$30K gift fuels Baltimore cold case breakthroughs after daughter’s emotional tribute
Baltimore, MD – On Wednesday, Ann Allen handed a $30,000 check to the Baltimore County Police Department, a deeply personal gesture driven by decades of unanswered questions and one recent breakthrough that changed everything.
The donation is intended to fund advanced DNA testing and forensic analysis on unsolved homicides, with the hope of unearthing long-buried evidence that could finally bring closure to grieving families. Allen’s motivation is rooted in her own experience: in September, investigators identified the suspect in her father’s decades-old murder, a revelation that came after years of uncertainty.
Allen’s father was killed in a case that remained unsolved for years before modern DNA testing led police to a suspect. That success story inspired Allen to invest in giving other families the same opportunity. Her donation is earmarked for cases that hinge on new forensic technologies — tools not available during the original investigations.
Baltimore County Police say they are already in the process of reviewing several cold cases that may benefit from the donation, including files involving degraded or limited DNA samples that had previously stalled investigations. Officials believe the funding could accelerate long-delayed testing at private labs capable of deeper analysis than traditional in-house crime labs.
The department did not specify which cases may be prioritized first but confirmed that the funds would be used exclusively to support cold case homicide investigations, particularly those that might be solvable through genetic genealogy, familial DNA tracing, or high-resolution sequencing.
Allen declined media interviews on Wednesday, but a spokesperson for the department described her donation as a powerful gesture that could spark a wave of new leads across multiple cases.
Police say that even a single new match could crack open dormant cases, especially those where physical evidence had been preserved but underutilized due to previous budget limitations or technological barriers.
Baltimore County currently lists dozens of open homicide cases, some dating back more than 30 years. The hope is that targeted reinvestment in these cases, driven by private funding, could push them toward resolution.
The $30,000 will not be used for general department expenses, recruitment, or operations outside of forensic testing.
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Key Points
- Ann Allen donated $30,000 to Baltimore County Police to fund DNA testing in cold case homicides
- Her father’s murder case was recently solved through modern DNA analysis
- The funds will be used exclusively for forensic testing in unsolved murder cases