ABC Dalia Dippolito on ABC News
A new episode of 20/20 airs on Friday, May 15 at 9/8c on ABC. The episode features the story of Dalia Dippolito, who was found guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder against her then-husband Michael Dippolito. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
One of the people prominent in Dippolito’s trial was her ex-lover Mike Stanley, who has since passed away.
Ahead of the 20/20 episode, here’s what you need to know about Mike Stanley:
Stanley & Dippolito Exchanged Graphic Texts While Dalia Was Married
According to Palm Beach Post, romantic texts exchanged by Stanley and Dippolito were obtained as evidence that Dippolito was plotting against her husband.
The messages, released by the State Attorney’s Office, reveal that the former couple professed their love for one another and maintained a rapport that was sexual in nature.
During one exchange, Stanley wrote “Dalia, i have always wanted u, ur my unicorn,” to which Dippolito replied “I want u as the ancor in my life!, the hub, the center!”
In another text, sent one week before Dippolito was filmed plotting against her husband Michael with an undercover officer (who she allegedly believed was a hitman), Dalia told Mike “The sooner he gets jammed up the sooner we can be in paradise island baby.”
Dippolito Allegedly Had Stanley Impersonate a Doctor & a Lawyer to Trick Her Husband
According to Daily Mail, prosecutors claimed that in addition to their lewd text exchanges, Dippolito also recruited Stanley to help her get away with stealing money from him. She allegedly had Stanley impersonate a doctor in order to cover up the fact that she had stolen $100,000 from her husband. She enlisted his services again, asking him to pose as a lawyer to convince Michael Dippolito that she had completed her probation.
Dippolito asked Stanley for his help “spoofing” her husband with a false phonecall. In a text, she instructed, “I need u to spoof the cll and tell him that he needs to meet ur paralegal at 2:30 at th courthouse.”
Mike Stanley Was Not the Only Man Dippolito Allegedly Enlisted to Do Her Bidding
The undercover officer said he felt the woman’s “sense of urgency” to have her husband killed… our new 2-hour #ABC2020 starts at 9/8c on ABC. t.co/fkIqsFT2EA
In addition to having Stanley impersonate other people in order to trick her husband, a major piece of the trial was her interactions with Widy Jean, an undercover police officer whom Dippolito believed was a hitman.
According to ABC News, Dippolito was recorded meeting with Jean and planning to have him kill her husband Michael. The police then staged a fake crime scene to convince Dippolito that her husband had been murdered. After filming her reaction, they called her in to identify Jean as a witness. In spite of evidence linking her to Jean, she claimed not to recognize him as a suspect.
After Dalia’s guilty verdict in 2011, her ex-husband Michael told 20/20 “It makes you realize how serious what was really going on was. It’s just something you can’t imagine anybody could really, really do. It was so senseless for a girl, my wife… to take those steps to do that. It was so unnecessary.”
New episodes of 20/20 air on Friday nights at 9/8c on ABC.