News

'Person of interest' caught in Florida

Brendan James Allen

By Bill Moss, Published: December 8, 2014

A 28-year-old man wanted for questioning in connection with the death of a 52-year-old woman in the Stoney Mountain community was taken into custody by authorities in Florida shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, the Henderson County sheriff's department said.

Deputies responding to a call at 441 North Harper Drive at 11:36 a.m. on Sunday found Margaret Kelly dead at the house, the sheriff's office said. Deputies were called to the residence after a relative found Kelly's body and called 911. While the exact cause of death won't be known until an autopsy is finished, a person of interest in the investigation has been identified, the sheriff's offcie said.

The victim's daughter told emergency dispatchers in a 911 call that she came home to find her mother's body covered in blood.

“She’s collapsed on the couch, there’s blood everywhere, I don’t know what to do," the woman said in a 911 call the sheriff's office released on Monday morning. "She’s not responding. My 28-year-old brother was living here with us, and I don’t know where he is.”

When the dispatcher asked whether the EMTs would be able to use CPR to revive her, she indicated that her mother was unresponsive.

“Her eyes are open and she’s not breathing,” she said.

The victim's daughter told the dispatcher that her brother had been living with her and her mother for a few weeks. He was not from this area, she told the dispatcher. “He’s been staying with us for a few months," she said.

Investigators identified Brendan James Allen, who was living at the house, as a "person of interest" in the case. Allen was believed to have fled in Kelly's silver 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid sedan with North Carolina tag ALB-2314. Anyone with information concerning the investigation was asked to  call the Henderson County Sheriff's Office at 828-697-4911 or 828-694-2796.