BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — After waiting more than 40 years for answers in her father's murder, Anne Allen is giving back, with the hope of helping other families find closure.
The former Arundel High School teacher is donating $30,000 of her own money to the Baltimore County Police Department to fund DNA testing and analysis for cold case homicides.
Allen's father, Samuel Allen, was shot and killed during a home invasion in 1981 at the family's Liberty Road home in Lochearn. A man broke into the house with a revolver and cloth bag, demanding money. When Samuel Allen walked into the room, the intruder shot him twice.
"I know how my life changed in an instant, when that guy broke into my house, and the horrible effect that spread," Allen told WMAR-2 News this November.
READ MORE: Baltimore County breakthrough gives daughter answers in father's 1981 murder
The case went unsolved for decades until Allen asked police to re-examine it in 2023. DNA testing of evidence led investigators to Alan Bass, who is already serving five life sentences in Delaware on rape charges.
If Alan Bass' Delaware sentence ever changes, Baltimore County police are ready to charge him with Samuel Allen's murder.
Allen said she wants the same closure for other families waiting for answers in their loved ones' murder.
"I would like to earmark it for, 'can you do it for cold cases in the DNA?' Because that's a gotcha, you know, we can place you at the scene at that time," Allen said.
The donation first goes to Baltimore County, then to the police department specifically 'to fund outsourcing of homicide cold case DNA testing and analysis,' according to a document which passed through the Baltimore County Council.
"It would be nice if somebody from the police department would say, 'hey, this case that you're going to read about, some of the money that you donated went to that.' But I don't need to hear about it. I just figure, if it helps somebody," Allen said.
She also hopes her story sends a message to potential criminals that no murder is ever truly lost to time.
"And hey, before you get to the point of hurting somebody, you might realize, darn, 40 years from now and longer, somebody can catch up with you," Allen said.
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