Shraman Mitra
Authorities in Lakewood, Colorado, were left startled when they discovered Alvin Lee Spears’ mutilated body lying on the floor inside his own house. While the police were called to the residence by neighbors who had overheard a commotion, the gruesome murder scene was enough to make even the toughest officer uncomfortable. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Deadly Women: Cash In’ chronicles the horrifying incident and follows the investigation that hunted out the perpetrator.
How Did Alvin Lee Spears Die?
According to the show, Alvin Lee Spears lived a dangerous life in Louisiana as he was involved in dealing drugs and other petty crimes. Meanwhile, his wife was quite adept at selling illegal guns, and together they ran a pretty lucrative business. However, that life fell apart once Alvin was arrested, as the police turned him into an informant. Naturally, people involved in such crimes never take kindly to a police informant, and once the others learned that he was spreading information to law enforcement officers, they put a target on his head.
Thus, Alvin and his wife were forced to leave Louisiana and move to Lakewood, Colorado. There, he turned over a new leaf and resolved to stay away from crime, he even began studying to become a minister, and his wife supported him every step of the way. Neighbors described the couple as being very much in love, and no one could have predicted the horrifying tragedy that was about to claim Alvin’s life. On December 7, 2003, his neighbors called the police and informed them about a possible domestic dispute.
Once first responders reached the spot, they found the door to the apartment locked even though someone was moving about inside. Nevertheless, authorities were forced to knock for several minutes until Alvin’s wife opened the door and asked them to come in. Inside, they found a scene from a horror movie as Alvin lay in a pool of blood on the floor. Moreover, while an initial medical examination noted that the victim suffered severe blunt force trauma, the autopsy determined that Alvin was stabbed before being bludgeoned to death with a heavy weapon.
Who Killed Alvin Lee Spears?
Since Alvin’s wife, Darlene, opened the door for the police and was present at the crime scene, she became the primary suspect in the murder investigation. Interestingly, even her clothes had Alvin’s blood on them, yet she had a reasonable explanation. Darlene mentioned that she and her husband planned to sit down for dinner when two drug dealers ambushed them from Louisiana. She even alleged that the drug dealers forced her into a room before attacking Alvin with a sledgehammer. Darlene further claimed that she got blood on her clothes when she tried to help her husband after the attack and insisted that she was not involved in the murder.
Even though the Louisiana drug dealer theory was farfetched, the police did not have enough evidence to arrest Darlene then. However, they were shocked when they looked into the couple’s lives and learned they had been in deep financial trouble since moving to Colorado. On the other hand, Alvin often found himself in an altercation with his wife as she loved spending money, and he was worried about their future. Subsequently, the police learned that in the months following his murder, Darlene tried to take out eight life insurance policies on her husband, totaling more than 300,000 dollars.
On top of it, Darlene soon started a new career and did not seem bothered about the tragedy. Still, forensic evidence hammed the final nail in the coffin as the blood on Darlene’s clothes turned out to splatter, indicating that she was beside Alvin when he was bludgeoned to death. Hence, with enough to warrant a murder trial, the police arrested Darlene and charged her with her husband’s murder.
Where is Darlene Spears Now?
When presented in court, Darlene pled not guilty, and the defense argued that the drug dealers from Louisiana had killed Alvin. Nevertheless, the jury believed otherwise and eventually convicted her of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Consequently, Darlene was sentenced to life without parole plus 48 years in 2006. She remains behind bars at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in Denver, Colorado.
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