(La Porte, IN) - First witnesses were called upon Tuesday in the trial of a LaPorte woman accused of fatally shooting her husband and dismembering his body.
Thessalonica Allen, 36, formerly of South Bend, has been charged in La Porte Circuit Court with Murder, Abuse of a Corpse and Altering the Scene of a Death, all level 5 felonies. This is in addition to two Level 5 felony counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor and two Level 6 felony counts of Neglect of a Dependent.
Her husband, Frank Allen, was killed in the couple’s bedroom on July 27th, 2021 while two of her children were home at Maple Tree Apartments at 1405 West 18th Street.
She is claiming self-defense, alleging her husband beat her in the past and was lunging toward her during an argument when she fired the gun. Her attorney Frank Rodriquez, during his opening statements to the jury, asserted that "She was trying to defend herself."
Rodriguez said the family was living in South Bend when Mrs. Allen moved to LaPorte to leave her husband several weeks prior to the shooting. However, Frank purportedly followed and moved in with them anyway.
La Porte County Deputy Prosecutor Julianne Havens said the killing was premeditated, judging by notes written by the defendant recovered from the residence that outlined plans to either kill him, have him fired from his job or arrested.
While they were arguing, Havens illustrated how Mr. Allen told her he was leaving, only for the defendant to tell him “...you’re not leaving. You’re not going anywhere” before shooting.
“She was planning to do it all along not because she had to. She wanted to,” she said.
The investigation showed that Mr. Allen was shot in the arm, the bullet deflecting toward his ribs and piercing one of his lungs before coming to rest near his spine.
Two of the defendant’s children were home at the time. Deshawn Addison, 16, testified the argument was over a social media post his stepfather found on his mother’s computer. Addison added, saying he soon heard a gunshot during the argument and rushed over from his bedroom with his sister, Cheyenne, to see his stepfather lying on the floor on his stomach.
Addison said he told him to call the police. Mrs. Allen then allegedly told her kids not to call the police, and made no effort to call 911 while her husband was bleeding to death.
Before passing, Addison testified he heard his stepfather’s final words.
“His words to her were he did not want to die,” he said.
Havens continued describing the events, noting how Mrs. Allen then left to pick up her two other children from daycare and purchased cleaning supplies she, and her two older children, used at her request to remove her husband's blood.
She later asked the same children to help her drag the body to her vehicle, allegedly planing to drive to South Bend and set it on fire with the body inside.
However, the body, now inside a tote bag, was too heavy for them to place into the vehicle. The next day, Havens alleged the defendant went to Rural King and purchased an ax, which she used to remove both legs from the body. The body, now missing both limbs at the knees, was dragged outside again yet remained too heavy for them to lift into the vehicle.
It was then dragged back in, placed in a bedroom closet, and later supposedly discovered the following day by the father of her four children.
Havens said Mrs. Allen asked him to come over, but it wasn’t until he arrived from Benton Harbor that she asked him for help in placing the body in the vehicle.
He immediately left and called the police.
The defense also told the jury there was a protective order in effect against Allen at the time of his killing.
Officers, after an extensive search, found Allen outside a hardware store. She immediately stepped out of her vehicle and while crying told officers “you guys don’t understand. He beats me."
