Samuel Allen was known in his Lochearn neighborhood as “Mr. Fix-It”

A devoted husband, father, colleague and neighbor, the 59-year-old Baltimore County resident was abruptly shot and killed by an unknown intruder 44 years ago — a murder that remained unsolved until now.

County police announced during a press conference Friday that they had identified 75-year-old Alan Bass as Allen’s killer, using DNA evidence collected at the scene.

Bass is serving five consecutive life sentences in a Delaware prison after being convicted of multiple rape, robbery and kidnapping charges in 1983, police said.

“I hope today’s announcement brings you some peace of mind,” Chief Robert McCullough told Allen’s daughter, Ann, who thanked him profusely.

A 1981 article from The Baltimore Sun described Allen’s murder as a “senseless” crime that “could have happened to anybody, anywhere.”

Ann Allen, 74, recalled watching in horror as her father’s attempt to defend his family from a gunman resulted in his death.

The World War II veteran bled out on the kitchen floor in the Allens’ home on Liberty Road while the killer demanded money from Ann and her mother, Elizabeth “Betty” Allen, who died in 2020.

The assailant forced Ann Allen outside the home and made her drive him in the family’s Chevy pickup, which stalled, scaring the killer and prompting him to flee, she explained.

“You know, I finally figure this guy [Bass] is somewhere where he is extremely limited in his capacity to ever hurt anybody again,” Ann Allen said. “And that was my biggest concern, was I don’t want him to hurt anyone else.”

Bass’ attorneys appealed to overturn his 1983 convictions a few years ago, but were denied.

Cracking the cold case

Baltimore County Police Cpl. Dona Carter said Ann Allen reached out to the department’s homicide unit to follow up on her father’s case in 2023.

From there, detectives in the “Unsolved Case Squad” tested a bag collected at the scene that contained the gunman’s white T-shirt inside it for DNA.

They found a match for Bass.

If Bass were ever released from prison in Delaware, Carter said, there is an open warrant for his arrest in Maryland.

“I believe this is one of the proudest moments I’ve experienced as county executive,” said Kathy Klausmeier, Baltimore County’s top official.

In addition to Klausmeier, County Councilman Izzy Patoka, State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger and Doug Anderson, a senior council assistant for Councilman Todd Crandell, attended Friday’s press conference.

Each commended the department for its efforts and extended condolences to Ann Allen.

She said that she is donating $30,000 that she inherited from her mother to the cold case unit.

“I don’t know how much that will help, but for heavenly day’s sake, if this can give somebody else the closure that I got, it’s going to be worth every penny,” Ann Allen said.

Who was Sam Allen?

Samuel Stewart Allen was remembered as a quiet, devoted man.

The Baltimore Electric & Gas Company pipe fitter and welder was 10 months shy of retirement when he was killed.

In addition to installing industrial meters, the longtime BGE employee was also a mentor to the younger employees he trained, his daughter said.

The Harford County native served in the Pacific as a “Seabee,” the nickname given to the “Construction Battalion” (CBs) branch of the U.S. Navy established in 1942, The Sun reported in 1981.

Ann Allen remembers her father not for the cruel Sunday evening in August when she lost him, but for his generosity and practicality.

“He was all for it, before there was ever women’s liberation,” she said.

Allen encouraged his daughter to be independent — teaching her how to run copper water pipes, cut steel, and shoot tin cans and beer bottles with a 20-gauge Mossberg shotgun that he got her for her 12th birthday. He also insisted on his daughter’s college education.

After his death, Ann Allen found ways to help other trauma survivors as a 27-year volunteer with Carroll County’s rape crisis center.

“Becoming a counselor was a good thing to do,” she said. “I helped a lot of people, like me, find a path and survive this.”