MANKATO, Minn. –– After being the target of an attempted murder plot by his ex-wife and mother-in-law, Shaun Wilson said he is relieved they’re headed to prison, but will never feel at ease again.

“I’ll never stop looking over my shoulder,” he said. “I’m never going to feel completely safe.”

Blanche Elizabeth Wilson, 41, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to have her ex-huband, Shaun, killed. Her mother, Linda Kay Bloom, 60, was sentenced to almost 11 years in October of 2016 for her part in the scheme. Both were convicted on conspiracy to commit murder.

Last week the Le Sueur County, Minnesota, sheriff and attorney offices released video of Blanche Wilson meeting with an undercover sheriff’s investigator posing as a hired killer.

With the cases against both women over, the video and other case evidence are now public and Shaun Wilson said he plans to watch the tape of his ex-wife paying and hugging the man she thought had killed him.

“I want to see it for myself. Hopefully it will give me some closure,” he said.

An acquaintance told authorities Blanche and Bloom were seeking to hire someone to kill Shaun after he gained custody of the three children he shared with Blanche. The informant helped authorities set up an undercover operation that led to the arrests of both women in June, according to the prosecutor’s testimony during the sentencing hearing.

When the undercover investigator asked if she was certain about going through with the plan, authorities say Blanche responded, “I have never been more certain of anything in my life.”

At the start of the video, provided to The Mankato Free Press by the Le Sueur County sheriff’s office, the undercover officer is heard showing staged photos of Shaun pretending to be dead. Blanche then signs over the title to her car as partial payment, while asking when Shaun was killed.

Blanche promises to give the investigator the cash as soon as her bank loan is approved. She’ll pay $7,000 to $10,000, depending on how much the bank will give her, she says.

As the investigator leaves, Blanche hugs and thanks him.

Assistant Le Sueur County Attorney Jason Moran, who prosecuted both Bloom’s and Blanche’s cases, said the video provides a convincing disproof to Blanche’s claim after her arrest that she thought the murder plot was only a joke.

“It was incredibly obvious she wanted the victim murdered,” Moran said.

To his knowledge, Moran said it was the first murder conspiracy charges ever filed in the county’s history. He said he was confident the defendants would be convicted.

“It was a very solid case,” he said.

While he argued for longer sentences, the prosecutor said he’s satisfied with the terms given by two different judges.

Shaun told The Mankato Free Press he wishes his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law had received longer sentences, but he’s relieved they will at least be incarcerated until after his daughters reach adulthood.

“They’re doing so much better now. They’re doing really awesome,” he said of his 12-year-old and 15-year-old twins.

Shaun said he met Blanche in the late ’90s after he was released from prison to a halfway house in Mankato. Court records show he was convicted of burglary and conspiracy to commit robbery. They married while he was back in prison for another burglary conviction and carried on a tumultuous relationship before he moved to South Dakota in 2008.

Shaun said he sought custody of the girls for years because he believed Blanche was using drugs and mistreating them, but the court ruled to keep them with their mother.

In 2015, he was granted custody after Blanche had a series of run-ins with law enforcement, which resulted in mainly misdemeanor charges as well as a felony drug charge.

One of his daughters came to live with him in December 2015 and the other two daughters came a few weeks before Blanche and Bloom were arrested in June, he said.

The Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office warned Shaun that Blanche wanted him killed and told him to be cautious while they investigated, he said. A few days later South Dakota law enforcement met with him to photograph him pretending to be dead.

It was that moment he realized it was a very real threat, he said.

He told his daughters when Blanche and Bloom were arrested and why. He knew they’d get suspicious about why their mother and grandmother weren’t contacting them, and he didn’t want to damage the trust he had built with them, he said.

Even though Blanche tried to have him killed, Shaun said he still is required by the courts to pay her back child support. He owes $30,000 he said that he refused to pay in protest because he believed she wasn’t properly caring for the children.

Shaun claims one of Blanche’s relatives contacted him on her behalf before the sentencing hearing with an offer: She’d agree to a reduction in the amount he owes in exchange for supportive testimony at the hearing. He says he declined and asked the judge to give her the maximum sentence.

If there are no appeals, Bloom will be in prison until at least October 2023 and Blanche will be incarcerated until at least June 2026.

Shaun said he still worries they’ll find a way to hire a real hit man to kill him.

Goodrich writes for the Mankato, Minnesota Free Press.