Streetsboro police are seeking help in solving a 35-year-old homicide.
James L. Allen was found beaten and stabbed to death inside the former Portage News adult bookstore on Nov. 20, 1981. He was 44.
Police posted a photo of Allen, who worked as a clerk at the store, and some details about the case on its Facebook page Sunday hoping to shake free some information.
“Nothing solid has ever developed,” detective Brian Shaffer said Monday about potential leads.
Money was missing from the register and coins were taken from video machines, but it’s unknown whether robbery was the motive for the slaying.
Allen’s car, a restored 1965 Pontiac LeMans, also was stolen but was later recovered about a mile away.
“Was it a robbery gone bad or was it something bad made to look like a robbery?” Shaffer asked.
“We just don’t have a lot of homicides,” he added. “This was a big deal back in ‘81. We have boxes and boxes of records ... The guys back then put all they had into it and nothing has panned out.”
The Portage News, which was located on state Route 14 and was next door to a bar, had been open for less than a year when the murder took place and had faced significant opposition in the Portage County community.
Allen, who lived in Streetsboro, started working at the store after he was laid off as a machine operator at the Ford plant in Walton Hills.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Streetsboro police at 330-626-4976.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .