Zelma Louise Allen:1972, Akron, Ohio

    


   Zelma Louise Allen was born on the 28th of April in 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. She and her family moved to Akron, Ohio when she was still a preschooler. She grew up there in that industrial town. Her family lived at 154 Tarbell Street. 


The home is now abandoned. 

   She was a 17 year old junior at Central Hower High School in 1972. Zelma worked part time at City Garage at North Union Street. She had a son named Orlando to support. So, she was doing her best to finish school and make her way in the world.


   Zelma disappeared on August 4th, 1972. I am just guessing based on the map but perhaps she was walking to or from work at City Garage on North Union. It’s not terribly far from her home on Tarbell. 


  (On Find-a-Grave it says that she was walking to work and using a shortcut that went past the back of Beech Street. She never made it to work and was reported missing on August 5th,1972.)


  Zelma was found two years after she went missing behind Number 10 Beech Street. It is located between her home and work. She was so close to home. 

Tarbell Street is in the upper left here.


  Almost nothing was written about her disappearance at the time. Racism and victim blaming makes cold cases much harder to solve. Thankfully, the person who wrote her obituary and made sure it was published in the paper provided all these addresses and key information. 


  Zelma was so close to home the entire time she was missing. She was in the city behind a business. No one saw her? No one noticed the smell of decay and was curious enough to check it out? I guess so. 

10 Beech Street

The area immediately behind 10 Beech.

Behind 10 Beech showing the street. 



   The business at 10 Beech Street was called Ace Rubber Products. Perhaps it already had a strong odor of rubber or tires and no one noticed. Some cities like Akron can have a lot of industrial pollution smells. I imagine in the 1970’s it was way worse than today. Pollution by industry became out of control in the 1970’s as nothing was regulated then. Rivers actually caught fire then. People expected corporations to act responsibly and with the health of the people in the surrounding areas in mind but they did not. We had to pass laws and give the Environmental Protection Agency the ability to inspect and investigate and prosecute these corporations. 


   Today the area behind the building at 10 Beech St. is overgrown and wooded. It may have been that way then or maybe there were piles of tires or other materials there then. I didn’t find any reporting of the circumstances of the discovery of Zelma’s remains. 


   Was she sexually assaulted? Were any of Zelma’s clothes preserved in evidence? A lot of clothes in the early 70’s were polyester. It wouldn’t break down as fast as cotton. If her clothes were saved there is a possibility, however slim, that DNA evidence could be there. Her fingernails might also have held the DNA of her killer. 


   Her mother and stepfather, Cora Lee and Alvin Elliott and her sister, Cassandra E. Allen were left behind to grieve and to take care of little Orlando. He should have had his mother with him as he grew up. She should still be here with us today.


   Zelma Louise Allen is buried at Mt. Peace Cemetery on North Aqueduct Street. It’s very close to her former home on Tarbell Street. 


   If you have information that can help investigators solve this cold case please submit a tip here: 

https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Cold-Case/Homicides/Allen-3

 

    Her case on the Ohio Unsolved website has many inaccuracies and no photo. I found my information by searching old online news archives. 



    Rest in Peace Zelma. 


   



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