Two years later McKelton, “executed his own friend to keep him being questioned by the police,” said Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Lance Salyers. The body of that friend, Germaine Lamar Evans Sr., was dumped in the wooded area of Inwood Park in Cincinnati and left to freeze before it was found by metal scrappers. Evans suffered one gunshot to the back of the head, Salyers said.
McKelton is not the triggerman in Evans' shooting, but Salyers said “it was done at his direction, at his design to accomplish his goal.” Salyers also said Evans saw McKelton strangle Allen and helped dump her body.
Prosecutors say Allen couldn’t make a living after breaking her ankle and financial troubles began to mount.
She became “vulnerable to the stacks of cash” McKelton, described by Allen and others as a “robber boy” who stole from drug dealers, gave her.
“She couldn’t do anything without him,” Salyers said, noting she couldn’t work, couldn’t walk and couldn’t drive.
Despite her condition, Salyers said McKelton, who had at least two other girlfriends at the time, told Allen he wanted to have a child with her. The attorney told friends she did not want a child, according to Salyers.
But in June 2008, Allen learned she was pregnant. A month later, problems in the pregnancy led to a termination for medical reasons. Days later, Allen was dead.
But defense attorney Greg Howard told the jury McKelton has an alibi for both killings and they involve his other girlfriends.
Howard said McKelton had overlapping relationships with several women in 2008. “The women knew about the other women. They didn’t like it, but they knew about it,” he said.
On July 25, 2008, the night Allen was killed, McKelton was with longtime girlfriend Audrey Dumas, noting they went to a festival.
On the night Evans was fatally shot, McKelton was with Evans’ sister Crystal from 9 p.m. to about 6 a.m. the next morning, Howard said.
The defense attorney also pointed out evidence will show there was no DNA from McKelton or Evans on Allen’s body or in the trunk of the car prosecutors said was used to transport her body to a dump site.
McKelton is charged with felonious assault, murder, aggravated arson, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, domestic violence in connection with Allen’s death and breaking her ankle; aggravated murder for the slaying of Evans and intimidation of a witness for comments he allegedly made to Evans’ mother.
Nieces recount abusive behavior by victim’s boyfriend
Nieces of slaying victim Margaret “Missy” Allen said they witnessed violent acts against their aunt at the hands of Calvin McKelton, who often stayed at her Fairfield home.
The prosecution began laying out the capital murder case against McKelton with a May 4, 2008, incident in which her younger niece called 911 during an attack that broke Allen’s ankle.
McKelton is on trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court for allegedly killing Allen, a Fairfield attorney, and a friend who was a witness against him.
While Allen was being treated at Mercy Hospital in Fairfield, she told police and family that she tripped over a bicycle or chair in the garage during an argument with McKelton, according to witnesses called to the stand. Witnesses also said she told several other versions of fracturing her leg, including falling down a step in the garage.
But Allen’s 15-year-old niece, who lived with her, told jurors the commotion she heard that night frightened her enough to call 911.
“I thought I heard laughing; when I went downstairs, I heard Missy screaming,” said the girl on the stand, who covered the right side of her face shielding McKelton from her view.
“I didn’t go out there (to the garage) because I thought I might get hurt.” Instead, she picked up the phone and called 911.
In that call, played for the jury, the girl said, “I heard screaming, he left in the car and I don’t know if she is dead in the garage.”
When police arrived, the house was empty. Allen and McKelton were at the hospital. McKelton later returned to the house and the girl said she hid behind the kitchen counter island near a police officer.
“He looked mad,” she said. The girl, who was 11 at the time of the incident, sobbed as she looked at a photo of Allen holding a Mother’s Day card she had made for her in 2008. Allen smiled holding up the card, her broken leg covered with a crocheted throw.
Teri Smith, Allen’s 19-year-old niece who also resided at the Fairfield home, said she witnessed domestic violence between McKelton and Allen. Smith held her hands to her throat as she testified that she saw McKelton choking Allen at the house a few months before the slaying.
“My Aunt Missy said don’t say nothing, don’t discuss what goes on in my house,” Smith said, noting she didn’t tell the truth about the abuse she had witnessed when Butler County Children Services workers came to investigate the circumstances surrounding Allen’s’ broken ankle and her young cousin’s call for help.
McKelton's trial continues today.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.
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