Aldrick Scott was sentenced to life in the killing of Cari Allen. (Courtroom screenshot from WOWT/YouTube; Victim’s photo from the Douglas County (Neb.) Sheriff’s Office)
A 47-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend after she returned to her Nebraska home from a date with another man, burying her body on abandoned farmhouse property near his home in Kansas, and then taking a flight to Central America where a man who took him in turned him over to police in Belize.
Aldrick Scott was sentenced to life in prison for the 2022 murder of Cari Allen, 43. He was found guilty of first-degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony and tampering with physical evidence.
“It was clear that you could not take the breakup with Cari Allen,” Douglas District Court Judge Kimberly Pankonin told him, Omaha ABC affiliate KETV reported. “Your obsession motivated the crimes you stand convicted of.”
Brett Allen, the victim’s ex-husband and father of her child, said the killing was deeply traumatizing.
“I mean, just because you want something you can’t have, that you go and you do this, and you affect so many lives,” he told the outlet. “To put people through this and do this to someone that you supposedly loved. I can’t comprehend.”
Scott testified at trial in his defense, saying Allen pulled a gun on him, they fought over it, it went off, and he fled in a panic.
Authorities said the two had recently broken up when he traveled from his home in Topeka, Kansas, on Nov. 19, 2022, to her home in Omaha, Nebraska, got into her house through the garage and killed her. Afterward, he drove her body more than 160 miles across state lines into Kansas, where he buried her remains on an abandoned farmhouse property in Topeka, near where he lived.
The case came to light after Allen was reported missing. A missing persons investigation was launched, and Scott was identified as a person of interest. Authorities learned that while in Topeka, Scott had boarded a flight out of the country. A warrant was issued for his arrest for kidnapping, authorities said.
Scott was captured in Belize on Dec. 6, 2022, after a barbecue restaurant owner who took him in and hired him tipped off authorities.
“He told me everything about the case and how he committed the crime,” Shalton Fuentes told KETV’s Sarah Fili. “He and the girl was in a relationship … He told me the girl was dating somebody else, and he never meant to kill the girl.”
Authorities found Allen’s remains on Dec. 21, 2022, at a farm property off Highway 75 and 57th Street in Topeka, Kansas, near Scott’s home. Authorities said they were led there by location data from OnStar in Scott’s SUV that showed he had spent an hour there after the killing.
At trial, jurors learned about threatening messages between Scott and Allen before she was murdered. She had told him she had gone out that night with a friend, local NBC affiliate WOWT reported.
“First time I caught you in a lie,” he messaged her while he was inside her home waiting for her to return.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Allen was fondly remembered by her colleagues at Vodec, an organization providing services for people with disabilities.
“Cari Allen was the first supervisor of our Elm program in Omaha, Nebraska,” said a statement on the organization’s Facebook account when she disappeared. “She was at the center of what was then, the first program of its kind. She is loved by many of us in the disability community. We hope for her safe return.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
