Modern forensic analysis identifies suspect decades after salesman’s death

John Warren, a traveling salesman for an auto parts company, was found dead inside his room at a Holiday Inn in Middletown, Ohio, on Oct. 17, 1985, according to Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell. Warren, who was from Dalton, Georgia, had been in the area for scheduled sales meetings and had checked into the hotel the previous day, Fornshell said in a statement.

By the time his body was discovered, Warren’s 1985 Oldsmobile and several other personal belongings had been taken, Fornshell said. A few days later, police in Dalton recovered some of Warren’s property, along with other relevant items, that had been discarded behind a Cracker Barrel restaurant in the city. Warren’s car was located in Redington Beach, Florida, about 570 miles south of Dalton.

Investigators had a number of leads at the time but lacked sufficient evidence to file charges, according to Fornshell. The case was reopened in 2019 when the sheriff’s office for the Middletown area assigned investigators to re-examine the murder. They submitted items from Warren’s hotel room, his car, and the Cracker Barrel to a crime lab for analysis.

The forensic results allowed investigators to identify Randy McAllister, of Columbus, Ohio, as a potential suspect, along with an alleged accomplice who is now dead, Fornshell said. The case was presented to a grand jury in late June, which handed up an indictment charging McAllister with murder and aggravated murder.

McAllister, 62, was arrested on July 1 and jailed in connection with the indictment. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Tuesday, when an assistant county prosecutor said Warren had been fatally strangled and beaten before his car and other property were stolen, according to the Ohio news station WKRC.

McAllister’s defense requested a $50,000 bond, but Judge Robert Peeler set bail at $500,000 after hearing of prior convictions for aggravated robbery and felonious assault in 1985 and 1992, the Ohio news outlet WLWT reported. Under Ohio law, McAllister would face life imprisonment if convicted of aggravated murder.

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