In the summer of 1974, a deeply unsettling crime shattered the peace of an Indianapolis neighborhood. Opal Cooper, an 85-year-old woman, was brutally beaten to death in the security of her own home. The motive for this horrific act was a robbery. The violence inflicted upon her sent ripples of fear throughout the community, leaving many to wonder about the safety of their elderly residents.
The investigation into the murder of Opal Cooper led to the arrest of Howard Arthur Allen.
He was subsequently charged in connection with her death. However, the legal proceedings resulted in a conviction on a reduced charge of manslaughter, not murder. For this crime, Allen was sentenced to a term of 2 to 21 years in prison.
After serving a portion of his sentence, Howard Arthur Allen was paroled in January of 1985 and returned to Indianapolis. His release would prove to have devastating consequences for the city's elderly population. In 1987, Allen embarked on a violent crime spree, committing a series of assaults, burglaries, and another murder. This new wave of terror ultimately led to his recapture and a more severe legal reckoning. For his later crimes, Howard Arthur Allen was sentenced to death, a sentence that was subsequently commuted years later. He died in prison in 2020.
