An Illinois teenager, merely 15 years old, who was previously spotted in a bizarre clown outfit going from door to door, now faces a grave charge of first-degree murder following the fatal stabbing of an elderly neighbor.
Late Monday, just after 10 p.m., reports of a body found on an East St. Louis roadway prompted a response from the Illinois State Police.
On the following day, Tuesday, the authorities apprehended a 15-year-old suspect, whose name remains undisclosed, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the homicide.
By Thursday, state police announced the formal filing of first-degree murder charges against the young suspect.
The St. Clair County Coroner identified the deceased as 78-year-old John Wesley Allen Sr.
Illinois State Police said Allen Sr was waiting at a bus stop when he was randomly attacked by the 15-year-old dressed in a clown outfit.
Special agents soon arrived, identified the teenager as the suspect and located him at a nearby residence before taking him into custody. He remains behind bars as of Thursday evening.
Terrifying doorbell camera video showed the wide-eyed masked teenager dressed like a clown going door-to-door in the neighborhood before the fatal stabbing.
This 15-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder after he was caught staring into a local Ring camera, which was shared on Facebook by Lora Palmer
The teenager was taken into custody on Tuesday by the Illinois State Police as part of a homicide investigation. His alleged victim was identified as John Wesley Allen Sr, 78,
In the doorbell camera video, the masked suspect approached the camera and seemed to quietly utter, ‘I’ve been looking for you’
The footage was shared by East St Louis resident Lora Palmer, who said the camera belonged to her mom.
In a hushed tone, the masked suspect appeared to whisper either ‘I have a gift for you’ or ‘I’ve been looking for you.’
Illinois State Police said that ‘video footage of the suspect dressed in a clown costume has been circulating’ and that they were working to ‘collect all relevant video.’
After the arrest, law enforcement said there was no threat remaining to the public.
Allen was pronounced dead at the scene just before 11.30pm.
Lee Palmer told FirstAlert4 that his mother was home alone when the teenager in the clown attire appeared on the front porch.
The teen stayed on their property for minutes before going behind the house, which caused Palmer to become deeply concerned.
‘He’s going to kill everybody in the house,’ Palmer told FirstAlert4. ‘Why out of all the houses, why come to this house?’
The footage was captured on Lora Palmer’s Ring camera. Her son, Lee, said Lora was home alone when the masked teenager appeared
Palmer said his chief concern was that the teen could be armed and hurt his mother.
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ he said. ‘That was kind of spooky for her.’
Palmer added that the best thing he could do was ‘keep being safe’ and urged his neighbors to get a Ring camera.
He said the teen was ‘not in the right state of mind to walk on somebody’s porch like that.’
‘It’s just unimaginable,’ Palmer told NBC News.
The distance from where the Ring camera footage was captured in the 8200 block of Carol Drive and the intersection where Allen was found is about a 10-minute walk.
A separate neighbor, Corrine Spry, said she was on the back porch with her family when she spotted the attacker twirling a knife.
‘He was up to no good,’ Spry told the outlet. ‘We’re pretty positive he circled back around in these woods, because you could hear the sticks breaking.’
The East St Louis Police Department originally responded to a body, later identified as John Wesley Allen Sr, 78, at the the intersection of North 76th Street and State Street on Monday
Spry said the teen roamed the area for roughly 45 minutes before law enforcement arrived.
She feared that he could have attacked anyone in her neighborhood.