Alabama's Oldest Cold Case Unsolved Despite DNA Left At the Crime Scene Leading To A Suspect.

Sandra Elaine Cassady Williams was born on October 24th, 1960, to Virginia West. She was kind, loving and sweet. She had brown hair, beautiful green eyes and a pretty smile. Her favorite colors were yellow and white.

In 1980, Sandra was 19 years old and worked at Tammy’s Fitness Center. She was last seen alive at her residence, number 208 at the Summer Tree apartments in Mobile, Alabama.

On September 11th, at 9 a.m., Sandra's body was found on what was a dead-end road at the time, in the 2000 block of Clemente Court, eight miles from her apartment. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and stabbed. 

Back at Sandra's residence, there was no sign of struggle, although the door had been left ajar. Nothing seemed to have been taken either. Also, Sandra's car was at her apartment parked in its usual spot.

Sandra's mother had went to visit her at 1. (Now i am not sure what day it was she went for a visit and if it was a.m. or p.m.) The mother said that Sandra's car was at the apartment, along with her lab coat, wallet and purse, but Sandra was no where to be found.

Sandra's case went cold and stayed that way for 36 years, until in 2017 cold case Detective Rusty Hardeman started digging. DNA evidence in the case was retested using technology that was not available at the time Sandra was killed. And eventually, results from the test came back with a match.

And on September 10th, 2019, after a secret indictment by a grand jury, Alvin Ray Allen was arrested for the brutal sexual assault and murder of Sandra. 

A tense, two hour stand-off occurred at Allen's green house on Cheshire Drive in the Morningside Manor subdivision when detectives arrived on his doorstep with a warrant. Alvin slammed the door in detectives' faces and then barricaded himself and his wife inside, refusing to come out. Eventually, officers convinced Alvin to let his wife out. Later, Swat breached the door and took Alvin into custody.

Due to a mistake that had been made during the bail process, Alvin was released just three hours after his arrest. A corrections officer failed to see the $10,000 cash component of his $100,000 bail. Alvin was re-arrested the next day without incident.

The next day, Alvin went to court and pled not guilty to Sandra's murder. He then released for a second time. This time he was released without error. The judge put him on electronic monitoring and no contact with the victim’s family. He could only go to his house, the three rental properties he owns and his church. Otherwise, he was on house arrest. The trial was set for April 13th, 2020.

At 10:30 a.m. March 7th, 2020, at Mobile Catholic Cemetery at 1700 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, Sandra's family celebrated her life with the release of yellow and white balloons over her grave.

Two days later, on March 9th, Alvin went on trial for Sandra's murder. The trial ended in a hung jury. 

In February of 2021, Sandra's family said they feel like they've been blind-sided after learning there won't be a second trial due to the fact that Alvin supposedly was taking a plea deal. He apparently was going to get credit for time served under house arrest on ankle monitor and get five years probation under a plea deal.

"The person that murdered her doesn't have any right to live and breathe and have a good life when she is 6 foot under." ~Sandra's mother, Virgina.