GUILTY IN - Dominique Allen, 15, found dead, burned behind Indy home, 31 Aug 2014

[Indy Anna]

Rally, vigil for teen murder victim

"What I want to say to the person that killed Dominique, 'You can turn yourself in. I beg you. I beg the community. Please turn yourself in'," said Poindexter.

<snipped>

http://www.wthr.com/story/26580788/2014/09/19/rally-vigil-for-teen-murder-victim

 

[Indy Anna]

Backlog at Marion County crime lab means delays in 1,742 cases

TheIndyChannel.com Staff , Jack Rinehart
9:59 PM, Oct 2, 2014
8:09 AM, Oct 3, 2014

DNA testing also has a lengthy backlog of cases. While the lab has a goal of turning around results in six weeks, testing usually takes three months or longer.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives hope that DNA evidence will help them solve Dominique Allen&#8217;s homicide.

Read more at ....

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/...n-county-crime-lab-means-delays-in-1742-cases

 

[Indy Anna]

Dominique's murder is still a mystery, unfortunately. This article has some good information about Dominique, including her personal struggles relating to the death of her mother 2 years ago. So sad that this beautiful girl had experienced the death of her mother (and 2 friends to street violence) at an early age and then was murdered as she was working through her grief to focus on positive things.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...ound-girls-death-burning-haughville/17453615/

From the link above, I found this interesting about her murder:

A nearby strip club on 16th Street had closed its doors at 3 a.m., but patrons frequently spill over to the convenience store across the street. At 4 a.m., gunfire erupted outside that store, bringing at least four police cars to the area for the next two hours. Long's Bakery, a Westside landmark just around the corner from the house, opened at 5:30 a.m. for the Sunday morning doughnut crowds. Workers had been there most of the night.

Even if her abductor avoided all that by taking her away down the less trafficked end of North Mount Street, police say the killer's next stop — at an abandoned house where they suspect she was killed — was an address on West 10th Street that gets traffic around the clock. And instead of leaving the body there, the killer tidied up her personal effects in the backyard — positioning her sandals together and leaning them against her purse — before taking her past a fire station and a couple of blocks deeper into a residential neighborhood. There, he set fire to the body in the backyard of an occupied house.

 

[newone]

This case eerily echoes the case of the 15 yr old girl who was found dead in Winnipeg....she too was grieving the death of a parent and was 'acting out' .... grief is a horrible beast for a young teen to battle and it has such a profound impact on school and even the ability to learn.


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-bag-in-Red-River&highlight=murdered+winnipeg

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...ound-girls-death-burning-haughville/17453615/

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

http://wishtv.com/2014/11/01/indy-families-seek-justice-for-slain-family-members/

 

[OkieGranny]

http://wishtv.com/2014/11/20/police-make-arrest-in-15-year-old-dominique-allens-murder/

According to 24-Hour News 8 sources, police arrested William Gholston, 46, for the murder of 15-year-old Dominique Allen.

Investigators believe that Gholston, who didn&#8217;t know Allen, snatched her from her sister&#8217;s porch early Sunday morning on Aug. 31...

According to sources close to the investigation, Gholston&#8217;s DNA was found on Allen&#8217;s body during forensic testing. IMPD later found and arrested Gholston near Bluffton, Indiana.

 

[Indy Anna]

Good work, LE! This was a difficult case that seemed it would never be solved. Now there can be justice for Dominique and other girls/women will be safe from this guy.

Investigators are trying to determine if Gholston is connected to the murders of three other black women who were strangled this year near Yandes Street in Indianapolis.

< snipped >

http://wishtv.com/2014/11/20/police-make-arrest-in-15-year-old-dominique-allens-murder/

Gholston was arrested in the murder of Sandra Clark Hobbs in 2002 but was acquitted during a 2004 trial.

< snipped >

http://fox59.com/2014/11/20/charges-to-be-filed-in-case-of-murdered-15-year-old-girl/

 

[margarita25]

Good work, LE! This was a difficult case that seemed it would never be solved. Now there can be justice for Dominique and other girls/women will be safe from this guy.


< snipped >

http://wishtv.com/2014/11/20/police-make-arrest-in-15-year-old-dominique-allens-murder/


rsbm

Wow. Thank goodness. From the above link:

"According to sources close to the investigation, Gholston’s DNA was found on Allen’s body during forensic testing. IMPD later found and arrested Gholston near Bluffton, Indiana."

 

[margarita25]

Good work, LE! This was a difficult case that seemed it would never be solved. Now there can be justice for Dominique and other girls/women will be safe from this guy.

rsbm

< snipped >

http://fox59.com/2014/11/20/charges-to-be-filed-in-case-of-murdered-15-year-old-girl/

Thank you for the update Indy Anna.

From the above link:

"More details will be provided Friday morning. FOX59 will carry the press conference live around 9 a.m. Allen&#8217;s family will be attending."

 

[OkieGranny]

http://news.yahoo.com/man-charged-murder-indiana-teenage-girl-190345961.html

Allen's body was found &#8220;hog-tied&#8221; around her neck and ankles with coaxial cord, the affidavit said. She had a plastic bag over her head and had been set on fire...

Investigators found DNA matching Gholston's on Allen's foot and hand and on a shoe thought to have been worn by her when she disappeared, Curry said.

The affidavit did not specify if Gholston and Allen were acquainted but said that, in an interview, Gholston had said he did not know her.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/man-pleads-guilty-indianapolis-teens-death-27134878

An ex-convict charged with killing a 15-year-old girl whose badly burned body was found in an Indianapolis backyard made his initial court appearance Monday before a gallery filled with the teen's relatives and friends.

A preliminary not guilty plea was entered for 46-year-old William Gholston on the murder charge he faces in Dominique Allen's Aug. 31 death. A Marion County judge granted his request for a public defender to be appointed and ordered Gholston to remain jailed without bond...

Gholston is eligible for the death penalty because he was on parole at the time of the Allen's death...

 

[Ausgirl]

Sick monster. Yay for the death penalty. I'm glad they got him off the streets -- but I have to wonder, what he was in for previously. And how many times he'd been in trouble for attacking women in the past.

eta: Ah, I see, from link above:

After serving a prison sentence for 2006 convictions for illegal gun possession and resisting arrest. Gholston had previously served prison sentences for armed robbery and drug possession

No way he hasn't raped before. There's other victims... look at what he did. That's not a beginner.

 

[Ausgirl]

Knew it:

In 2002, Gholston was acquitted in the 2002 strangling death of a woman. Two years later, he was charged with attempted murder for stabbing a woman, but those charges were later dropped.

http://www.10news.com/news/u-s-world/a-life-of-crime-one-mans-24-mug-shots

Interview with mother of 2002p robable victim Sandra Clark-Hobbs:

http://www.wthr.com/story/27446187/...im-hopes-accused-killer-is-brought-to-justice

 

[OkieGranny]

http://wishtv.com/2014/11/24/gholston-heads-to-court-for-allen-murder-hearing/

Police are also trying to figure out if Gholston is connected to five other unsolved murders of women in Indianapolis. Like Allen, police say, in all these cases the victims were strangled.

 

[Ausgirl]

When police served the murder warrant, "he just kind of smirked," said Indianapolis Police Detective Marcus Kennedy, the lead investigator on the case. "He knew it was coming."

The DNA evidence might have answered one question &#8212; who killed Dominique Allen &#8212; but another critical question remained unanswered Friday: Why was Gholston still on the street after violating parole three times in the eight months leading up to her death?

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...details-dominique-allen-murder-case/19333059/

A good question, indeed. I am so, so sick of reading murder after murder, committed by men who should have been in prison.

I hope the death penalty wipes that smirk off his face.

 

[Ausgirl]

On July 1, 1991 Michelle Dewey a twenty year old single mother was found strangled to death in her second floor apartment at 58 S. Downey, Indianapolis Indiana. This is in the Irvington area. Her eighteen month old son was in a back bedroom with the door wedged shut, he was unharmed.

http://www.indy.gov/egov/city/dps/i...ions/homicide/documents/unsolved pre 2000.pdf

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...e-Dewey-20-Indianapolis-Irvington-1-July-1991

I wonder if Michelle's one of the cases they're looking at.

 

[Ausgirl]

Gholston, living in Franklin at the time, was arrested with another man in connection with the 2002 death of Sandra Clark-Hobbs. A juror said a mistrial was declared in the first case after a witness made reference to Gholston's criminal past. The second trial ended with the jury finding him not guilty.

A juror on the second case said the evidence was too weak for a conviction. After the trial, she was told that a key witness failed to appear to testify. She told The Star she now wonders whether that testimony might have affected the outcome. In light of the new charges against Gholston, she said she feels horrible that an opportunity may have been missed to possibly prevent Allen's death.

Gholston had other criminal charges that did end in conviction.

When he was 15, he was adjudicated (the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict) of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old. Court records from the 1983 case show that after the incident both Gholston and his young victim tested positive for gonorrhea.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/...details-dominique-allen-murder-case/19333059/

 

[Ausgirl]

As he started raping so young, I thought this might be relevant. Strangulation + fire:

Brandi Peltz 12/11/1986

Unsolved Cold Case Homicide
Case Number 24-29966

Age: 11 Sex: Female Race: Caucasian

Case Date: 12/11/1986 County: Marshall

Location of Offense: Residence on Old US 31, South of Argos, IN

Circumstances: Brandi Peltz, 11 years old, was found dead in her home floating face down in a bathtub full of water. An upstairs bedroom of the residence was set on fire. Cause of death was strangulation. The victim was found by a passerby who noticed the second story of the residence on fire, and stopped to see if anyone was inside. Peltz was sick the day the incident took place, and was home alone from school.

 

[Ausgirl]

Child deaths:

1987: http://www.in.gov/isp/2928.htm
1998: April Tinsley, 8 yo: http://www.in.gov/isp/2542.htm#

homicide + arson:

1986: Brandy Peltz (see post above)
1986: http://www.in.gov/isp/2930.htm
1988: http://www.in.gov/isp/2610.htm
1993: Sherri L. Pearson http://www.in.gov/isp/2542.htm#
1994: http://www.in.gov/isp/2936.htm
1994: http://www.in.gov/isp/2935.htm
1997: http://www.in.gov/isp/2578.htm

homicide, undisclosed COD:

1992: http://www.in.gov/isp/2579.htm
1993: http://www.in.gov/isp/2619.htm
1995: http://www.in.gov/isp/2905.htm
1997: http://www.in.gov/isp/2937.htm


Strangulation:

2001 http://www.in.gov/isp/2938.htm

Never located:

1993: http://www.in.gov/isp/2580.htm
1994: http://www.in.gov/isp/2934.htm

___

Wow, tons of arson.... There was also a lot of what look like, to me, hitch-hiker/trucker/highway unsolveds. I didn't include those b/c I doubt he ever worked as a trucker. But worth noting anyway.

Also worth noting, he was not adverse to killing with a partner.

I'm just staring at all those fires.

 

[Ausgirl]

map locations of arson homicides:

http://goo.gl/maps/DjxGa

Three cases in Petersburg, on two separate occasions (two deaths in the same house, 1994).
A fourth, not far away in Washington.