Phoenix man arrested and booked in 42-year-old Kansas cold case killing, KBI says

A 75-year-old Phoenix man arrested in his hometown in January was booked Wednesday morning in Reno County Jail on suspicion of murder in a 1982 murder, Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Melissa Underwood said.

Jerry Allen was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of 43-year-old Michael McKeown. The Hutchinson man was found fatally shot on March 24, 1982.

“Investigators believe he was shot and killed the prior night in his car, while it was parked in the lot outside of his apartment at 320 E. Sherman St., in Hutchinson,” Underwood said in a news release. “In the last year, KBI agents conducted several key interviews in three states, which provided the additional evidence needed to proceed with charges in this cold case. This investigation is ongoing.”

Allen has a first appearance in court Friday afternoon.

Underwood, in an email, said “DNA evidence didn’t play a major role in solving in this case.”

Michael A. McKeown was a painter, according to a March 27, 1982, death notice in The Wichita Eagle-Beacon. The notice said he was survived by a wife and two sons, all of Hutchinson, and a father who lived in Ohio.

This story was originally published March 6, 2024 at 11:43 AM.