An Illinois woman is accused of pleading with her ex-boyfriend to murder her husband so that she could reunite with her former lover and avoid splitting her marital assets.
Allison Salinas, 48, was charged with solicitation of murder, according to court records. The Pekin woman was a political candidate who hoped to unseat Tammy Duckworth in the United States Senate in 2022. She is currently in jail and could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the crime.
An affidavit of probable cause sheds light on her alleged plot to murder her husband. The key to the story began in 2021.
Salinas is said to have contacted her ex-boyfriend from about 30 years ago, when they were teenagers. He resided in Dallas, Texas, and they “began a long-distance relationship.” All the while, she remained married to her husband.
During an interview on July 9, the ex-boyfriend stated that he “felt that during the relationship, Allison began to attempt to manipulate him after learning about an inheritance he had received.” At one point, she allegedly “began discussing her desire to leave her husband for him without having to split her and her husband’s assets in a divorce.”
The affidavit filed Thursday by the State’s Attorney’s Office for Tazewell County, Illinois, expands on its allegations. Salinas didn’t just “discuss her desire”; she devised a plan.
“Allison began discussing the idea of soliciting someone to murder her husband around November or December of 2023,” according to a court transcript. “[The ex-boyfriend] initially tried to deflect the conversation because Allison had insinuated her desire for him to kill her husband so that they could be together.”
The ex-boyfriend maintained that he made it clear that he would not harm her husband, which allegedly prompted her to consider finding someone else to commit the crime.
The ex reportedly contacted the Pekin Police Department about Salinas’ plot in February 2024, and he “indicated it had been a frequent topic of conversation between the two.” But it wasn’t until this month, when a video was posted on Facebook “implicating” Salinas in the plan, that the investigation took off.
It’s unclear what was in this video.
“When [the ex-boyfriend] did not hear back from the police after his report in February of 2024, he began recording some of his phone calls with Allison,” according to the confession.
He claimed she discussed the plot for several months, and he “became frustrated with the topic of conversation,” eventually suggesting he could find someone to commit the crime for her in the hopes she would “drop the topic.”
“However, Allison began to repeatedly ask if he had found anyone. He explained that, undeterred, he lied to Allison, telling her that the Secret Service had contacted him about the murder for hire plot,” the affidavit continues. “This stopped the detailed conversations, but up until about two weeks ago, Allison was still asking him if he ever heard anything further and if he thought the Secret Service was still investigating.”
The ex-boyfriend is said to have provided authorities with recorded phone calls and text messages in which Salinas “discusses different ways in which her husband could be murdered.” When he suggested that some old friends of his father could assist, she allegedly said, “I need you to make this happen.”
On May 27, 2024, Salinas started a new text thread with the man by sending him a picture of her husband and the words, “There’s ur pic u need,” according to the affidavit. He replied with a thumbs up emoji, to which she responded quickly.
“I can’t talk or text back, but please understand what I mean to you…” “Just take care of it,” she is said to have written. Later that day, she reportedly told the now-witness, “Don’t text back.” We got into it, and now I’m trash; I don’t deserve to be happy.”
She then appeared to suggest that her husband intended to stop paying the lease on a shop he owned, causing her to struggle financially. “Please make him go away,” she reportedly said.
Around two months later, Salinas allegedly sent a screenshot of a Google search where she wrote “can a wife testify against” and highlighted a search result that read, “an individual cannot be forced to testify against their spouse in a criminal case.”
The affidavit also described an interview with another witness, a woman who lived with Salinas in the fall of 2023 and had “become close friends.” That friend reportedly told investigators that she was in the passenger seat of Salinas’ vehicle when she had a video call with her ex-boyfriend.
The two were “openly discussing finding a ‘ghost’ to murder Allison’s husband,” according to the affidavit, with Salinas later informing her friend that “ghost” meant “hitman.”
“On another occasion Allison discussed killing her husband by sneaking shellfish into his food, which he is allergic to,” according to the indictment.
On July 22, a Perkin police detective questioned the suspect.
Salinas allegedly “acknowledged that she had been discussing the murder of her husband” with her rekindled romantic partner “for an extended period.” While she “indicated that she had not been in a good mental state,” she denied that she was insane or unstable.
She also stated that her ex-boyfriend “would not have had any indication that she was not serious.”
As the topic of spousal immunity came up, more details emerged.
“Allison said she learned about spousal immunity from her previous husband, Delbert Mills, who was convicted of murdering his wife in Texas in 2003. Allison was having an affair at the time of the murder, but she denied any involvement, according to the affidavit.
“Allison stated she had not learned what Delbert had done until after they were married shortly after the murder,” the story goes. “Allison stated that Delbert had pushed them to get married so Allison could not testify against him in court.”
According to the court document’s final points, Salinas admitted to sending her ex-boyfriend a picture of her husband. When the detective suggested that this was evidence of her demonstrating who or what needed to be “take[n] care of,” she stayed silent.
The Perkin Police Department stated that the FBI also assisted with the investigation.
Salinas faced a detention hearing on Friday. It is unclear when she will next appear in court.
