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Murder suspect delays extradition By MARK FREEMAN A former Medford man arrested on a murder charge Wednesday in California is fighting his forced return to Medford, where he allegedly raped and strangled to death a teenage girl 20 years ago. Appearing in a San Francisco Bay area courtroom, William Henry Allen Jr., 36, refused to waive his extradition rights that would have returned him immediately to Medford, where he is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Evelyn Marie Smith. "Our detectives are coming back alone," Medford police Lt. Tim George said. "But we'll make another trip when it's time." Smith's nude body, covered with cuts and abrasions, was found April 26, 1981, beneath the grandstand at what is now Spiegelberg Stadium on the South Medford High School campus. An autopsy determined that she had been strangled, possibly with a rigid object. Allen was a Medford resident at the time, and police said he was a "person of interest" since shortly after the murder but was never charged or publicly identified as a suspect. A new DNA identification technique last fall matched DNA collected from Allen's blood drawn in 1992 and "biological evidence" collected during the investigation, police said. That led to Allen's indictment April 2, and he was arrested early Wednesday in the Bay area as he went to work at a steel foundry. When he is returned to Oregon, Allen can expect to be arraigned on two murder charges, each of which addresses separate theories about how Smith died, said Beth Heckert, the chief deputy district attorney in Jackson County and the prosecutor in the case. One count alleges that Allen murdered Smith, while the second alleges that the murder took place during the course of a rape, Heckert said. Prosecutors also plan to try Allen as an adult, Heckert said. Despite being 16 at the time of the murder, Oregon law allows for accused murders to be tried as adults at that age - both now and in 1981, she said. Allen remained Thursday night in the Contra Costa County Jail. In fighting extradition, Allen's only claim can be that he is not the man named in the indictment. Allen's refusal to acknowledge his identity and open the doors for his return to Medford is simply just "a matter of delaying the process," Heckert said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.