The apartment where Thessalonica Allen killed her husband, Randy Allen (screengrab via WSBT). Inset: Thessalonica Allen (via La Porte County (Ind.) Sheriff’s Office).
A 36-year-old mother in Indiana who killed her husband, chopped up his body, and then made her two young children help her put his dismembered body parts into bags and load them into the victim’s car will likely spend the rest of her life behind bars.
LaPorte County Circuit Court Judge Thomas J. Alevizos on Friday ordered Thessalonica Allen to serve a sentence of 63 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of Randy Allen, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
A jury in July deliberated for less than 30 minutes before finding Allen guilty on one count each of murder, abuse of a corpse, and altering the scene of a death, as well as two counts each of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and neglect of a dependent.
Judge Allen reasoned that the evidence presented in court showed that Allen deserved a particularly harsh sentence for her crimes, writing that the aggravating factors in the case far outweighed the mitigating factors for sentencing. Such aggravating factors were listed as “evidence that this matter was premeditated, both prior and post event,” and that Allen showed “a lack of remorse,” according to court records.
Judge Alevizos also pointed out the “tremendous psychological effect on the children” Allen’s actions and the fact that she “placed blame on her youngest child.”
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Allen fatally shot her husband inside their family home on July 27, 2021, while their children — both under 16 — were inside the residence. Investigators who spoke to the children said both reported hearing a “loud bang” and running into their mother’s bedroom, where they found Allen lying on the floor begging them to call 911, but their mother told them not to and sent them back to their rooms.
Later the same night, Allen woke the two children and told them to help her drag their father’s corpse outside the house and into his car, but the three could not move the body because it was too heavy. Prosecutors said this led Allen to resort to even more horrific and grisly tactics to dispose of the body.
The children reportedly told detectives that their mother went out the next day and brought back an assortment of cleaning supplies and an ax, which she allegedly used to dismember Randy Allen’s corpse. Allen then had the kids help her place the body parts in a tote bag, but it was still too heavy for them to move, the report stated. The children told investigators that their mother said she planned to load Randy Allen’s body into his car and drive it to a location in South Bend where she would set it on fire, but the body remained too heavy for the three to move.
Police were notified about the situation by a man who had previously been in a relationship with Thessalonica Allen and was the father of one of the children.
The man allegedly told investigators that Thessalonica Allen called and told him to go to the apartment because Randy Allen was beating their child. When the man arrived, he found Randy Allen’s body and Thessalonica Allen confessed to killing him, saying it was because he was beating their child.
When Allen asked him to help move the body, he declined and asked to be driven back home. The man further claimed that during the drive back to his home, Thessalonica Allen threw a gun out of the car window.
Police officers later found Thessalonica Allen in LaPorte, Indiana, in the parking lot of an Ace Hardware. The arrest report said that when officers made contact, she started to cry and said, “You guys don’t understand, he beats me.” She then confessed to killing Randy Allen, saying she shot him after he choked her with his hands.
“She then admitted she had to cut Randy’s legs off because she wasn’t able to fit him inside the tote,” police wrote in the affidavit. “She stated she panicked and did not know what to do after she had shot him. She stated she used an ax to cut his legs off.”
The affidavit also said that the suspect’s children told police that the argument ensued after Randy Allen confronted their mother about a website she had allegedly been using, though no specifics about the site were provided.
Investigators said they found Randy Allen’s dismembered body in the tote bag inside one of the children’s closets.
At trial, Thessalonica Allen’s lawyer tried to mount a claim of self-defense, alleging that Randy Allen had lunged at her during the fight, South Bend, Indiana Fox and CBS affiliate WSBT reported. Prosecutors said that Thessalonica Allen had lied to get a protective order against Randy Allen and that there were notes showing the defendant had planned to kill her husband.
According to Indianapolis CBS affiliate WXIN, police found a handwritten note in the apartment during a search — essentially a to-do list of tasks apparently related to getting rid of her husband’s body.
That list, per the report, included:
1. Spray s— in face, hit him in right knee w/ hammer
2. Hit w/hammer/stab him
3. Roll body up in sheets & plastic bags
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