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Trial begins in 1981 murder of 17-year-old girl The defense lawyer says William Allen Jr. was with the victim shortly before she died but didn't kill her By DANI DODGE Mail Tribune William Henry Allen Jr. was out cruising for girls in downtown Medford on a rainy Saturday night in 1981 when he first spotted Evelyn Marie Smith. They drank whiskey mixed with 7-up and made out on the baseball diamond of what was then Medford Mid High School, but is now South Medford High School. The next day, Evelyn's nude body was found in a tunnel leading to the school's locker rooms. She had been strangled. And now, nearly 21 years later, Allen is on trial for her murder. In his opening statement, Allen's attorney David Orf said Allen will testify that he left the 17-year-old Smith at the baseball field very much alive. "They talked about going to a party," Orf said. "But it was late. He said he was going home. "His testimony will be he did not see Evelyn after he left her." Allen was arrested on April 26, 20 years after Evelyn's murder. He is charged with three counts of murder - each outlining different circumstances in Evelyn's death. Conviction on any one of the counts could mean a life sentence for Allen, 37, who was living in California and working as a steelworker at the time of his arrest. Allen was 16 when Evelyn was killed. He was a suspect in the murder from the beginning, but detectives never had enough evidence to arrest him. New technology allowed detectives to match sperm found in Evelyn's body to Allen last year. At the time of her death, Allen had denied having sex with Evelyn. "When asked if he had sexual intercourse with her, he adamantly denied it," said Deputy District Attorney Beth Heckert. But Orf said Allen will testify that he was intimate with Evelyn in the baseball dugout before he left for home the night of April 26. Orf said Allen's mother will testify her son arrived home while she was watching the 11 o'clock news. Much of the testimony in the trial will focus on the time of Evelyn's death. Heckert said testimony will show that the partially digested food in her stomach pins her time of death to two to four hours after she had a meal at a friend's house that evening. But Orf said the evidence will show that Evelyn ate an additional meal after that night's dinner. And other evidence will show she could have died as late as 4 a.m. Sunday, Orf said. He also said there was no evidence that Evelyn fought off an attacker. "Her nails were short and painted pink and not chipped or torn in any way," he said. Heckert said a witness heard a scream from the stadium about 11:30 p.m. Tests matching the sperm cells found in Evelyn's body to Allen put the odds at 1 in 26 billion among Caucasian males that he was the one who had sex with her that night. "When you hear all the evidence I think you will agree, Mr. Allen is guilty of all the crimes he is charged with," she told the jury of 12 and one alternate. The first two witnesses to testify Tuesday were Richard McReynolds, the Mid High science teacher and football coach who found Evelyn's body, and former Medford detective Charles Millard, who was the chief investigator on the murder 21 years ago. McReynolds said that on that Sunday he went to the baseball fields to practice with his 11-year-old son. He was going through a tunnel leading from the field to an office where he had equipment stored. "When I turned to swing the door open, I saw the body," McReynolds said. "My quote was to my son, 'Get the hell out of here.' " Millard, who retired from Medford's police force in 1989, said he talked to Allen several times after finding Evelyn's body. "He said he'd been with a girl by the name of Evelyn or Evie, but he didn't know her last name," Millard said. "They had been at the baseball field a couple hours and he left at 12:30 or 1 o'clock." Millard testified that officers showed Allen a photograph of Evelyn and he said "Yes, that's who I was with." But on cross examination, Millard said police found hair, a footprint, a palm print, and fingerprints at the murder scene. Orf asked: "Were any of those items linked to Mr. Allen?" Millard replied: "Not to my knowledge." Millard said the investigation included other potential suspects and many people's fingerprints were sent to the FBI to test for a match. But when Millard asked 16-year-old Allen where they might find his fingerprints on the victim, "he said around her neck because they were hugging and kissing." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.