MIDDLETOWN, Ohio: Cracker Barrel cold case evidence helped Ohio authorities solve the 1985 murder of travelling salesman John Christopher Warren, prosecutors said.
Warren was found dead inside his room at a Holiday Inn in Middletown, Ohio, on October 17, 1985, Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said.
Fornshell said Warren’s 1985 Oldsmobile and several personal belongings were missing when his body was found.
Police in Dalton, Georgia, recovered some of the discarded property behind a local Cracker Barrel days later, according to the prosecutor.
Warren’s car was later found in Redington Beach, Florida. Fornshell said detectives pursued leads in 1985, but investigators did not then have enough evidence to move forward.
The case was reopened in 2019, when evidence from the Ohio, Georgia and Florida scenes was submitted for modern laboratory analysis.
Authorities identified Randy McAllister, 62, of Columbus, Ohio, as a potential suspect, along with a second possible accomplice who had died, Fornshell said.
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A Warren County grand jury indicted McAllister in June on murder and aggravated murder charges, according to the prosecutor. McAllister was arrested on July 1, 2026, and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on July 7, 2026.
Fornshell said cold cases often lack enough evidence at first, but Warren County Sheriff’s Office detectives had built a case prosecutors believed could support charges.
