On a Sunday afternoon in Cochran, Georgia, eighteen-year-old Teresa Carol Allen began her part-time shift at the Majik Market. It was December 12, 1976. Later that evening, the convenience store was discovered empty, its cash register and safe open and cleared of $466. Teresa and her late-model Pontiac Grand Prix were also missing. A sense of dread settled over the community as the search for the young woman began.
Two days later, the search came to a tragic end when Teresa Allen's body
was found in a wooded area off a dirt road in Monroe County. An examination revealed she had been shot, and the cause of death was determined to be a loss of blood from the bullet wounds. The scene told a grim story of her final moments, with evidence suggesting a violent struggle.
The investigation into the abduction and murder of Teresa Allen led to the arrests of two men, Roosevelt Green, Jr. and Carzell Moore. They were subsequently indicted for her rape and murder. The two men were tried separately for the crimes. Carzell Moore was convicted of both rape and murder and received two death sentences. Roosevelt Green, Jr. was also convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
The legal proceedings that followed spanned several years and involved numerous appeals. A significant point of contention in Green's case was the exclusion of testimony from a man named Thomas Pasby, who claimed Moore had confessed to him that he alone had shot and killed Teresa Allen. This issue was argued up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which at one point vacated Green's initial death sentence. Despite these efforts, Roosevelt Green, Jr. was ultimately executed by electrocution on January 9, 1985, for his role in the murder of Teresa Allen.
