Modern forensic analysis leads to arrest in Georgia 1985 murder cold case

Modern forensic analysis leads to arrest in murder of traveling salesman John Warren, authorities say

Items that were found discarded behind a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Georgia in 1985 have led to charges against a suspect in an Ohio killing committed at about that time, investigators announced recently.

As told by authorities, the case centering on killed traveling salesman John Warren is among the latest in the US criminal justice system to illustrate how the application of modern forensic testing techniques on evidence collected decades earlier can lead to closure of cold murder cases.

Warren, of Dalton, Georgia, was working for an auto parts company when – because of scheduled sales meetings – he stayed at the Holiday Inn in Middletown, Ohio, on 16 October 1985, local county prosecutor David Fornshell said in a statement on Monday.

He was discovered dead in his hotel room a day later, with his 1985 Oldsmobile having been taken along with a number of other belongings, Fornshell said.

Within a few days, Fornshell continued, police in Warren’s home town recovered some of his property as well as “other relevant items” ditched behind a Cracker Barrel there. Warren’s car, meanwhile, was located in Redington Beach, Florida.

Middletown is about 396 miles (637km) north of Dalton. Redington Beach is about 570 miles (917km) south of Dalton.

Fornshell’s statement said detectives investigating Warren’s murder had a number of leads at the time, but there was not sufficient evidence to advance a case against a suspect. The sheriff’s office for the Middletown area assigned investigators to re-examine Warren’s murder in 2019, and they submitted items from his hotel room, his car and the Cracker Barrel to a crime lab analysis.

The results of that analysis allowed investigators to identify 62-year-old Randy McAllister of Columbus, Ohio , as a potential suspect, along with an alleged accomplice who is now dead, according to Fornshell.

Fornshell’s office said it joined sheriff’s investigators in presenting evidence in Warren’s murder to a grand jury in late June. The panel handed up an indictment charging McAllister with murder and aggravated murder.

McAllister, 62, was jailed in connection with the indictment on 1 July. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Tuesday, when his bail was set at $500,000, jail records show and Ohio media outlets reported.

At the arraignment, an assistant county prosecutor said Warren had been fatally strangled and beaten before his car and other property were stolen, the Ohio news station WKRC reported .

McAllister’s defense requested a $50,000 bond. But Judge Robert Peeler set McAllister’s bond amount at 10 times the amount suggested by the defense after hearing of prior convictions of aggravated robbery and felonious assault in 1985 and 1992, the Ohio news outlet WLWT reported.

Fornshell’s statement credited a “tenacious” investigation for the murder charges against McAllister.

Under Ohio law, McAllister would face life imprisonment if convicted of aggravated murder in Warren’s death.