Georgia Cracker Barrel evidence helps solve 1985 Ohio murder case

Items discarded behind a Cracker Barrel in Dalton, Georgia, helped break open a 40-year-old Ohio homicide, leading to the July 1 arrest of Randy Lane McAllister, 62, of Columbus. Warren County prosecutors and sheriff’s detectives linked the Georgia recovery to a broader evidence review that also reached into Middletown, Ohio, and Redington Beach, Florida.

John Christopher Warren was 44 when he was killed in October 1985. The Kent, Ohio, man worked for an auto parts company and was in Middletown for sales meetings when his body was found in his hotel room at the Holiday Inn near Interstate 75 on Oct. 17, 1985. His 1985 Oldsmobile and personal items were missing after the killing.

Police in Dalton recovered some of Warren’s property and other relevant items behind the Cracker Barrel days after the slaying. Warren’s car later turned up in Redington Beach, Florida, about 1,000 miles from the murder scene. In 2019, Warren County detectives sent evidence from the hotel room, the Florida recovery and the Georgia items to a lab for additional analysis.

That testing identified McAllister as a suspect, along with a now-deceased accomplice, and a Warren County grand jury indicted him on counts including aggravated murder and murder. The indictment accuses McAllister of killing Warren during a robbery. He was arrested on July 1.