©St. Petersburg Times, published November 18, 1997
By KELLY RYAN and LEANORA MINAI

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Two men were arrested Monday in the shooting death of Sheila Bellush, the Sarasota mother of six found dead in her home nearly two weeks ago.

Texas Rangers arrested San Antonio residents Samuel "Sammy" Gonzales, 27, and Daniel Alex Rocha, 28, and charged them with conspiracy to commit murder. They were being held on $1-million bail each at the Bexar County Jail.

Authorities in Florida and Texas declined to comment on whether or how Gonzales and Rocha knew suspected triggerman Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. They also did not offer a motive in the Nov. 7 slaying.

The search for the 21-year-old Del Toro, a former high school football standout, continued late Monday in the small border town of Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The arrests brought renewed interest in Bellush's ex-husband, Allen Blackthorne, who spent several hours in the downtown San Antonio office of his prominent criminal defense attorney, Roy Barrera Jr.

About 6:20 p.m., Barrera and Blackthorne left the office together, leaving behind a media horde awaiting comment.

Although Blackthorne wouldn't talk, several people in San Antonio were linking Blackthorne and the two men arrested Monday with a common interest: golf.

A next-door neighbor of one of the suspects said Rocha knew Blackthorne and had golfed with him.

"He's one of the better golfers in the community," Rick Speights said of neighbor Rocha. "He's pretty well-known. He's just considered a good guy."

Speights said Rocha was friends with Gonzales, who worked at a golf equipment store in San Antonio.

Blackthorne, a vice president of a medical equipment company, routinely golfed from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, often at private Oak Hill Country Club. The day Bellush was killed Blackthorne was golfing with three others at a new, posh course called The Bandit.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that on the day Bellush was killed, Rocha called the paper and told a sports writer that he had golfed with Blackthorne that day. He told the newspaper that he had known Blackthorne about a year.

About lunchtime Monday, Speights said two Rangers approached Rocha's house and shook his hand before escorting him to a waiting car. Gonzales was arrested at his father's appliance store.

The arrests came two months after Sheila Bellush, 35, moved to a modest home in Sarasota with her husband, James, quadruplet toddlers and two daughters from her marriage to Blackthorne.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Stevie, found her dead after school on Nov. 7. The quadruplets, wearing life vests, were wandering in their mother's blood but were uninjured.

Bellush's family moved to Florida to escape a storm of controversy after the birth of the quadruplets -- Frankie, Timothy and Joseph, and a girl, Courtney. She was accused of beating her 12-year-old daughter with a belt in late August and had gone through a long, bitter divorce with her ex-husband.

In an interview with the Times last weekend, Blackthorne said he had not talked to Sheila for months and had not had contact with his daughters since their move to Florida.

Blackthorne is well-known in the San Antonio area and has been a member of several private country clubs. He lives in a pink stucco mansion north of downtown that took him and his current wife, Maureen, a year to build.

After word of the two arrests became public Monday afternoon, reporters descended on Blackthorne and his attorney.

As 6 p.m. approached, a dozen reporters swarmed the parking lot of Barrera's office. A television cameraman stood on a car roof craning his neck for a closer look at the office where Blackthorne sat. Other reporters peered through an opening in a window. Inside, Blackthorne could be seen smoking a cigarette and sipping a Diet Coke.

Just after 6 p.m., a man drove Blackthorne's four-wheel-drive truck away. A short time later, Blackthorne, wearing an Oak Hill Country Club baseball cap, emerged from the office with his attorney and got into a pickup truck.

With camera lights in his face, Blackthorne said nothing as reporters fired questions at him. He climbed into the truck and sat stone-faced. Blackthorne arrived home about 7:30 p.m. where a crew of reporters waited on his street.

Barrera previously has said that Blackthorne was shocked by Bellush's death and that he did not know Del Toro.

After complaining that Sheila Bellush was not letting the girls visit him, Blackthorne voluntarily gave up custody of his daughters in July. He is remarried and has two sons, 3 years and 6 months.

The break in the case came early last week when Sarasota sheriff's detectives announced Del Toro as the suspected killer.

Among the clues they found linking him to the crime: fingerprints on Bellush's clothes dryer, a hotel receipt and copy of his driver's license that he used to secure a room at the Hampton Inn in Sarasota, and the .45-caliber pistol used in the killing.

Del Toro, who grew up in a small rural south Texas town, is being hunted in Mexico, where authorities say he has several friends and knows his way around. His car was recovered Nov. 10 in Austin, Texas.

Detectives have said for days that they suspect Del Toro had help. For one thing, the Bellushes' home in Sarasota is not listed in county records, their driver's licenses show a post office box and they do not have a listed phone number.

Henry Lee, chief assistant state attorney for Sarasota County, said his office has requested a federal warrant charging Del Toro with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Once the Department of Justice receives the paperwork, they will contact Mexican authorities about picking up Del Toro.

Lt. Ray Cano, a spokesman for the Texas Rangers, said Florida investigators participated in Monday's arrests and have questioned the two suspects. He said he did not anticipate any other arrests Monday night.

Rangers could not confirm reports that Gonzales is a cousin of Del Toro's. A spokesman would not say whether Blackthorne has been questioned by authorities, but did say there is no warrant out for his arrest.

Rocha lives in an upper-middle class neighborhood of mostly two-story brick homes. Rocha, an independent contractor who does home-remodeling, moved there in May with his wife, Eva, and three young sons.

"He's a very nice guy, plays with his kids, just a normal guy," said Speights. "He takes his little boys bike-riding."

A woman who answered the door at Rocha's mother's home, where the blinds were drawn, told a reporter to go away.

Gonzales was a friend of Rocha's and worked for a business called Precision Golf Center. When arrested, he was wearing a baseball cap with a golf logo.

Gonzales was arrested at Gonzales Appliances, a business owned by his father, Jose, 52. The elder Gonzales said his son had worked for a local country club but did not say which one.

"His life is his life," Jose Gonzales said. "I'm not with him all the time.
He's got his own life to live."
-- Times researchers Kitty Bennett and Barbara Oliver and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune contributed to this report.

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

November 23, 1997
Section: A SECTION
Page: 1A
Lou Ferrara STAFF WRITER

Mexican officials opted Saturday to hold potentially lengthy extradition hearings for a Texas man accused of killing a mother of quadruplets in Sarasota instead of deport him.

Although Sarasota authorities said the move will not jeopardize the murder investigation, it could affect their chances of persuading Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. to confess and testify against others involved in planning Sheila Bellush's murder. Mexico has refused in the past to extradite suspects who might face the death penalty, which authorities had considered a big bargaining chip they could use against Del Toro when he was extradited to Sarasota.

In October, Mexican officials refused to extradite a U.S. fugitive in the killings of four people in California, deciding instead to prosecute him in Mexico, which does not have a death penalty.

In that case, Mexico said it would extradite David Alvarez only if California prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. No such promise was apparently received and Mexican prosecutors tried Alvarez on grounds that two of the victims were citizens of that country.

When Del Toro was on the loose two weeks ago, Sarasota County Sheriff Geoff Monge said Del Toro should surrender and tell whether others were involved in the homicide to possibly avoid the death penalty. Monge could not be reached for comment Saturday night.

Henry Lee, chief prosecutor in Sarasota, said his office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty in Del Toro's case.

``I'm sure they'll eventually extradite him,'' Lee said Saturday. ``I don't think in the long run it will affect the case.''

As for the investigation into Bellush's death, Sarasota County sheriff's Capt. Jerry Eggleston said his agency has to wait on the U.S. and Mexican governments to work out a deal sending Del Toro to Sarasota.

``We'll just be continuing with what we're doing,'' he said.

Sheriff's Lt. Bill Stookey said the agency has not received official notification from Mexico about extradition.

``We're still confident that U.S. officials will be able to secure his return to the U.S. to stand trial,'' Stookey said. ``We definitely still need to talk to him, if he will talk to us. We still think it's in his best interest to do so.''

It was unclear Saturday what prompted Mexican officials to opt for extradition proceedings - an about-face from their position 24 hours earlier.

On Friday, Mexican and U.S. officials said Del Toro would be deported as an illegal alien because he was in Mexico for more than 72 hours without a visa. Law-enforcement officials in Texas had been notified Friday that Del Toro would be taken to a Laredo or San Antonio jail.

Del Toro, 21, was captured in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday after a 10-day search. Authorities tracked down Del Toro after he made calls from Monterrey to his girlfriend's tapped telephone in Austin.

He was wanted for first-degree murder in the shooting death Nov. 7 of Bellush, who had moved to Sarasota from San Antonio two months before the killing.

Detectives say he drove from Texas to Sarasota to kill the 35-year-old woman, but left a trail of evidence that included a fingerprint on her clothes dryer.

On Saturday, he was moved to Mexico City's Eastern Prison on an arrest warrant issued by a Mexican judge.

The Attorney General's Office in Mexico issued a statement Saturday saying U.S. authorities have 60 days to formally request extradition. And the decision on whether to extradite him now lies with the Foreign Relations Ministry.

Although detectives are convinced that Del Toro is the killer, they believe he could provide them with crucial information related to others in the case.

So far, two other San Antonio men have been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the case, Daniel Alex Rocha and Samuel Gonzales.

Gonzales is Del Toro's cousin. But detectives have not said whether the men are connected to the case.

Material from The Associated Press and the Tampa Tribune was used in this report.

Caption: (Jose Luis) Del Toro (Jr.)

Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

If Samuel Gonzales tells police everything he knows about the murder of Sheila Bellush, the San Antonio man will spend a maximum of 19 years behind bars for his role in the crime.

The sentence is part of a plea agreement between Gonzales and prosecutors in San Antonio and Sarasota. Although the agreement was put under seal when he pleaded guilty Wednesday in Texas to a charge of solicitation to commit capital murder, the documents were released Friday following a court hearing. The agreement also stipulates that Gonzales must plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder when he's extradited to Sarasota in January. In return, the 27-year-old will not face additional charges for his role in the crime and has the option of serving his sentence in a Texas prison closer to his family.

Without the plea, he could have received life in prison for each charge.

The six pages released Friday don't detail what exactly Gonzales has told prosecutors, just that he was required to give a full statement that included ``the involvement of any and all other persons involved in the circumstances surrounding the death of Sheila Bellush.''

Henry Lee, the chief prosecutor in Sarasota, said Gonzales' testimony will be used as evidence in the cases against the man accused of being the killer, Jose Luis Del Toro, and another San Antonio man accused of planning the killing, Daniel Rocha.

Investigators have said the three are part of a murder-for-hire scheme, but what remains unknown is how the plan was executed, who wanted Bellush murdered and why.

Detectives say their investigation is continuing and more people could be arrested, but they declined to say why Gonzales' statements to prosecutors have not already resulted in more suspects being arrested.

``The substance of his statement does not need to be made public until it is wrapped up,'' Lee said. ``There are still things we are looking at.''

Sarasota County Sheriff Geoff Monge and other officials refused to comment Friday about the case and Gonzales' agreement.

Bellush, a 35-year-old mother of six, was shot in the head and her throat was cut twice Nov. 7 in her Gulf Gate area home. Her two-year-old quadruplets were found unharmed near their mother's corpse.

Bellush and her husband, James, moved the family from San Antonio to Sarasota two months before the killing.

Detectives say Del Toro left a fingerprint on Bellush's clothes dryer and the gun used in the killing. He is being held in Mexico, where he was captured Nov. 20, and awaits extradition to the United States.

Investigators say Gonzales, who is Del Toro's cousin, and Rocha solicited Del Toro for the killing.

Rocha is being held in a San Antonio jail, fighting extradition to Florida.
He's the 29-year-old golfing buddy of Bellush's ex-husband, Allen Blackthorne.

Though Gonzales could serve his prison term in Texas, the agreement calls for his sentence to be governed by Florida's tougher guidelines.

That means the minimum Gonzales would serve is 16 of the 19 years he faces.
The Texas court reserved sentencing Gonzales until he cooperates with Florida authorities.

He faces up to a 30-year sentence in Texas. But Lee said that state's sentencing guidelines are softer than Florida's, so a longer Texas sentence would be equal to Florida's with time reduced for good behavior.

No matter the total length of time of Gonzales' sentence, the terms from each state will be served concurrently.

Following Gonzales' plea this week, San Antonio District Attorney Steve Hilbig asked the court to seal the agreement from the public because of the ongoing investigation. Texas Circuit Court Judge Sharon MacRae granted the request, which was challenged by attorneys for a San Antonio newspaper and television station Friday.

The attorneys argued that the public had a right to view the agreement and the district attorney's office insisted it remain sealed. Charles Tennison, Gonzales' attorney, argued that revealing the agreement would endanger his client's life, but he did not say how or why.

Before making her ruling, McRae allowed Gonzales to reconsider his decision to plead guilty because the agreement would be made public. Gonzales stuck with the plea and McRae ordered the documents released.

Caption: (Samuel) Gonzales

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

June 23, 1998
Section: A SECTION
Page: 1A
Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

The man accused of killing Sheila Bellush might be in a Texas jail today instead of fighting deportation from Mexico, but for a thunderstorm four days after the murder.

Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. arranged to meet his girlfriend, Anna Morales, at a bar in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras on Nov. 11. Morales was cooperating with authorities. Texas Rangers flew her to Piedras Negras as bait in a trap that would lead to Del Toro's arrest.

But bad weather forced the plane to land in Del Rio, Texas, delaying their arrival by an hour. The Rangers later learned from Mexican officials that Del Toro showed up for the meeting but left before they got there.

The story of how close authorities came to catching Del Toro, 22, is one of several revelations contained in nearly 1,000 pages of evidence released Monday by the Sarasota state attorney's office.

The evidence is part of the discovery process in the criminal cases of Samuel Gonzales and Daniel Alex Rocha, two San Antonio men accused of hiring Del Toro in a plan allegedly hatched by Bellush's former husband, Allen Blackthorne, to hurt the mother of six children, including quadruplets.

Court documents also show that Rocha, 29, will speak only to authorities when he has worked out a plea arrangement. The documents also detail that without Rocha's testimony, prosecutors are hesitant to arrest Blackthorne, and that the amount of money alleged to have been exchanged between the men to hurt Bellush may be as much as $50,000.

Blackthorne has not been charged with a crime and has said, though his lawyers, that he is innocent.

Gonzales, 27, pleaded guilty on June 12 to a conspiracy to commit murder charge and received a 19-year sentence in return for cooperating with investigators. Rocha, who faces a first-degree murder charge in addition to the original conspiracy to commit murder charge, remains at the Sarasota County Jail awaiting trial.

When authorities were unable to nab Del Toro near the border, he moved deeper into Mexico. He was arrested in Monterrey about two weeks later.

Instead of returning Del Toro to the border, Mexican officials transferred him to a Mexico City jail, where he is fighting extradition.

Since the beginning, Black-thorne's name has been linked to the crime, records show.

Stevie, Bellush's 13-year-old daughter, who found her mother's body when she came home from school, told authorities that she suspected that her father, Blackthorne, might be behind the murder, the records show. Jamie Bellush also mentioned Blackthorne's name to investigators.

Rocha, a golf partner of Blackthorne, says he wants to help investigators but declines to do so until he has a deal for his cooperation.

An oral agreement had been reached by prosecutors and Rocha's defense attorney after his arrest in San Antonio. Rocha would have received a sentence similar to Gonzales.

Sarasota prosecutor Charlie Roberts flew to San Antonio on Nov. 24 to consummate the deal. But Rocha's attorneys took issue with Bexar County, Texas, District Attorney Steve Hilbig when he proposed changes to the agreement.

The talks died, and Rocha still has no deal with authorities. He faces a solicitation to commit murder charge in Texas.

The records show that prosecutors consider Rocha's testimony key to completing their investigation.

``It is emphasized by prosecutor Henry Lee . . . based on the information to date, he is reluctant, at this time, to pursue any arrest of Blackthorne feeling that a successful prosecution would be at considerable risk without the direct testimony of Danny Rocha,'' the records say.

Roberts did not dispute the records.

``That speaks for itself,'' he said Monday.

Rocha's Sarasota attorney, Jack McGill, declined to comment, saying that he had not reviewed the material.

But authorities have learned some of what Rocha knows because he spoke to his family and a neighbor about his role in the crime, the records show.

Rocha gathered his family at his San Antonio home after Del Toro's identity was reported in the media.

``Danny also mentioned a sum of $4,000 Joey got to beat the lady up and that the money came from Allen,'' Rocha's aunt, Otilia Rocha, voluntarily told police.

But Rocha's neighbor, Richard Jack Speights, said a lot more money was involved.

``Danny told me that Sammy (Gonzales got) $50,000, but he only gave his cousin $4,000. I asked him if he got any money, and he said he did not,''

Speights voluntarily told police. ``I hugged him and told him to do the right thing.''

Speights saidRocha asked for his help in caring for his wife and three young boys in case he was arrested, the records said.

Roberts declined to comment on the $50,000 amount, and authorities still decline to name Blackthorne a suspect in the case.

``Up to this point, we have not been able to get a complete statement from Rocha,'' Roberts said.

Gonzales told investigators he received no money for hiring his cousin Del Toro to kill Bellush, according to court records.

The handgun used to shoot Bellush was a Colt .45 semi-automatic that Del Toro obtained through a friend of Morales, she told police.

Armando Michael Kelly of Austin, Texas, had the pearl-handled gun as collateral for a $1,000 loan Kelly had given to a friend.

``I gave the gun to Anna (Morales),'' Kelly told police. ``And it ended up being that guy Joey wanted to borrow it.''

Earlier records showed how authorities think the plot to harm Bellush was hatched in July and was supposed to take place in San Antonio. But through a combination of factors, the attack never took place, and the Bellush family thought they had escaped their past by moving to Sarasota.

If Del Toro had come one day later, Bellush may have escaped again.

The week she was killed, Sheila Bellush went to a Sarasota salon to get her hair and nails done. She told beauticians she was going to Jacksonville with her husband to attend a formal party. The party was scheduled for Nov. 8, the day after she was murdered.

``Sheila (Bellush) had an appointment at 1030 a.m. on 11/08/97 to get her hair done again, apparently for the party that evening,'' the records said.

Jose Luis Jimenez covers the judicial system in Sarasota County. He can be reached by phone at 957-5149, fax at 957-5276 or e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

August 23, 1998
Section: A SECTION
Page: 1A
Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

Daniel Alex Rocha may have the power to end the 10-month investigation into Sheila Bellush's murder. But he won't until he can secure a deal he likes for his testimony.

Prosecutors have acknowledged that without his help they are unwilling to arrest his golfing buddy, San Antonio businessman Allen Blackthorne.  Blackthorne, who divorced Bellush before she remarried and moved to Florida, has been named by Rocha and another suspect, Samuel Gonzales, as the impetus of the plot to harm the Sarasota mother of six, including quadruplets.
Blackthorne hasn't been charged and his attorney says he's innocent.

Rocha, though, admits he was involved and says he's provided authorities ample detailed information. In an interview with the Herald-Tribune last weekend, and in a seven-page letter Rocha gave to the newspaper on Saturday, Rocha said he doesn't understand why prosecutors haven't gone after Blackthorne.

``I've given five proffers. The state knows everything about this case,''  Rocha said at the Sarasota County Jail. However, prosecutors question his statements thus far.

During the 30-minute interview, Rocha also explained his version of the events that led to Bellush's death. He said he got involved not for money, but because he thought Bellush was abusing her children. And he said the plan was to scare Bellush, not kill her.

``It was not supposed to happen this way,'' Rocha said.

Some of his statements contradict a confession provided to authorities by Gonzales, who has agreed to testify against others in the case. Most significantly, Gonzales contends that Rocha instructed Gonzales' cousin, Jose Luis Del Toro Jr., that it would be easier to kill Bellush because there would be a better payoff.

Rocha said he didn't order anyone killed. Rocha blames Blackthorne for setting in motion a series of events that led to the murder, but he wouldn't outline all the details of conversations between him and Blackthorne.

``Allen Blackthorne completely denies having anything to do with what happened to Sheila Bellush, including even asking anyone to scare her,''  said Richard Lubin, Blackthorne's attorney in West Palm Beach.

Lubin said his client has an explanation for everything that has occurred, but won't share it until authorities close the investigation.

Since Nov. 7, when Bellush was shot in the face and her throat was slashed twice in her Gulf Gate home, the spotlight has shifted among a cast of characters implicated in the heinous crime. It is now shining brightly on Rocha, who could delay the investigation indefinitely if he goes to trial this fall.

Prosecutors charged Rocha with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in June after plea negotiations broke down. Although they're not seeking the death penalty, the prospect of life in prison provides a key bargaining chip in any plea negotiations.

But the only deal offered - a 19-year Florida prison term - was rejected by Rocha. And Rocha said he will not admit to the charges as they stand now.

``I am guilty of the conspiracy to commit assault. If they charge me with that crime, I'd go in tomorrow and plead no contest,'' Rocha said. ``I have been trying, with my lawyers, to try and put an end to this. There is no deal out there.''

Frustrated by a lack of progress in the case, Rocha broke his silence.

The motive

In early 1996, Rocha and Blackthorne met on a San Antonio golf course and cultivated their friendship on the fairways. From the beginning, Blackthorne often spoke of the bitter divorce between him and Bellush.

In July 1997, Rocha accompanied Blackthorne on a trip to Portland, Ore., to inspect Blackthorne's medical supply company. There, the talk turned to child abuse, with Blackthorne accusing Bellush of beating one of their two teen-age daughters, Rocha said. Bellush had since remarried and given birth to quadruplets.

``He went to law enforcement to try to correct it and he even tried to convince her to stop beating the children,'' Rocha said. ``From what I was told, it was unsuccessful.''

Bellush was arrested on a child-abuse charge in San Antonio during the summer of 1997. She denied the charge, which was eventually dropped, and moved to Sarasota with her new husband and their children in September.

Rocha said Blackthorne's tale of a father unable to protect his daughter touched him; Rocha has three sons, ages 7, 4 and 1. When Blackthorne conceived a plan to stop the abuse by having Bellush scared, Rocha said, he reluctantly agreed to help.

``I thought how would I feel if I was in a position where I couldn't protect my children? What would I be going through?'' Rocha said. ``Even though I know it was wrong, I thought I was helping a situation.''

Gonzales has told police in a sworn confession that he and Rocha would receive high-level jobs at a golf course Blackthorne would soon develop for their roles. Rocha said compensation was never discussed.

``I didn't get involved in this to make any money,'' Rocha said.

In retrospect, Rocha said, Blackthorne lied to him.

``I believe that he fabricated everything,'' he said. ``Sheila never did abuse those children.''

The plot

Rocha said the plan that ultimately developed was simple: Del Toro was to drive from San Antonio to Florida and intimidate Bellush. He said there was never talk about a murder or a beating.

Rocha's version contradicts Gonzales' confession to Sarasota County sheriff's Detective Chris Iorio.

Gonzales says Rocha, his former boss, asked him last summer to beat Bellush to the point where she could no longer care for her kids. Months later, Rocha offered $4,000 of Blackthorne's money - plus a bonus of $10,000 if Blackthorne regained custody of the teen-agers - to Del Toro for the beating. Rocha then suggested to Del Toro that it would be easier to kill Bellush to collect the bonus, Gonzales contends.

Rocha denies the allegations. He blames Blackthorne for the end result.

In his letter, Rocha wrote that Blackthorne asked to speak with Del Toro days before he traveled to Sarasota.

``Allen then wanted to talk directly to Del Toro and said he would pay more for the trip to Florida,'' Rocha wrote. ``I believe blackthorne got a hold of Del Toro before he left to Florida. Convinced him to kill Sheila.''

However, Rocha provided no evidence for his belief that the two men spoke.  Also, there is no evidence to support Rocha's statement in the 1,000 pages of evidence released by investigators so far.

Blackthorne's attorney called Rocha's statement ``100 percent absolutely false - fantasy.''

Before Del Toro came to Sarasota, Blackthorne hired Bradenton private investigator Chuck Chambers to find Bellush, Rocha said. Chambers did, and confirmed the address by having flowers delivered to her door.

``I did not get involved in a murder-for-hire. I did not know of any weapons, any guns, any knives,'' Rocha said. ``I didn't know that Del Toro had any motive at all to kill Sheila Bellush.''

A careful reading of Gonzales' testimony, Rocha said, proves his point.

``(Gonzales) says that Blackthorne did not order a murder, he ordered a beating. He also says he has never talked to Blackthorne. He says I am talking for Blackthorne,'' Rocha said. ``If I'm talking for Blackthorne and Blackthorne didn't order the murder, then I couldn't have ordered the murder.

``And I didn't order the murder!''

Days after the disputed conversation, Del Toro drove to Sarasota, slipped into Bellush's home and shot her once in the face, Gonzales said.

Bellush fell to the kitchen floor. The quadruplets were sitting on a couch in the living room. Worried that the noise of the gunshot and the 35-year-old woman's screams would alert neighbors, Del Toro grabbed a knife and slit Bellush's throat, Gonzales said.

Rocha learned about the murder that night. He said he immediately drove to Blackthorne's posh San Antonio home to break the news, and was surprised at his reaction.

``(Blackthorne) showed no emotion at the news of her murder. He only asked if Del Toro had done a clean job,'' Rocha wrote. ``He then told me to tell Del Toro to make sure if things got hot to go to Mexico.''

Rocha knew the police would discover his involvement. He said he wanted to turn himself in. But, Rocha said, a friend told him to seek an attorney, who advised him not to speak to police.

Gonzales turned himself in and talked, giving prosecutors enough evidence to arrest Gonzales and Rocha. Del Toro fled to Mexico.

When asked why he should be believed over Gonzales, Rocha said he is not a killer.

``Unlike Gonzales and Del Toro, I have a wife and children. I could never participate in the murder of a mother,'' Rocha said. ``I'm just telling you I am telling the truth. It was not supposed to happen this way.''

Rocha said he wants to put the case behind him. But Charlie Roberts, the assistant state attorney prosecuting the case, accuses Rocha of withholding information as a negotiating tool for a favorable deal.

``Mr. Rocha can take a polygraph and give a full, complete and truthful statement . . . at any time,'' Roberts said.

Those left behind

Rocha, whose friends call him Danny, is kept in a private cell at the Sarasota County Jail. With too much time on his hands, he thinks about family and friends on the outside, especially Blackthorne.

``I've tried to call him,'' said Rocha. ``He's cut me off.

He wonders why he's behind bars, while his golfing buddy is free.

``In Gonzales' statements, he not only implicated me, but he also implicated Blackthorne,'' Rocha said. ``But yet they decided not to go after him.''

Besides Gonzales, Rocha said, investigators have plenty of evidence.

``They've got Del Toro, myself, Chuck Chambers and about 12 other people who have come forward and given incriminating evidence about him, saying (Blackthorne) is involved,'' Rocha said.

``I think (Blackthorne's) back there at home in San Antonio and he is loving it,'' Rocha said. ``(Bellush) is murdered. He's not in jail. He's not looking at any prosecution, and I think he's laughing at all this.''

Roberts would only say that the investigation is continuing.

``Our interest is to bring all those involved in the murder of Sheila Bellush to justice,'' he said.

But some light was shed on the prosecution's approach to the case in June, when more than 1,000 pages of court records were released.

``It is emphasized by prosecutor Henry Lee . . . based on the information to date, he is reluctant, at this time, to pursue any arrest of Blackthorne feeling that a successful prosecution would be at considerable risk without the direct testimony of Danny Rocha,'' the records said.

In jail, Rocha's thoughts sometimes turn to widower Jamie Bellush, left to raise six kids on his own. Rocha said he would like to talk to him, but doesn't know what he would say.

``To tell you the truth, if I was in his shoes, I wouldn't want to talk to the person that's in my shoes,'' Rocha said.

Then his thoughts drift to the facts of the case.

``It's sick! The whole thing is sick . . . and I just pray to God that he forgives us all.''

Contradictory stories

Daniel Alex Rocha and Samuel Gonzales have provided similar information about the Sheila Bellush murder case, but they differ on several key points.  Gonzales' statements were given to authorities and are outlined in court records. Rocha provided an interview with the Herald-Tribune. Here are the areas in which they contradict each other:

* The plan to beat Bellush so she could no longer care for her children

Gonzales: ``Danny (Rocha) told me that he had a buddy that wanted somebody beaten up, a girl.''

Rocha: ``No beating. No crippling. None of that stuff. That is a lie.''

* The murder

Gonzales: ``Danny told Joey (Del Toro): `Yes, she can die, but it is up to you how you do it and if you want your $10,000, it would be the easiest way.' In my mind, I knew she would be killed.''

Rocha: ``Del Toro was only supposed to go down here and scare her. And that was it. That was the whole thing.''

* The payoff

Gonzales: ``Danny told me that Allen (Blackthorne) was thinking about opening a golf course and had some land already in mind of where to build it and that Allen wanted Danny to run it. Danny told me: `I want to take you with me, Sam, so you can help me.' ''

Rocha: ``I didn't get involved in this to make any money. This wasn't a money thing. I got involved in this to help a situation.''

* Rocha being categorized as a bookie by friends

Gonzales: ``I joked about beating someone because Danny is a bookie and he's told me in the past that he's had trouble collecting money and I've joked about going out and collecting for him.''

Rocha: ``I am not a bookie. I am a gambler. It's a passion I have . . . In 1995, I started my own remodeling business, purchasing old homes and remodeling them. It's what I did until this deal happened.''

* Their credibility

Gonzales took a sworn oath to tell the truth and testified before a Texas grand jury at the risk of perjury. ``This is all I know and I swear it is the truth,'' he has said.

Rocha: ``I'm just telling you I am telling the truth. It was not supposed to happen this way.''

Jose Luis Jimenez covers the judicial system in Sarasota County. He can be reached by phone at 957-5149 or fax at 957-5276.

Caption: Daniel Rocha says he was not part of a plan to kill Sheila Bellush and that her ex-husband is the one at fault.

STAFF PHOTO/MIKE LANG

Daniel Rocha's family, including his wife, Eva, and sons, Anthony, seated, Ryan, top, and Adrian, right, came from San Antonio to Sarasota to visit him in jail. The Rochas say they have been harassed since the crime came to light, and have even had to change their phone number.

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

January 12, 1999
Section: B SECTION
Page: 1B
Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

Jamie Bellush returned to Sarasota on Monday for the opening day of the murder trial of Daniel Rocha, one of three Texas men accused in the plot to murder Bellush's wife, Sheila, in their home 14 months ago.

The widower stared down Rocha as he entered the courtroom at the Sarasota County Judicial Center. Rocha just looked away. Flanked by family, Bellush sat through the afternoon session of the trial as attorneys worked to select 12 jurors from a pool of 75.

Also attending the trial were Rocha's parents. Noticeably absent were his wife and three children. The Rocha and Bellush families kept their distance, sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom.

All sides declined to comment on the high-profile case as a swarm of media questioned them as they entered and exited the Judicial Center.

Rocha, 29, is the first of three Texas men charged in the murder of Sheila Bellush to go to trial. The 35-year-old was shot in the head and her throat was cut inside her Gulf Gate home on Nov. 7, 1997, as her then 2-year-old quadruplets sat in the adjacent room. Rocha is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The San Antonio native is accused of urging his friend, Samuel Gonzales, to hire Gonzales' cousin, Jose Luis Del Toro Jr., to drive from Texas to Sarasota to murder Bellush, a mother of six including teen-age daughters.

Sheila Bellush's ex-husband, San Antonio businessman Allen Blackthorne, has been implicated in the plot, but has not been charged.

Del Toro remains in a Mexico City jail fighting extradition to the United States.

The trial got off to a slow start as attorneys spent the day quizzing 59 of the 75 potential jurors who indicated they had followed media reports about the murder case. They wanted to learn if the prospective jurors had formulated an opinion about the high-profile case based on the pretrial publicity.

In the end, 10 were dismissed due to the publicity, another four for medical reasons, one because he ran his own business and the last because she had planned a trip to Las Vegas next week.

Circuit Court Judge Nancy Donnellan will select 45 potential jurors today and expects the attorneys to seat a 12-person jury by noon. If not, the remaining 14 will be called to complete the panel.

Either way, the judge plans to hear opening arguments from prosecutors and the defense by the afternoon.

Despite the slow start, prosecutors Charlie Roberts and Henry Lee and defense attorney Jack McGill are confident that the trial can be completed in one week.

After spending a long day at the courthouse, 14 potential jurors were kept for an extra hour when they became stuck in an elevator.

Caption: Daniel Rocha, left, talks with his lawyer, Jack McGill, on Monday.
The trial got off to a slow start with the quizzing of potential jurors.
Rocha's parents attended but his wife and children did not.

STAFF PHOTO/BARRY McCARTHY

A swarm of television and print journalists covered the opening of the Bellush murder trial Monday in Sarasota. The victim's and the defendant's family members were questioned as they entered and exited the Sarasota County Judicial Center, but they declined to comment.

STAFF PHOTO/BARRY McCARTHY

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

September 28, 1998
Section: LOCAL/STATE
Page: 1B

The state attorney's office has cleared Sarasota Police Officer Thomas Laughlin of any criminal wrongdoing in the beating of a handcuffed prisoner.

Laughlin was suspended for allegedly punching Gilbert Mendoza twice in the head after the 44-year-old man spit on him in the Sarasota County Jail in April. Chief Assistant State Attorney Henry Lee found that there was ``insufficient credible evidence to warrant criminal prosecution'' of Laughlin. The 29-year-old officer was suspended without pay for 10 days after an internal police investigation. The city's Civil Service Board reduced that suspension to five days Tuesday.

Lee re-interviewed all the witnesses in the case, including the three jail booking clerks who filed the original complaints against Laughlin. The clerks had said that Laughlin punched Mendoza after first subjecting him to a series of ethnic slurs.

In a memo Thursday to State Attorney Earl Moreland, Lee said that one supposed witness, Claire Arbagy, told him that she never saw the incident.

Lee found that a second witness, David Strahsburg, may have a bias against Laughlin because the officer is a close friend of a supervisor who had just demoted Strahsburg. He also said that Strahsburg could not have seen and heard the entire incident from where he was standing.

Lee said that a third witness, Hannalore Stanford, was in the best position to view the incident but that her testimony ``may not be credible'' because it conflicted with what Mendoza told investigators. Mendoza told investigators that Laughlin was not the officer who taunted him and he did not know who hit him.

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

January 13, 1999
Section: A SECTION
Page: 1A
Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

Stevie Bellush couldn't believe her eyes.

She came home from school and found her quadruplet siblings toddling around the house in nothing but life jackets on Nov. 7, 1997. Then 13, Stevie searched for her mother, Sheila Bellush, in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the Sarasota home before stumbling across Bellush's limp, bloodied body on the kitchen floor. Stevie called 911, but hung up the phone before talking to a dispatcher.

``I did not believe it and went back for a second look,'' said Stevie, holding back tears as she testified Tuesday during the second day of Daniel Alex Rocha's trial at the Sarasota County Judicial Center.

Rocha, of San Antonio, is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the death of Bellush, a Sarasota mother of six. Prosecutors say Rocha, 29, plotted with two other men from Texas to kill Bellush in exchange for money and high-paying golf course jobs.

A nine-man, five-woman jury was seated before lunch Tuesday, and opening statements started in the afternoon.

That was followed by a tape recording of Stevie's dramatic conversation with 911 operators. Jurors heard the teen crying hysterically as she described finding her 35-year-old mother: ``My mom is dead . . . I don't know who did it.''

On the witness stand, Stevie told how her mother sometimes put life jackets on the quadruplets when they played outside near the pool. When Stevie came home from school the day of the murder, she found the children, then 2, unsupervised.

She also described her relationship with her mother.

``She was very loving,'' said Stevie, as she looked at her adoptive father, Jamie, for support. Rocha slumped in his chair during the testimony.

``She always tried to give us the best thing possible,'' Stevie, now 14, continued.

Assistant state attorneys Charlie Roberts and Henry Lee followed her testimony with a host of witnesses, mainly from law enforcement, describing events on the day of the murder.

They explained how evidence found inside the home led them to Jose Luis Del Toro Jr., a Texan who authorities say shot Bellush in the head and slit her throat twice.

Prosecutors say Rocha persuaded a friend, Samuel Gonzales, to hire Del Toro, who is Gonzales' cousin.

``Rocha's sole motivation was greed and the good life,'' Roberts said during his opening statement. ``The only price was the life of a woman he never met.''

Rocha's defense attorney, Jack McGill, agreed with much of Roberts' opening statement, but differed on one key point.

``(Bellush) was never supposed to be killed,'' McGill told jurors. ``That was never the agreement. That was never the intention.''

McGill then told jurors that his client was guilty of conspiracy to commit assault, not murder.

Roberts and McGill both said Bellush's ex-husband, Allen Black-thorne, was the impetus for the murder plot. Blackthorne, a San Antonio businessman, has not been charged and says he is innocent.

Gonzales, the star witness in the case against Rocha, is expected to testify today.

Court documents show that Gonzales, 28, has described a plot to beat up the mother to the point she could no longer care for her children, enabling Blackthorne to regain custody of the two teen-age daughters he had with Bellush.

In return, Del Toro, 22, received approximately $4,000, Gonzales has said. Gonzales and Rocha were promised jobs at a golf course Blackthorne planned to develop, Gonzales has said.

Gonzales is to serve 19 years in prison in exchange for his testimony. Del Toro remains in a Mexico City jail fighting extradition to Florida. If convicted, Rocha faces up to life in prison.

Contact Jose Luis Jimenez at 957-5149.

Caption: Stevie Bellush, daughter of Sheila Bellush

Daniel Rocha, right, takes notes at the defense table with paralegal Sally McGill as McGill's husband, defense attorney Jack McGill, questions potential jurors Tuesday during Rocha's trial.

STAFF PHOTO/BARRY McCARTHY

Sarasota Herald Tribune 

January 15, 1999
Section: A SECTION
Page: 1A
Jose Luis Jimenez STAFF WRITER

Daniel Alex Rocha has said he agreed to scare Sheila Bellush, not kill her.  On the fourth day of his murder trial, prosecutors rested their case by showing she was slaughtered.

Graphic photographs depicting the gunshot wound to her head and knife cuts to her throat that caused Bellush to bleed to death on the tile floor of her Sarasota home were shown to jurors Thursday. Bellush's widower, Jamie, wept and later lashed out at Rocha during a break in the trial.

``You butchered her!'' he blurted as Rocha was escorted out of the Sarasota courtroom and into a holding cell. Jamie Bellush immediately apologized to a nearby bailiff.

Rocha is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the death of Bellush, a Sarasota mother of six, including quadruplets. Prosecutors say Rocha, 29, plotted with two Texas men to kill Bellush.

Defense attorney Jack McGill had tried to prevent Chief Assistant State Attorney Henry Lee from showing the pictures to the jury.

Medical examiner William Broussard testified in detail about the autopsy he performed on Bellush and his conclusion that wounds on her arms indicate Bellush struggled with her attacker. She could have survived if she had received immediate medical attention after the Nov. 7, 1997, attack, Broussard said.

As the evidence against him mounted, Rocha once again sought to secure a plea agreement from prosecutors. After the prosecution concluded its case, Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan gave both sides the entire afternoon to work on a deal and sent the jurors home.

The negotiations, later described as contentious, started shortly before noon and continued until 1 p.m. Rocha was then connected to a polygraph machine to determine whether he was telling the truth. He answered questions posed to him by investigators and prosecutors.

The session broke off in the evening when both sides could not agree on the details of the plea agreement. It was the second day in a row that negotiations ended without a deal.

The agreement prosecutors offered is similar to the one they struck with Samuel Gonzales, who said he was hounded by Rocha to hire Gonzales' cousin, Jose Luis Del Toro Jr., to harm Bellush. Gonzales, who testified against Rocha on Wednesday, received a reduced sentence of 19 years in prison for his cooperation.

Both sides feel pressure to secure a deal because if Rocha takes the stand in his own defense, which he had been scheduled to do Thursday, he will probably be lost as a potential witness in future trials.

Del Toro, who police say killed Bellush, faces a first-degree murder trial when he returns to Florida. He is in a Mexico City jail fighting extradition to the United States.

And implicated in the plot is Bellush's ex-husband, San Antonio businessman Allen Blackthorne. Throughout the trial, prosecutors have named him as the impetus to harm Bellush. Rocha's testimony is considered essential if authorities decide to charge Blackthorne in the case.

Blackthorne has not been charged and says he's innocent.

Rocha's trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today at the Sarasota County Judicial Center. A plea agreement could be presented to Donnellan then. If the jury convicts Rocha of first-degree murder, the San Antonio native will face up to life in prison.

Rocha could testify today. He has said in interviews that he was involved in a plot to hurt Bellush but had no intention of having her killed.

On Thursday, Blackthorne once again became an issue when prosecutor Charlie Roberts quizzed Texas Ranger Gerardo De Los Santos on the status of the Bellush murder investigation. McGill objected, arguing that it was irrelevant, and Donnellan did not allow the testimony.

A juror had written the judge a note Wednesday asking why Blackthorne had not been arrested and prosecutors were trying to answer the question in open court through testimony, according to those familiar with their tactics.

Besides having the graphic testimony presented, prosecutors Roberts and Lee called two police experts who performed tests on a handgun and bloodied clothing police say they found in Del Toro's car. They concluded that the silver semiautomatic was the weapon used to shoot Bellush and that her blood was found on Del Toro's camouflage clothes.

Del Toro's ex-girlfriend, Anna Morales, then testified that she gave Del Toro the gun and saw him with $500 days before the murder.

Gonzales has testified that Del Toro was paid $4,000 for his role and was offered an extra $10,000, to be delivered later. Gonzales also testified that he and Rocha were to receive jobs at a golf course Black-thorne was developing.

The jury could begin deliberations this afternoon.

Caption: (Daniel Alex) Rocha

Terence LaVoy of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement identifies a gun Thursday as the weapon used to kill Sheila Bellush.