Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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When I sat down with her in prison, you know, I told her, I said, Patrick, we just talked to him and he says you're his ride or die. And she's like, oh, my baby.
And I was like, oh, cringe.
Okay, I'm not the only one. Hi everyone, I'm Lester Holt and we are talking Dateline. Today I'm here with Andrea Canning to talk about her episode Secrets in the Ashes. If you haven't seen it, you can watch the episode on Peacock or listen to it in the Dateline podcast feed and then come right back here to listen to our discussion.
So to recap, after a suspicious home fire in Texas leaves a mother dead, her husband, Delbert Mills, is eventually convicted of her murder. Investigators are left wondering if Delbert's second wife, someone called Allison Salinas, was also involved, but she's never charged. Allison moves to Illinois and starts over, essentially.
She opens a bakery, some other businesses, money-making schemes, if you will. But after she tries to get an ex-boyfriend to murder the new man in her life, she is arrested and ends up in prison. In this episode, we'll have a podcast exclusive clip of Andrea's prison interview with Delbert Mills, what he says his biggest regret is. So stick around for that.
And later, we're going to answer some of your questions on social media. For now, let's talk Dateline. Hey, Andrea, this is quite a story. Thanks for being here to talk about it.
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Chapter 2: What happened to Patricia Leigh Mills in the house fire?
I didn't have time. He basically admits it fell through the cracks. which is kind of sad. You're dealing with a potential murder, right? Because they didn't know at that time yet because it hadn't been properly investigated. But I certainly have to wonder if this was a different family, if this family had a lot of money, if this happened in a mansion, would it have been handled differently?
I mean, this was a tiny little house. These people had no money. You heard it. They were using—the father wouldn't let them use electricity, you know, to save money. They had to use these, like, kerosene lanterns. I mean, so I do wonder, you know, if you had more power, more money, would it have been investigated differently from the start, and would it have not fallen through the cracks?
Yeah, and as so many of these stories we cover, Andrea, it's the family that ultimately keeps the case out there that continues to demand for justice.
Yeah, this was no exception, Lester. Sharon, Patricia Lee's sister, the victim's sister, she just hounded the Goliad Sheriff's Department.
Chapter 3: How did Delbert Mills become a suspect in Patricia's death?
She just was constantly over there bugging them, telling them to keep going. Have you looked at this person? She's doing like essentially like her own interviews with people. I mean, you know, Sharon's the sister we all want. Can things begin to happen? Yeah. Yeah, so the sheriff got this former investigator on board to come and take another look. It really, you know, cracked things wide open.
So, of course, Delbert is arrested and charged and ultimately convicted of Patricia Lee's murder.
Okay, let's talk a little bit about Allison Salinas. Among other things, she was a wannabe senator. This was part of her kind of new life as she was moving on. What do we know about that?
I think what we know about this is that I don't think we can take her Senate run all that seriously. I mean, she did say she was running for U.S. Senate, but from what I understand, she didn't really show up to a lot of things or really do much. I think it sounded good in theory, but I don't know that her money was where her mouth was.
Yeah, and she tried other things in this new life. She was raising money, charitable dollars. She was organizing events. Things just didn't seem to be working out. And as I'm watching this part of the story, I'm thinking, okay, is she just a flake? I mean, there are people who are not good at business and not good with money. Or was she a fraudster?
I think the people – there's a lot of people who would say fraudster. I don't think I once heard the term flake or that she just doesn't follow through.
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Chapter 4: What role did Allison Salinas play in the aftermath of the fire?
I think the people that we spoke to and a lot of the complaints online all point directly to fraud. Allison has had some charges in her past relating to fraud, but there's a lot of things that she has had no consequences for, that people are accusing her of things and nothing ever happened.
Okay, when we get back, we've got a podcast-exclusive clip of Andrea asking Delbert Mills about his biggest regret.
Just search Dateline en Español wherever you get your podcasts and start listening.
On the night before Halloween in 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was murdered, but police failed to make an arrest. Until, in 2000, her one-time neighbor, Michael Skakel, was arrested. He was also a cousin of the Kennedys. The Kennedy connection is the reason that most people know about this case.
Chapter 5: What led to Allison's arrest for a murder-for-hire plot?
But the deeper I dug, the more I came to question everything I thought I knew. Dead Certain, The Martha Moxley Murder. All episodes are available now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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So this story takes yet another twist when Allison reaches out to her former high school boyfriend who she hasn't talked to in about 30 years.
Chapter 6: What insights did Andrea gain from interviewing Delbert Mills?
Yeah, James was like really, you know, James was very surprised to hear from her. I mean, imagine if your high school girlfriend calls you up And then she gets into killing her husband. So you can only imagine what would be going through your mind if someone from your past. randomly contacted you.
Yeah. And then, you know, James, at one point he goes to the authorities, but that goes nowhere. He gets frustrated and doesn't really put this down, but kind of takes off on his own direction.
Yeah. I mean, it's so strange. He's contacting the police about something very serious and it's on body cam and the police officer's like, just don't call her back.
Well, if you don't want to cause any issues by blocking her, then just don't respond to her.
What? Like, no, that's not how this should have been handled, in my opinion. The Pekin Police Department, they declined to speak with us. But I think every murder-for-hire plot should be at least looked at, at least investigated. That did not happen here until... Kate and James forced their hand, you know, when they went public with this on social media, and then the police took it seriously.
Yeah, they were very anxious to suddenly talk to him and see what he is.
Yeah, thankfully nothing happened to Patrick, you know, in that time period, because you never know. Allison, you know, she asked James to help her find an assassin or, you know, a killer. What if she had gone to someone else? Yeah. What if James wasn't getting the job done? So she went and found another person that James didn't know about.
I mean, you have to take someone like that seriously because you don't know. And a man's life could be in danger.
These calls that he had with Allison Ware, as you said, she's discussing, you know, a murder for hire plot. And I think, you know, our viewers will look at that section and kind of wonder, okay, was she serious? I think you could argue it sounded certainly serious.
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Chapter 7: How did the investigation into the fire evolve over time?
If he wants to talk to me about it, all he's got to do is write me. And I'll be more than happy to sit down and type him back or write him back and explain to him the best I can.
I don't think he's going to really like hearing that.
Well, probably not.
And he, I was correct. John Michael was very, very upset.
Yeah, he takes the mic off and walks off the set. But, you know, as you watch this story, your heart continues to go back to him, what he's been through, how it has really shaped other events in his life.
It has. I mean, you know, he told me he struggled with drugs and depression and all these different things as a result of what happened to him. You know, and it's heartbreaking, right? He lost the, as he said, I lost the person who loved me the most, you know, his mom, his best friend. And she just loved him so much and according to the family and wanted to be a mom so bad.
And, you know, Delbert took that away from him. And now Delbert's blaming him for the death of his mother, which is just despicable.
Yeah.
Okay, after the break, we will be back to answer your questions from social media.
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