A Nebraska man, Aldrick Scott, 47, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his former girlfriend, Cari Allen, 43, in 2022. Scott was found guilty on charges of first-degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony, and tampering with physical evidence. The court heard that Scott killed Allen after she returned from a date with another man, buried her body on an abandoned farmhouse property near his Kansas home, and then fled to Central America.
Douglas District Court Judge Kimberly Pankonin, in her sentencing remarks, highlighted Scott’s inability to accept the end of his relationship with Allen as the driving force behind his actions. The victim’s ex-husband, Brett Allen, expressed his deep trauma over the incident, struggling to comprehend how Scott could commit such a heinous act against someone he claimed to have loved.
Scott, in his defense, claimed that Allen had pulled a gun on him, leading to a struggle during which the gun discharged and he fled in panic. However, the prosecution presented a different narrative. They argued that Scott, unable to accept the breakup, had traveled from his home in Topeka, Kansas, to Allen’s home in Omaha, Nebraska, where he gained entry through the garage and killed her.
Following the murder, Scott transported Allen’s body over 160 miles across state lines to Kansas, where he buried her on an abandoned farmhouse property near his residence. The case came to the fore when Allen was reported missing, and Scott was identified as a person of interest. Investigations revealed that Scott had left the country, prompting authorities to issue an arrest warrant for kidnapping.
Scott was apprehended in Belize on December 6, 2022, after a local restaurant owner, who had given him shelter and employment, alerted the authorities. The restaurant owner, Shalton Fuentes, revealed that Scott had confessed to him about the crime. Allen’s remains were discovered on December 21, 2022, on a farm property in Topeka, Kansas, near Scott’s home, guided by location data from Scott’s SUV.
During the trial, the jury was informed about threatening messages exchanged between Scott and Allen prior to her murder. Allen was remembered fondly by her colleagues at Vodec, an organization providing services for people with disabilities, where she had been the first supervisor of their Elm program in Omaha, Nebraska.