Updated

Updated · WLWT Cincinnati · Jul 6

Randy McAllister Arrested in 1985 Hotel Murder After 2019 Lab Analysis Revived Case

Updated

Updated · WLWT Cincinnati · Jul 6

Randy McAllister Arrested in 1985 Hotel Murder After 2019 Lab Analysis Revived Case

Q: After four decades, what tiny piece of evidence finally solved the 1985 murder of a traveling salesman?

It has not been publicly identified. Authorities say the breakthrough came from re-testing old physical evidence with modern forensic methods, but they have not disclosed the exact tiny item that linked Randy McAllister to the 1985 killing of John Warren. What is known is that the Warren County Sheriff’s Office reopened the case in 2019 and sent original evidence from the hotel room, Warren’s discarded belongings in Georgia, and his car in Florida back to the lab. That new analysis led detectives to identify McAllister and a now-deceased alleged accomplice. Given the timing and the way prosecutors described the case, the likely key was a minute biological or trace sample—such as touch DNA from skin cells or another degraded trace that older technology could not interpret. Advances in DNA testing, including analysis of very small or damaged samples, are often what make these long-dormant cases prosecutable. So the short answer is: the case was solved by modern re-analysis of old evidence, probably a tiny DNA or trace sample, but officials have not publicly named the specific piece of evidence.

3 articles · Updated · WLWT Cincinnati · Jul 6

62-year-old Randy McAllister was indicted last week and arrested Wednesday on aggravated murder and murder charges in the 1985 killing of John Christopher Warren at a Middletown Holiday Inn.
2019 testing of belongings recovered from three crime scenes identified McAllister and a now-deceased accomplice as suspects, giving investigators enough evidence to take the case to a grand jury in late June.
Warren, a 44-year-old auto-parts salesman, was found dead in his hotel room the day after checking in for meetings; his 1985 Oldsmobile and other belongings were stolen.
Some of those items turned up days later near a Cracker Barrel in Dalton, Georgia, and the car was later found in Florida, but prosecutors said the case stayed cold for decades because earlier leads fell short.
Tuesday is McAllister's expected first court appearance, marking the latest step in a five-year push by Warren County detectives to turn a long-stalled homicide into a prosecutable case.