David Allen was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of Chloie English
According to court documents David Allen would meet Chloie English while she was working in a prison ministry. The two would continue to communicate until David Allen was released from prison
Within months of his release David Allen would rob and then murder Chloie English
David Allen would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
David Allen Photos
David Allen FAQ
Where is David Allen Now
David Allen is incarcerated at Chillicothe Correctional Institution
David Allen Case
In June 1991, a Cuyahoga County jury returned guilty verdicts in the trial of appellant, David W. Allen (“Allen”), for the aggravated robbery and aggravated murder of eighty-four-year-old Chloie English (“English”) of Bedford, Ohio. English knew Allen through her participation in a prison ministry program. English ministered to five convicted felons, including Allen. She visited and corresponded with Allen while he was in prison and they stated in touch after his release in 1989. On January 9, 1991, English received a phone call from someone named “David.” According to English’s daughter, the conversation left English shaking.
English was last seen alive at 5:45 p.m. on January 24, 1991, by her friend Judy Sperry (“Sperry”) who had visited English in her home. At 6:45 p.m. the next day, English’s friend Cathy Curry found English lying dead in her living room. The doors to English’s house were unlocked, which was unusual because English always locked her doors and never opened them to strangers.
After English’s body was found, Bedford police officers secured, photographed, and searched the house. Detective Gerry Artl found English’s eyeglasses on the floor and noted a large thumbprint on the inside of the left lens. That thumbprint turned out to belong to David Allen. Police recovered ten cigarette butts from English’s kitchen garbage. Saliva tests showed that five of the butts had been smoked by a Type O secretor. (The rest lacked sufficient saliva for testing.) Two of the butts still had the “Doral” brand name on them. Allen is a Type O secretor, and there was evidence that he smoked Dorals. English disapproved of smoking and was a Type O non-secretor.
Trace-evidence expert Kay May testified that certain individuals secrete their blood type in bodily fluids, such as saliva.
Although English’s last known visitor was a woman, someone had left the toilet seat up in English’s bathroom. Moreover, the coffee pot in the kitchen, empty when Sperry left, was half full when English’s body was discovered. Police found several items burnt in the fireplace, including the remains of English’s purse and wallet, a broken ashtray, a broken coffee cup, a broken drinking glass, a wine bottle, and a knife with its handle burnt off.
Police found no money in the house, even though English always kept about $50 in her wallet for emergencies. English’s credit cards and checkbook were also missing.
Detective Timothy Oleksiak (“Oleksiak”) obtained the names of prisoners with whom English had corresponded. All but Allen were still in prison. Oleksiak and Artl had the print on the eyeglasses compared with Allen’s; when the print was identified as Allen’s, Oleksiak got an arrest warrant.
On January 29, Allen was arrested. He was wearing a denim jacket with a stain on one of the sleeves. That stain turned out to be Type O blood, the same type Allen and English shared. Allen was carrying a bus transfer issued between 6:04 and 7:00 a.m., January 25, on the No. 41 Warrensville bus route. The driver identified Allen as a passenger he had picked up on January 25 at 6:04 a.m., at a stop 1.3 miles from English’s house.
Allen also had a refund receipt for a Greyhound bus ticket. There was no record of when the ticket was sold, but Allen got the refund on January 25, at 11:28 p.m. Moreover, when Detective Artl searched Allen’s bedroom, he found two packed suitcases under Allen’s bed.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on two counts of aggravated murder, R.C. 2903.01(A) and (B), each count having a death specification under R.C. 2929.04(A)(7) (felony-murder). The jury also found Allen guilty of aggravated robbery, R.C. 2911.01. After a penalty hearing, the jury recommended the death penalty. The court accepted the recommendation and imposed the death sentence. As to the aggravated robbery count, the court imposed a sentence of fifteen to twenty-five years. The court of appeals affirmed the convictions and sentences.