Evidence found behind Cracker Barrel helps solve 1985 cold case murder

Ohio authorities say they’ve solved a man’s 1985 murder by reviewing old evidence, including items that were originally discovered behind a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Georgia.

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, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said in a statement. Middletown is located about 35 miles east of Cincinnati. 

Warren’s 1985 Oldsmobile car and several other personal belongings had disappeared by the time his body was found, Fornshell said. A few days later, police in Dalton, Georgia, recovered some of the lost property behind a Cracker Barrel in their area, which had been discarded. His car also popped up in Redington Beach, Florida.

Fornshell said that Warren County detectives pursued numerous leads at the time, but “there was not sufficient evidence to move forward on the case.” The investigation remained stagnant until 2019, when the case was reopened, and items from all three crime scenes were submitted to a lab for analysis. 

Results of that analysis helped authorities identify Randy McAllister, of Columbus, Ohio, as a potential suspect in the murder. In addition to McAllister, 62, they also identified a potential accomplice who had already died. Fornshell said his office continued to investigate the case alongside sheriff’s detectives, who presented the evidence before a grand jury just last month. The jury indicted McAllister on murder and aggravated murder charges, according to the prosecutor.

“‘Cold case’ investigations are ‘cold’ for a reason. Many times there is some evidence that points to a suspect, but just not enough evidence to move forward. And leads diminish over time,” said Fornshell. “But particularly over the past five years, Warren County Sheriff’s Office detectives have been tenacious in their investigation of this case to get it to a point that our office believed we had sufficient evidence to charge McAllister for the murder of John Warren. And the grand jury agreed.”

Although authorities haven’t publicly shared details about what McAllister’s alleged motive could potentially have been, CBS affiliate WKRC reported that he killed Warren as part of a robbery, citing an indictment against McAllister.