Ohio officials have announced the resolution of a 1985 murder case by reevaluating previous evidence, which included items found behind a Cracker Barrel in Georgia. John Warren, a salesman for an auto parts company, was discovered dead in his Holiday Inn room in Middletown, Ohio, on October 17, 1985, according to Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell. Middletown is about 35 miles east of Cincinnati.
Warren’s 1985 Oldsmobile car and other personal belongings were missing when his body was found, as stated by Fornshell. Several days later, police in Dalton, Georgia, retrieved some of the lost items discarded behind a local Cracker Barrel. Separately, the missing car was located in Redington Beach, Florida.
Fornshell remarked that initially there wasn’t enough evidence to progress the case. However, in 2019, the investigation was reopened, and evidence from the three sites was sent to a lab for analysis. This analysis led authorities to suspect Randy McAllister from Columbus, Ohio, in the murder. Alongside McAllister, investigators identified a potential accomplice who is deceased.
The prosecutor’s office continued its investigation alongside sheriff’s detectives. Evidence was presented to a grand jury last month, leading to McAllister’s indictment on murder and aggravated murder charges.
“‘Cold case’ investigations are ‘cold’ for a reason,” said Fornshell. “Often, there is some evidence pointing to a suspect, but not enough to proceed. Leads diminish over time. Yet, over the past five years, Warren County Sheriff’s Office detectives have relentlessly pursued this case, achieving enough evidence to charge McAllister with John Warren’s murder. The grand jury concurred.”
While authorities have not publicly revealed a motive for McAllister, CBS affiliate WKRC reported that the murder was part of a robbery, referencing an indictment against him.