Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 25, 1994 TAG: 9406280086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Aubrey Elihu Allen, a former convict who served time for attempted murder, was diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in 1990. He was killed this month near his Chamblissburg home in what his wife, Darlene, described as an ongoing feud with a neighbor.
"I don't understand why [Bedford Sheriff Carl Wells and Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike] have not [brought charges], and they have allowed a cold-hearted killer to walk free," Darlene Allen said this week.
Aubrey George Allen, father of the slain man, said, "What is the holdup? Look at what happened to O.J. Simpson - they ... [charged] him right away." He said the authorities were reluctant to prosecute the killer of an HIV-positive man who was an ex-con.
Darlene Allen said the sheriff's office won't tell her why charges have not been filed. "It's been 18 days. They just say they're collecting evidence. What evidence? I can't get cooperation from anyone. I don't know where to turn.
"I have a right to know something. I have a right to know why [the man she believes killed her husband] isn't locked up, because I am in a torment of hell."
Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike, speaking Friday on behalf of his office and Sheriff Carl Wells, said, "The reason charges have not been placed is that the investigation is still continuing. We're awaiting lab results, and I'm reviewing transcripts of witnesses.
"As far as whether the victim had HIV or not, I don't know. I do know whether he did or did not [have HIV] is irrelevant to the [investigation of the] shooting."
"Any questions anyone has about Mr. Allen personally are really irrelevant" to the investigation, Updike said. As for "the case itself, when the final determination is made, we'll be considering all the facts and circumstances of what happened that night" when Allen was killed, he said.
"All evidence is not in at this point ... [and] we want to be thorough."
Darlene Allen says she tests negative for HIV, but she is no stranger to AIDS prejudice. When neighbors found out about her husband's infection, "things went berserk," she said. She described incidents of neighbors shouting obscenities, attacking her children and slashing her tires.
She says she and her family are still being harassed after her husband's death, but the sheriff's office has ignored her calls for help. She is selling her home, and says she lowered her asking price in order to get out of the neighborhood as quickly as possible.
by CNB