Deepra Sarkar
When Theresa Dalessio was shot to death at her own residence in Plumville, Pennsylvania, the once-family of four was in shambles. That’s because her two children, Dylan and Devin, would never see their mother again, and patriarch Douglas Dalessio had lost his partner. The investigation that ensued unraveled the circumstances that led to the horrific incident, which changed the lives of the Dalessios forever. Investigation Discovery’s ‘True Conviction’ retells this horrendous crime through an episode titled ‘Shattered Home.’ We were curious to know how the crime impacted the family, especially Douglas and their son Dylan, who was also shot on that fateful day.
Douglas and Dylan Dalessio Are Survivors in Their Own Right
On October 6, 2001, the Dalessio household was visited by an uninvited guest in the very early hours of the morning. The intruder allegedly kicked down the door and entered the home on Plumville Main Street in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Due to the noise created, Theresa had reportedly woken up and left the bed she shared with her husband to check. She was shot as soon as she came out of the bedroom. According to her husband Douglas’ statements, he had woken up when his wife got out of bed. However, understandably, it wasn’t until he heard the gunshot that he tried to get the .357-magnum handgun that he often kept on the nightstand by the bed. Unfortunately, he could not find the weapon, which, he then remembered, he had just recently stored downstairs.
After a few seconds, a second gunshot reverberated through the house. It was later discovered that this shot was aimed at then-18-month-old Dylan, who had been sleeping in his bedroom. Following the second shot, Douglas removed his attention from his wife and hurried to call 911 in the hopes of getting help before it was too late. One of the two officials who first responded to the alert discovered Dylan Dalessio in the kitchen, lying in a pool of blood. The young boy seemed to be unresponsive initially, but when the Trooper touched him to check his pulse, he let out a scream. He sustained injuries in his arms, chest, and stomach. Dylan was initially treated at Indiana Hospital and then shifted to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburg. The gunshot he was subjected to almost severed his arm.
The Dalessio’s other son Devin, who was 5 at the time, was left unharmed. A man called Randy Whitacre was later arrested in connection to the shootings when a medical examiner from Erie found a match of the markings on the empty shotgun shell recovered from one of the stairwells in Dalessio’s home. The match led the investigating team to Whitacre, whose 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun was confiscated on October 25, 2001. He was revealed to be associated with Douglas through a trade transaction, wherein Douglas had sold Randy a house. The deal had not been without problems as Randy had found defects with the house and was looking to sue Douglas legally. That’s what led Randy to enter into his home on that fateful night before fatally shooting his wife and hurting his son.
Douglas and Dylan Dalessio Have Had their Fair Share of Legal Issues
It took some time, but Dylan Dalessio thankfully fully recovered from the gunshot wound, as reported by his father, Douglas, during Randy Whitacre’s trial. Douglas admitted that he had crawled underneath the bed once he heard the second shot. When the judge read out Whitacre’s life imprisonment sentence, Douglas covered his face with his hand and cried. “Justice was served. They got the right man,” was his comment right outside the courtroom. He also reportedly said that the verdict might eventually bring closure to the devastated family.
After his wife’s death, Douglas also had to tackle issues brought about by his estranged mother. His mother wanted him to use his late wife’s insurance policy to partially pay for an old divorce judgment. According to his statement, Douglas received $150,000 from Theresa’s policy, which he was looking to place in a trust fund for the two children, Devin and Dylan. He soon managed to settle the issue. However, things changed for the family once again in 2019 when Dylan was arrested and charged with arson. He had allegedly started two fires in December 2018 and one fire in October 2019. Then, he was again arrested again in 2020, this time along with his father, Douglas, on intimidation charges. The father-son-duo had reportedly attempted to pressure a co-defendant into not testifying about the fires caused.
While former volunteer firefighter Dylan was sentenced to a series of concurrent sentences, totaling 2½ to 15 years, upon pleading guilty to 10 felony cases, including charges of arson and witness intimidation in 2021, Douglas sadly passed away before he faced any judgment from courts. The latter died on August 27, 2021, at the age of 52 – he was a professional truck driver for his elder son’s company, Devin Dalessio Trucking, the owner of the former Silver Dollar Lounge in their home city of Plumville, and a member of Punxsutawney Moose. As for Dylan and Devin’s current standing, it appears as if the former has been leading a quiet life since his release from prison, while the latter is doing well for himself as a family man and successful entrepreneur.
Read More: Theresa Dalessio’s Murder: Where is Randy Whitacre Now?
