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