desperate people who were trying to get someone out of their lives for good.

[Peyton Moreland]

That's so wild. That's. Honestly, for the first time, I'm kind of glad that they were scamming everybody, because one, they weren't killing people, and two, they were scamming people that wanted to kill other people.

[Garrett Moreland]

And here's the thing, Robin Hood. Maybe Amy's death actually promoted this website because the website made a video in 2016 after she died, saying, look.

[Peyton Moreland]

But it wasn't even them.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yes, it was. But they said, look, we took a hit out, or someone took a hit out on her, and we did it. Look, she's dead. So it was all a marketing ploy. Why wouldn't they take the credit? It legitimized their fake business. Now, I guess it never occurred to Steven that $12,000 for a hit was suspiciously cheap. Like that does feel very cheap. But it was low enough for them to rope in the cash. And if they were paying with Bitcoin, there's no way he's ever going to see that money again. Now, once Steven finally figured out that he'd been scammed, he was already so committed to the idea of having Amy killed that he chose a new path. He's like, I'm just gonna do it myself.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, my gosh.

[Garrett Moreland]

But again, he actually used the dark web as a tool. So this is where I'm getting into what Steven actually did this time when he realizes, hey, this website is not gonna kill my wife. He goes online and begins searching for drugs. And he found a site called Dream Market. And for one reason or another, he decided to purchase a large amount of scopolamine. That's the anti nausea medicine that was found in her system, which in large doses can make people loopy, disoriented, even compliant. And remember, Amy had 20 times the normal amount in her system when the coroner did her autopsy. So on the afternoon of November 13, 2016, or in the days leading up to it, Steven had begun slipping Amy that large dose in her food or drink. Which was why Amy felt so sick that afternoon when her dad came over. Now, once the dad took Joseph and the son was out of the house, it seems Stephen took advantage of the state that he'd put Amy in. He grabbed the gun the family had bought to protect themselves from this hit. And Stephen then used that gun to kill Amy and stage her death as a suicide. Okay, now, maybe others think that Amy had decided to protect her family. From those mysterious threats after all.

[Peyton Moreland]

No, not with all the evidence that shows she didn't shoot herself.

[Garrett Moreland]

Right. Now, Steven denies all of this. He insists. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't do this. It has to be whoever took the hit out on her. There was no way he would ever do anything to his wife and leave his son motherless. However, as we know, there was a lot of evidence to suggest this was another lie. So there's a lot of things I find ironic in this case, but maybe one of the biggest things is that Steven was an IT guy. You should have known how to cover his tracks, at least when it came to computers. Right? And yet his computer was some of the best evidence against him. For example, Stephen had a browser set up on his computer that could let him access the Dark web as well as on his phone. So he was definitely accessing it. Dog Day God first contacted the Basa Mafia on Valentine's Day. Shortly after sending that message, Steven's computer showed him googling how to use Bitcoin. I remember the first message was, how do I use Bitcoin? The following day, he was looking up Amy's itinerary for her business trip to Moline, Illinois, and figuring out what drive she would take to get there. Now, remember, that message was this exact information. On March 6, Steven downloads a picture to the family's desktop. It's of Amy on their recent trip to Hawaii.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, my gosh. And that's the picture that we.

[Garrett Moreland]

That is the picture that is sent. Days later, there's an email from the base of Mafia to Dog Day God explaining how to purchase Bitcoin and that he should then report that money stolen to his bank to cover his trail. Now, immediately after, Steven calls the Cottage Grove police and says he's been a victim of a scam. So while police couldn't exactly trace Dog Day God's IP address, it's detail after detail like this that basically proves this was happening from Steven's computer. So unless someone is repeatedly breaking into his home, accessing his computer, and keeping up this charade for months leading up to Amy's death, it has to be him. Which is why he's finally arrested and charged with second degree murder in January of 2017. However, once he got in front of a grand jury, those charges were escalated to first degree murder. Because everything is screaming premeditation, right? So there's an eight day trial, and Stephen is like, hey, I didn't do any of this. I mean, there were plenty of female friends in her life who had access to their home and computer. He's like, someone had to have been coming in and using my computer. He also was like, the police did such a bad job. There was also this hit out for her. But as we know, after years of doing this show, the simplest explanation is often the most likely. So after the eight day trial, the jury deliberated for six hours to conclude that Stephen Alwine was guilty of first degree murder.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yes, sir.

[Garrett Moreland]

At his sentencing, the judge gave Steven an earful before handing down his sentence, saying, quote, you're an incredible actor, a hypocrite, and a cold, calculating killer. Then he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Now, as for the Basa mafia and their scam website, nobody knows who they are. The FBI has since traced the website to a location in Romania. And as of 2022, at least five members of the fraudulent organization have been arrested and are facing charges like murder, organized crime, and money laundering. But the website and others like it are still operating in corners of the dark web today. And that is just the reality we live in.

[Peyton Moreland]

That's so wild.

[Garrett Moreland]

And that is the case of Amy Allwine.

[Peyton Moreland]

That's so sad. Amy was just a good mom because.

[Garrett Moreland]

They couldn't get divorced. It just ironic.

[Peyton Moreland]

So sad.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's so ironic to me, too, that you're. You're having three affairs. So you don't want to be with your wife anymore because you want to be a member of this church. Right. You want to. You want to be an elder of this church. So your solution is to murder one of, like, the most important commandments. You know what I mean?

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah.

[Garrett Moreland]

It just, like, I know the reasoning for the murder is because you want to stay at church. That just, like, doesn't even. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's just hypocritical.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's crazy how much it happens.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah. All right, you guys, that was our episode for this week. We hope you have an amazing holiday, and we will see you next time with another episode. I love it.

[Peyton Moreland]

I hate it.

[Garrett Moreland]

Goodbye, Sat.