STILLWATER, Minn. - A Cottage Grove man who was found guilty of murdering his wife and staging the scene to look like a suicide has received a sentence of life without parole.
Stephen Allwine was convicted by a jury in Washington County on Wednesday night. The first degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life prison sentence.
Amy Allwine was found shot in the head in the bedroom of her Cottage Grove home in November 2016.
Prosecutors say Allwine drugged his 46-year-old wife before shooting her in a hallway and moving her body to the bedroom where he tried to make her death look like a suicide by posing it. But, prosecutors argued there were no blood spatters on the bedspread or nightstand next to her body and the gun was resting on her left elbow even though she was right handed.
Investigators say Allwine had several affairs with women he met on dating websites, and even tried to contact a hit man on the dark web before committing murder himself.