Co-produced by CNBC and Oxygen True Crime, Blood & Money covers real crime stories and the subsequent investigation following it. Each episode carries cases that made headlines following murders committed out of greed. Episode 2 of the docuseries details the 1997 murder of Sheila Bellush by her ex-husband Allen Blackthorne. 

Allen Blackthorne was an affluent businessman based out of San Antonio. His company sold medical supplies, allowing him to build a mansion worth millions by age 40. In 1982, Allen married Sheila, and together they have two beautiful daughters- Stevie and Daryl.

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Allen had a history of violence towards Sheila, with the latter alleging that he had sexually abused his daughters. However, all charges related to this claim were dropped. Their ensuing divorce was rather ugly, and she won custody of their daughters. Added to this, Sheila was now owed $1,070,000 by Blackthorne, as per their divorce settlement requirements.

 Sheila married Jamie Bellush in 1993, and together they had four children. They soon shifted to Sarasota, Florida, when Balckthorne refused to stop causing disturbances in Sheila’s life. He accused her of being a negligent mother and soon hired private investigator Chuck Chambers to locate his ex-wife. Within three weeks of Chambers locating the Belush family, Sheila Belush was found shot and stabbed to death in her kitchen. 

Blackthorne denied any claims of murdering Sheila and had a rock-solid alibi- he was playing golf with Daniel Alex Rocha outside of San Antonio. It turns out Blackthorne had asked Rocha for help to murder his wife. Rocha, a golf acquaintance of Balckthorne with a criminal past, got in touch with a friend, Samuel Gonzalez, who introduced Balckthorne to his cousin, Jose Luis Del Toro, who agreed to attack for a sum. 

When police were able to track down Jose’s car due to matching descriptions from witnesses, and his then-girlfriend told police about his cousin Samuel, it was easy for police to connect the dots. With Samuel’s help, they found Rocha. Surprisingly, Blackthorne was the last of the four perpetrators to get caught. 

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While Blackthorne and his legal team tried to mount suspicions against Jamie Bellush, evidence pointed toward him. He was arrested on 4th January, 200. During his trial in June, his three associates turned against him, providing ample evidence of his direct involvement in the death of Sheila.

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Allen Blackthorne was charged with interstate murder and conspiring to murder and was given two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Blackstone died at 59 on 18th November 2014 at the Terre Haute federal prison in Indiana.