Ronald Keith Allridge: Fort Worth Serial Killer and Armed Robber
Ronald Keith Allridge was an American murderer and serial offender whose violent history stretched from a fatal high-school shooting in 1976 to a series of robberies and killings in Fort Worth, Texas, during the first months of 1985. Allridge personally killed at least three people and was an accomplice in a fourth homicide committed by his younger brother, James Vernon Allridge III. His crimes were dominated by firearms, robbery, and sudden violence against people who posed little or no physical threat to him.
The 1985 crimes were part of a concentrated robbery spree targeting restaurants, convenience stores, and other businesses around Fort Worth. Ronald and James Allridge sometimes operated with brothers Clarence and Milton Jarmon. Evidence introduced during Ronald's capital-murder proceedings showed that he admitted participating in numerous armed robberies. The spree ended after the March 25, 1985, murder of Carla McMillen Otto at a Whataburger, where a witness recognized Ronald and provided investigators with the identification that led to his arrest.
Early Life and the 1976 School Murder
Ronald Keith Allridge was born on September 27, 1960, in West Germany, where his father was stationed with the United States military. His family later returned to the United States and settled in Fort Worth. Ronald attended O.D. Wyatt High School, where acquaintances remembered him as comparatively quiet. By the age of 15, however, he had begun displaying increasingly dangerous behavior involving firearms.
In March 1976, Allridge stole several watches, three guns, and ammunition from a Montgomery Ward store. He subsequently brought one of the stolen weapons to school and reportedly showed it to other students while talking about shooting someone. The threats became reality on April 12, 1976.
At O.D. Wyatt High School in Fort Worth, Allridge confronted 15-year-old Lorenzo Kneeland near a boys' restroom. In front of other students, Allridge fired several shots, fatally wounding Kneeland. Another 15-year-old student, James Christian, was also struck by gunfire but survived. Accounts of the motive varied, with reports describing earlier disagreements between Allridge and Kneeland, but no single explanation was conclusively established.
Police arrested Allridge after the shooting while he was walking along Old Mansfield Highway with the firearm still in his possession. During the juvenile proceedings that followed, conflicting testimony was presented concerning his mental condition. He was eventually certified to be prosecuted as an adult. In 1977, Allridge pleaded guilty to murder and received a 10-year prison sentence.
Allridge did not serve the full sentence. Texas prison records show that he was discharged in June 1983. After returning to Fort Worth, he obtained employment, including work in the restaurant business. Within less than two years of his release, however, he was involved in an escalating series of armed robberies that would leave several more people dead.
The Beginning of the 1985 Robbery Spree
By early 1985, Ronald Allridge and his younger brother James were committing robberies around Fort Worth. They targeted businesses where employees could be isolated late at night, particularly restaurants and convenience stores. Ronald's later statement to authorities connected him to numerous robberies, and evidence of thirteen armed robberies was discussed during the punishment phase of his capital-murder trial.
The robberies included attacks on restaurants, food stores, and convenience businesses. Some were committed by Ronald alone or with James, while others involved Clarence and Milton Jarmon. Although most victims of the robberies survived, the group's willingness to use firearms made each encounter potentially lethal.
Murder of Buddy Joe Webster Jr.
On the night of January 13, 1985, 19-year-old Buddy Joe Webster Jr. was working at a Crusty's Pizza restaurant in south Fort Worth. Ronald Allridge was employed there as a delivery driver. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Webster was discovered in the restaurant's back office after having been shot in the head. The cash register had been opened and approximately $300 was missing.
Allridge initially presented himself as the employee who had simply returned from making a pizza delivery and discovered his co-worker dead. Investigators did not immediately have evidence establishing what had happened, and an initial gunshot-residue test on Allridge did not produce evidence sufficient to charge him.
After his arrest later in the year, however, Allridge admitted killing Webster. Contemporary reporting placed Webster's shooting on January 13, although some later summaries have listed January 14. The January 13 date is supported by contemporary accounts describing the late-evening robbery and shooting.
The Circle K Murder of Brian Clendennen
During the night of February 3 into February 4, 1985, Ronald and James Allridge targeted a Circle K convenience store on Sycamore School Road in Fort Worth. James had previously worked at the business and knew both its procedures and the employee working that night, Brian Lee Clendennen.
Ronald drove James to the store. Because the business had already closed, James approached the locked entrance and asked Clendennen for change to make a telephone call. Clendennen recognized him and opened the door. James initially obtained the change and returned to Ronald without carrying out the robbery.
According to evidence later presented in court, Ronald accused his brother of backing out of the plan and sent him back to the store. When Clendennen again opened the door, James produced a .25-caliber pistol, forced his way inside, restrained Clendennen in a storeroom, and took money from the store.
James then shot Clendennen twice in the back of the head. Clendennen was still alive when police found him, but the 21-year-old died from his injuries on February 4, 1985. Ronald did not fire the shots that killed Clendennen, but he had driven James to the Circle K, participated in the robbery plan, waited nearby, and encouraged James to return after the first attempt failed. For that reason, Clendennen is associated with Ronald Allridge's murder spree even though James was the actual gunman.
Escalating Armed Robberies
The brothers continued committing robberies after Clendennen's murder. Evidence introduced during Ronald's later trial described crimes at locations including a Pizza Hut, Jamie's Food Store, the Italy by the Sea restaurant, an International House of Pancakes, and a Quickway store. Some robberies involved only one or two offenders, while others involved both Allridge brothers and the Jarmon brothers.
The offenders frequently displayed pistols or shotguns, ordered employees or customers to surrender money, and used masks or other disguises during some of the crimes. The amounts stolen were generally modest compared with the danger created by the attacks. By March 1985, the pattern had developed into a sustained series of armed robberies throughout Fort Worth.
Murder of Carla McMillen Otto
The crime that finally brought Ronald Allridge's spree to an end occurred shortly after midnight on March 25, 1985, at a Whataburger restaurant on Sycamore School Road in Fort Worth. Carla McMillen Otto, 19, was eating at the restaurant with friends Cary Jacobs and Lisa Jenkins when the armed robbers entered.
Ronald was carrying a shotgun. Other members of the group carried handguns. One robber fired through a glass door as the group entered, while another went behind the counter to take money from the registers. During the robbery, Ronald approached the booth where Otto and her friends were sitting.
Allridge threw a black bag toward Otto and demanded that she put her valuables into it. Before she could comply, he fired the shotgun at close range, striking her in the chest. Otto died at the restaurant. Ronald then continued the robbery, demanding property from the people who had been sitting with her before fleeing with his accomplices.
A restaurant employee recognized Ronald's voice and face because the two had previously worked together at a pizza restaurant. That recognition supplied police with an important lead only hours after the killing. Investigators quickly located Ronald, and he was arrested on March 25, 1985.
Victims
- Lorenzo Kneeland, 15 — April 12, 1976 — O.D. Wyatt High School, Fort Worth, Texas. Kneeland was shot and killed by 15-year-old Ronald Allridge at school. Another student, James Christian, was wounded but survived. Allridge was later prosecuted as an adult and convicted of Kneeland's murder.
- Buddy Joe Webster Jr., 19 — January 13, 1985 — Crusty's Pizza, Fort Worth, Texas. Webster was working at the pizza restaurant when he was shot in the head during a robbery. Ronald initially claimed to have discovered Webster after returning from a delivery but later confessed to killing him. Some later sources have listed January 14, but contemporary reporting places the shooting late on January 13.
- Brian Lee Clendennen, 21 — February 4, 1985 — Circle K convenience store, Sycamore School Road, Fort Worth, Texas. Clendennen was shot by Ronald's brother James during a robbery that began during the night of February 3. Ronald drove James to the store, waited nearby, and encouraged him to return after his first attempt to rob the business failed. Clendennen survived long enough to be found by police but died from the gunshot wounds on February 4. Ronald was an accomplice rather than the shooter.
- Carla McMillen Otto, 19 — March 25, 1985 — Whataburger, Sycamore School Road, Fort Worth, Texas. Otto was eating with friends when Ronald approached her during an armed robbery and demanded her property. He shot her with a shotgun before fleeing with his accomplices. Her murder resulted in the capital-murder conviction for which Ronald was ultimately executed.
Confessions and Investigation
Following Ronald's arrest, detectives were able to connect the Allridge brothers to the wider robbery series. Ronald gave statements admitting involvement in numerous armed robberies, and he confessed to the killing of Buddy Webster. Investigators also recovered evidence connecting James Allridge to Brian Clendennen's murder.
The arrests brought together several crimes that had previously appeared to police as separate robberies. The murders of Webster and Clendennen had both occurred in small businesses during late-night robberies, and the later Whataburger attack provided witnesses who could identify the offenders.
Ronald's history also became important to prosecutors. Unlike many defendants facing their first serious criminal charge, he already had a murder conviction for killing Lorenzo Kneeland as a teenager. The earlier homicide, his rapid return to violent crime after release, and evidence of repeated armed robberies became central to the prosecution's argument that he represented a continuing danger.
Capital Murder Trial
Ronald Allridge was tried in September 1985 for the capital murder of Carla McMillen Otto. Witness testimony placed him inside the Whataburger carrying the shotgun and identified him as the man who confronted and shot Otto.
Allridge maintained that the shooting was accidental. His explanation was that another firearm discharged during the robbery, startling him and causing him to pull the trigger of his shotgun. Firearms evidence and witness testimony were examined extensively during the proceedings. The prosecution maintained that his actions demonstrated an intentional killing committed in the course of robbery.
The jury rejected the defense. Allridge was convicted of capital murder. During the punishment stage, prosecutors presented his previous murder conviction and extensive evidence concerning the series of armed robberies committed during 1985. The jury's findings resulted in a death sentence.
Appeals and Execution
Allridge spent nearly a decade on Texas death row while his attorneys pursued state and federal appeals. Among the issues raised were arguments concerning the evidence used against him and his claim that the shotgun killing of Carla Otto had not been intentional. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and later federal courts upheld the conviction and death sentence.
In December 1994, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of his federal habeas corpus petition. With his remaining appeals unsuccessful, Texas scheduled his execution for June 8, 1995.
Ronald Keith Allridge was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on June 8, 1995. He was 34 years old. His younger brother James remained on death row for the murder of Brian Clendennen and was eventually executed by Texas on August 26, 2004.
Legacy of the Allridge Crimes
Ronald Allridge's criminal history was unusual because his first known killing occurred when he was only 15 years old. After serving a prison sentence for that murder and returning to society, he resumed increasingly serious criminal behavior, culminating in the Fort Worth robbery spree less than two years after his release.
The verified record supports three killings personally committed by Ronald: Lorenzo Kneeland in 1976, Buddy Joe Webster Jr. in January 1985, and Carla McMillen Otto in March 1985. Brian Clendennen's February 1985 murder is also commonly included when describing Ronald's victims because Ronald participated directly in the robbery and encouraged his brother to carry it through, although James Allridge fired the fatal shots.
By the time Ronald was arrested on March 25, 1985, the brothers and their associates had transformed a series of relatively small-scale robberies into a deadly crime spree. The murders of Kneeland, Webster, Clendennen, and Otto illustrate the escalating violence surrounding Ronald Allridge: a teenage school killing followed years later by repeated armed robberies in which employees and customers were killed for relatively small amounts of money. His conviction for Carla Otto's murder ultimately resulted in his execution ten years after the Fort Worth spree ended.
