When Reality hits 

The chilling story of a woman's twisted plan and the stunning reality behind it

NEWS | January 2025

In 2009, while his wife was away on a week-long trip, Mike Dippolito made a bold and unexpected decision. Mike hired a prostitute named Dalia. What was meant to be a brief encounter turned into something far more intense.

As the days passed, what started as a fling grew into something deeper, and when Mike's wife returned, he filed for divorce just five days later. However, the trouble didn’t stop there. Mike and Dalia, only days after the divorce was finalized, got engaged. 

In Mike’s past, he had gotten in trouble with the law for drug dealing and using. Mike had gone to prison for two years and had 28 years of probation, but when Mike got out of prison, he turned his life around. When Mike and Dalia met, Mike was on his fifth year of probation and had no problems. After only one month of Mike and Dalia being married, there had been four anonymous tips sent to the police and Mike's probation officer that Mike had been dealing and using again.

Mike soon realized someone was after him, trying to get him back in prison. Mike became very paranoid after that, so he transfer his money and his house into Dalia’s name to protect his belongings. Little did Mike know it was actually his wife Dalia who was trying to get Mike sent back to prison. After many failed attempts of trying to get Mike in prison again, Dalia decided that Mike would have to die.

Six months into their new marriage, Dalia hired a hitman for Mike. She had reached out to a man named Muhammed who she had known for a few years, and she  asked Muhammed to kill Mike for her or find someone who would. To help convince Muhammed, Dalia tried to manipulate him. She told him that her husband was abusive and divorce isn't an option.

Muhammed immediately went to the police and told them about Dalia’s plans, and the police told Muhammed they needed reliable video evidence. Muhammed was able to get Dalia to tell him on video that he found someone who would kill Mike for her, so Dalia gave Muhammed a picture of her husband and some cash. While in the car with Dalia the hitman asked if she’s sure that she wants to go through with it because once it's done she won't be able to change her mind and Dalia responded, by saying “5,000 percent sure.”. 

Soon after, Dalia went to go meet the hitman, Little did Dalia know her hitman was actually an undercover police officer.

The police department was working with the reality television show “Cops,” the case was set to air with the police recordings. Police had more than enough evidence that Dalia was trying to kill her husband, but because they were working with “Cops,”  they took it another step further.

On the day the hitman and Dalia planned to have Mike killed, the police told Mike what Dalia’s plans. Mike was shocked. The police then called Dalia while she was at the gym, and told her that something happened to her husband and she had to come home right away. Shortly after the phone call Dalia came home, the police confronted her and told her Mike had been killed.

Dalia immediately bursted into tears. When Dalia was brought in for questioning, the police told Dalia they might have found Mike’s killer and then brought in the hit man. Dalia claimed she had never seen him in her life. The police finally told her they knew she wanted her husband dead. Then the police told Dalia that Mike is still alive. Finally, the police arrested Dalia for trying to kill her husband. The police arrested her with solicitation to commit first- degree murder, and she was found guilty with a sentence of 16 years in prison.