New lab analysis leads to arrest in 1985 Middletown, Ohio, hotel murder case

Updated: 6:13 PM CDT Jul 6, 2026 Editorial Standards ⓘ Emily Sanderson Digital Media Manager

New details are coming out about the arrest made in an Ohio cold case that dates back decades.

Randy McAllister, 62, is accused of killing John Christopher Warren in October of 1985. He was indicted last week and arrested Wednesday after a warrant was issued.


According to Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell, John Warren was staying at the Holiday Inn in Middletown, Ohio, off I-75 when the murder occurred.

Middletown is located around 38 miles from Cincinnati.

Fornshell says Warren was a salesman for an auto parts company in the area for meetings.

The next day, Warren was found dead in his hotel room.

According to Fornshell, some of his belongings, including his car, a 1985 Oldsmobile, were taken.

Fornshell says officers recovered some of his belongings a few days later, left behind at a Cracker Barrel in the Dalton, Georgia area.

His Oldsmobile was later located in Readington Beach, Florida.

Fornshell says that while detectives followed multiple leads, there was not enough evidence to move forward with the investigation, so it remained cold for decades.

A few years ago, in 2019, Fornshell says detectives with the Warren County Sheriff's Office re-investigated the case, submitting the belongings recovered from the three crime scenes to the crime lab for analysis.

Through the analysis, detectives were able to identify 62-year-old Randy McAllister, from Columbus, Ohio, as well as an accomplice who has since died, as potential suspects.

In the years following, detectives continued to investigate and ultimately presented the case to the grand jury at the end of June.

The grand jury then returned an indictment for McCallister on charges of aggravated murder and murder.

  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. But particularly over the past five y

#wisn   #crimewatchmilwaukee