SAN ANTONIO | Former San Antonio millionaire Allen Blackthorne, who was serving two life sentences for hiring the murder of ex-wife Sheila Bellush, has died in federal prison. He was 59.
Blackthorne died Tuesday in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website. No cause of death was listed.
Bellush, often referred to as the “Quad Mom” for the quadruplets she had with a second husband, was found shot with her throat slit in her Sarasota, Florida, home in 1997. Two of Bellush’s then-2-year-old children were found crawling in her blood.
Bellush and Blackthorne divorced in 1989 and had a bitter custody dispute over their two daughters. In 1997, Bellush moved to Florida, and six weeks later, she was killed.
Blackthorne was the last of four men to be convicted or plead guilty in Bellush’s death. Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. pleaded guilty to serving as the hit man and got two consecutive life sentences. The cousin who hired him, Sammy Gonzales, was given 19 years in prison. And Daniel Rocha, a golfing buddy of Blackthorne’s who asked Gonzales to find a hit man, was sentenced to life behind bars.
Bellush and Blackthorne divorced in 1989 and had a bitter custody dispute over their two daughters. In 1997, Bellush moved to Florida, and six weeks later, she was killed.
Prosecutors said Blackthorne offered $54,000 for the murder plus a bonus if he regained custody of the girls, who had been adopted by Bellush’s second husband.
During the trial, Blackthorne admitted he once threatened to kill his ex-wife because he thought she was a negligent mother. But he denied arranging her murder.
Blackthorne made his fortune selling medical devices.