In the late summer of 2008, the life of Allen Austin, a 37-year-old Black / African American male, was tragically cut short in the parking lot of a Comfort Inn on Banksville Road in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The initial investigation into the August shooting left police with little to go on, a key piece of evidence being a baseball cap found at the scene.
For over two years, the case remained a frustrating puzzle for detectives seeking justice for Austin's death.
A break in the case finally came in December 2010. A man named Tyrone Swan, then 21 years old, was arrested on an unrelated DUI charge. As per standard procedure, his DNA was collected and entered into a national database. This routine process yielded a significant hit: Swan's DNA matched the genetic material recovered from the baseball cap left behind at the scene of Allen Austin's homicide. This crucial forensic link, combined with the account of an eyewitness who also identified Swan, provided investigators with the evidence they needed to move forward.
Following his arrest, Tyrone Swan faced legal proceedings for his involvement in the death of Allen Austin. The case went to a non-jury trial where a judge ultimately rendered the verdict. Swan was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Allen Austin and aggravated assault for the wounding of another man, Robert Finley, who was also injured during the altercation. The judge, in delivering the sentence, noted that the evidence suggested the victims had initiated the conflict. Swan was sentenced to a term of five to ten years in prison for his role in the incident. He was later on parole for this conviction when he faced subsequent, unrelated federal drug charges.
