U.S. District Judge Ed Prado called Allen Blackthorne the "lead organizer" of an elaborate murder-for-hire plot that led to the death of 35-year-old Sheila Bellush in 1997, his ex-wife, in her home in Sarasota, Fla., while her quadruplet toddlers walked in her blood.
Blackthorne was a Texas millionaire who once spent his days on the golf course.
The story - which became a best-seller by Ann Rule - unfolded both in sunny Florida and southern Texas -- San Antonio, the home of Blackthorne and his accomplices. I got to cover his criminal trial. Here are some of the stories in that series:
1-6-2000: Suspect's life has always been a trial. The man accused of masterminding a murder had a brutal childhood.
