Elizabeth Ann Allen
Missing since January 20, 1980 from El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing
* Date of Birth: October 13, 1924
* Age at Time of Disappearance: 55 years old
* Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3-5'4"; 105-125 lbs.
* Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Red/Auburn hair; green eyes. Glasses. Allen was described as an attractive woman
who appeared younger than her age.
* Marks, Scars: Small pox vaccination on upper left arm. Ears pierced.
* Dentals: Available
* Fingerprints: Available
* AKA: Beth
Circumstances of Disappearance
Elizabeth Ann Allen disappeared from her home on 20 January 1980. Allen's family reported her missing on January 21, 1980, one day after they last saw or heard from her. She did not leave a note or tell anyone she was leaving town.
There was no trace of a struggle in her second-floor West Side apartment.
On the evening of Jan. 18, Allen attended an awards banquet at the Holiday Inn hotel in Downtown El Paso. Her date was a male acquaintance whom witnesses weren't able to identify.
At 6 p.m. Jan. 19, Allen went to the El Paso International Airport to pick up two male friends who flew in from Orlando. She had dinner with the men afterward and accompanied them to their hotel.
At 1:30 a.m. Jan. 20, Allen left the hotel.
Between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Jan. 20, Allen spoke to her sister, Dorothy Hooker, on the phone. That was the last time anyone in Allen's family heard from her. Police believe Allen had breakfast on Jan. 20 with the man who accompanied her to the awards banquet on Jan. 18.
Police in San Bernardino, California, found her white 1971 Ford Thunderbird Classic on January 24, and called Allen's family after the car was towed the next day.
When police recovered Allen's car, a number of gas station receipts were found inside. The charges were made to Allen's credit card, which was still issued in the name of Allen's late husband.
The receipts document stops in Tucumcari, Albuquerque and Grants, N.M., and in northern Arizona.
Police believe someone abducted Allen, but no witnesses have come forward to confirm detectives' suspicions.
Allen's disappearance attracted publicity weeks later and again in 1983, when convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to murdering Allen.
However, El Paso police said, no proof exists to tie Lucas to Allen's disappearance. Before he was done talking, Lucas confessed to killing 600 people. He later recanted. Lucas ultimately was convicted in Texas of 11 murders and sentenced to death, but in 1998 then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted Lucas' sentence to life in prison. He died in prison of heart failure in 2001.
Allen lived in the Fountain Plaza apartment complex on Westcity Court. She was the assistant apartment manager there, but she also managed three other apartment complexes in the city.
Allen was born in Cleburne, Texas, and moved several times after marrying an Air Force man. The couple eventually had four sons.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
El Paso Police Department
915-564-7010
Agency Case Number: 00-161011
The Doe Network: Case File 1917DFTX
http://s10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t57512.htm
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/show/5623
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1917dftx.html
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/allen_elizabeth_ann.html