Amy Allwine: The Plot That Started Online
On November 13, 2016, a quiet Sunday in Cottage Grove, Minnesota turned into a nightmare.
Stephen Allwine returned home from church and called 911. His wife, Amy, had been shot in the basement of their home.
There were no broken windows.
No kicked-in doors.
No obvious signs of forced entry.
Just a devastated husband. A nine-year-old son upstairs. And a tragedy that felt sudden and senseless.
But as investigators would later discover, this story may not have started that Sunday morning at all.
It may have started months earlier — online.
Who Was Amy Allwine?
Before this case became associated with the dark web and cryptocurrency, there was Amy.
Amy Allwine was 43 years old. She worked in healthcare and was known by friends and colleagues as steady, kind, and dependable. She grew up in Minnesota and built her life there. Faith was important to her. She and her husband were active members of their church community.
Most importantly, she was a mother. Her nine-year-old son was the center of her world.
There was no public history of chaos. No record of escalating violence. No dramatic spiral in the weeks leading up to her death.
Which is part of what made this case so difficult to understand.
The Scene
When police arrived at the Allwine home, they secured the house and began processing the basement.
Amy had been shot. A firearm was nearby. The weapon belonged to the household.
There were no clear signs of a burglary. No ransacked rooms. No shattered glass. No forced entry.
Stephen told investigators he had been at church that morning. Congregation members confirmed seeing him there.
At first glance, it looked like a tragic and possibly random act of violence.
But detectives don’t just examine what is present at a scene.
They examine what is missing.
The Digital Discovery
As part of routine homicide procedure, investigators seized electronic devices from the home.
Phones. Computers. Tablets.
What they found would change the direction of the case entirely.
On Stephen’s computer, forensic analysts identified the installation of a browser called Tor — short for “The Onion Router.” Tor is designed to anonymize internet activity by routing traffic through multiple encrypted relays around the world.
Tor itself isn’t illegal. It’s used by journalists, activists, and privacy advocates.
But it is also the primary gateway to the dark web.
Investigators also discovered evidence of cryptocurrency activity — specifically Bitcoin transactions that were not typical household purchases.
And when they began tracing those transactions through the blockchain, they uncovered something chilling.
Months before Amy was killed, someone in Cottage Grove had been communicating with a dark web site that advertised murder-for-hire services.
The site was called Besa Mafia.
The Hitman Site
Besa Mafia presented itself as a professional contract killing service. It listed prices. It accepted Bitcoin. It claimed discretion.
In reality, it was largely a scam site — but the user communicating with it didn’t appear to know that.
Using the alias “dogdaygod,” the individual had:
- Asked about pricing
- Sent Bitcoin payments totaling approximately $6,000
- Provided identifying details about a wife
- Shared photographs
- Asked about timing and confirmation
- Grown frustrated when the job was not completed
- Even requested a refund
The communications spanned months in early 2016.
This wasn’t a late-night impulse.
It was structured. Methodical. Transactional.
And when investigators followed the Bitcoin trail backward — through gift cards purchased in person, through exchange accounts, through IP logs — the digital breadcrumbs led to Stephen Allwine.
Cryptocurrency Is Not Anonymous
One of the most misunderstood aspects of this case is Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not anonymous. It is pseudonymous.
Every transaction is permanently recorded on a public ledger known as the blockchain. While wallet addresses do not automatically display a name, once a wallet is tied to a real-world identity, the transaction history becomes traceable.
In this case:
- Gift cards were purchased on surveillance camera.
- Those cards were converted into Bitcoin.
- The Bitcoin was sent to the hitman site wallet.
- Exchange accounts were tied to Stephen’s email and home IP address.
The illusion of anonymity collapsed under forensic scrutiny.
The Financial Layer
As investigators widened their search, they uncovered another detail.
Amy had a life insurance policy worth approximately $500,000. Stephen was the beneficiary.
Life insurance alone is not suspicious. Many couples carry policies to protect their families.
But prosecutors later argued that in combination with:
- The attempted murder-for-hire payments
- The online relationship developing at the same time
- The desire to avoid divorce and financial division
…the policy became part of a broader motive theory.
Divorce brings legal battles, custody arrangements, and asset division.
Death brings insurance proceeds and sympathy.
The Online Relationship
During the same period that the hitman communications were occurring, Stephen was also engaged in an online relationship with a woman overseas.
The relationship began in early 2016 and developed into emotionally intimate conversations about starting a new life.
Two digital threads unfolding simultaneously:
One about ending a marriage.
One about beginning something new.
There is no evidence the woman was involved in the crime or aware of the plot.
But the timing mattered.
Compartmentalization
Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the case wasn’t the dark web itself.
It was the length of time.
Months of communication.
Months of planning.
Months of secret online life.
All while daily routines continued.
Church on Sundays.
Family dinners.
School schedules.
Psychologists refer to this as compartmentalization — separating parts of one’s life into sealed mental boxes. Husband. Father. Church member. Planner.
Until those boxes collide.
The Trial
Stephen Allwine’s trial lasted approximately three weeks in early 2018.
Prosecutors presented:
- Dark web communications
- Bitcoin transaction records
- Surveillance footage of gift card purchases
- Internet search history related to staging a burglary
- Forensic evidence from the scene
The defense did not deny that Stephen accessed the hitman site. Instead, they argued intent — suggesting he did not believe the site was real and never intended for violence to occur.
After approximately three days of deliberation, the jury found Stephen Allwine guilty of first-degree premeditated murder.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bringing It Back to Amy
This case became widely known because of the dark web.
Because of Bitcoin.
Because of the chilling idea that someone attempted to outsource murder online.
But at the center of all of that was Amy.
A healthcare worker.
A mother.
A woman rooted in her community.
Her life was not a digital transaction.
It was a human one.
And while the internet documented the planning, it could not protect her from it.
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If you found this story interesting, you may also like the story of The Stacy Peterson Disappearance, The Carol Thompson Case: A Chilling Suburban Betrayal and Til Death (or a Suspicious Fall) Do Us Part: The Harold Henthorn Case.
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