Calvin Shawntye McKelton, 32, known by the street name “C-Murder,” faces 11 felony counts: aggravated murder, murder, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, intimidation, two counts of felonious assault and two counts of domestic violence.
He was booked at 1:36 a.m. Saturday into the Butler County Jail, where he remains without bond.
Although it took some time for McKelton to be apprehended, Rebecca Allen believed from the moment she learned her daughter was dead that McKelton was the prime suspect, though he didn’t initially seem dangerous.
“He put on a persona to me that he was not devious and conniving. He’s the devil in disguise,” she said.
Officials say McKelton will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon before Butler County Judge Michael Sage, though the time is not yet known.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said he will hold a press conference after the arraignment.
“I feel very good that they have him,” Rebecca Allen of Cincinnati said. “Now I want justice to be served legally.”
She first met McKelton about a year before Margaret’s death. “He seemed like a very gentle man,” she said.
All the same, she had her concerns.
“I was suspicious, but he didn’t give me any grounds to be suspicious. I’m suspicious of everybody. He didn’t seem like her type to me, whatever that means. I tolerated it because that’s what she wanted to do as an adult,” she said.
She added, “The people involved (the authorities) did their job ... I have confidence in the legal system. I’m relieved that it happened and it didn’t take 20 years.”
Though a U.S. Marshals Office statement says Allen was pregnant when she was killed, her death certificate says she was not, according to her mother.
‘C-Murder’ has long been prime suspect in slaying of local attorney
Her nickname was “Missy.” She was an attorney in Fairfield and occasional substitute teacher.
Authorities say he was known as “C-Murder,” and he was arrested Friday, Feb. 12, in connection with her 2008 murder.
He was also her boyfriend, authorities say.
Margaret “Missy” Allen’s body was found July 27, 2008, in a wooded area of Schmidt Field Park in Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office ruled the 37-year-old defense attorney who practiced in Cincinnati died of asphyxiation by strangulation.
Allen was last seen July 24, 2008, by her childhood friend and law partner Rodney Harris, three days before her body was found in a decomposed state. Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O’Dell Owens said he relied on dental records, tattoos and surgical scars to determine the body’s identity.
Fairfield police say they believe Allen was killed in Fairfield but would not say where nor would they disclose details surrounding her death.
Calvin Shawntye McKelton, 32, known by the street name “C-Murder,” was arrested Friday hours after he was indicted in connection with her death.
McKelton is currently in the Butler County jail facing 11 felony counts: aggravated murder, murder, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, intimidation, two counts of felonious assault and two counts of domestic violence.
Officials say McKelton will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon before Butler County Judge Michael Sage, though the time is not yet known.
McKelton was arrested Friday at roughly 5:30 p.m. in Avondale during a traffic stop initiated by the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Deputy U.S. marshals and task force officers conducted surveillance at multiple locations in Avondale after receiving information McKelton would be in the area. SOFAST stopped his vehicle after he was seen driving on Reading Road near Forest Avenue. He was arrested without incident and initially taken to the Hamilton County Justice Center, according to marshals.
McKelton had long been a suspect, authorities said.
McKelton’s attorney in August 2008 said his client — who had a lengthy criminal history that included domestic violence, felonious assault and weapons charges — was a lead suspect in the strangulation death of his girlfriend and that he had been requested to submit fingerprint and genetic evidence.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper confirmed there was a “primary suspect” in Allen’s homicide and that he didn’t think it would be long before an arrest was made. However, Piper at the time would not name McKelton as the suspect.
Nearly three months before Allen’s body was discovered, police responded to a domestic violence call at the Whitmore Lane home she owned in Fairfield.
At 8:20 p.m. May 4, 2008, Allen’s then 11-year-old niece called 911. According to the Fairfield police report, the girl believed Allen was assaulted by the man she referred to as her uncle.
Police said Allen was taken to the hospital with a broken ankle. Her cousin, Greg Allen, had said she was still in a cast and using crutches at the time of her death.
Allen graduated from Walnut Hills in 1989 and Wright State University in 1993, and earned her law degree from Ohio State University in 1996. She spoke fluent Spanish and had worked as a substitute teacher in the Fairfield City Schools and as a prosecutor for the city of Woodlawn.
Piper said evidence was presented to the grand jury on Friday and that the indictment on McKelton was handed down the same day. Piper noted McKelton had long been a suspect.
Piper said prosecutors got assistance on this case from Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, U.S. marshals, Fairfield police and Cincinnati homicide detectives.
“This is what happens when we put our heads together and team up,” Piper said of the McKelton indictment.
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