A teenage boy wearing a clown costume looked into a Ring doorbell camera and whispered, 'I'm looking for you,' before letting out an eerie chuckle and wandering off into the night. This chilling moment was captured on video, but it was no horror movie—it was the actions of a 15-year-old homicide suspect from Illinois.
Dressed in a baggy red and black clown suit with his face partially covered, the youngster has been accused of stabbing a man to death. East St Louis Police were called to a residential neighbourhood east of Interstate 255 at around 10pm on Monday after being informed there was a body in the road.
Victim identified
County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the deceased as 78-year-old John Wesley Allen Sr., who had been stabbed multiple times. Allen had been waiting at a bus stop when he was 'randomly' attacked, according to Illinois State Police, who later arrested the teenager in connection with the incident.
Less than an hour before Allen's body was found, the boy was captured on doorbell cameras outside a home three blocks from the murder scene. Residents described seeing someone moving between houses with a large knife in hand, with CNN affiliate KSDK reporting that he was 'peering through windows'.
Witness account
Local man Lee Palmer's Ring camera recorded footage of the boy, and he told KSDK upon watching it: 'I'm thinking he's going to kill everybody in the house the way he came.' Palmer added that he was relieved his elderly mother, who lives alone, didn't open her door.
The teen, who has not been named publicly, was arrested at a home and taken into custody later that night. He faces a first-degree murder charge in the fatal stabbing, which carries a life sentence. Prosecutors have also requested that the case be transferred so the suspect can be tried as an adult. A decision has not been made.
Family tribute
Allen's family has since paid tribute to him, with his niece, Tenia Stanford, calling him a 'loving man' and saying: 'My uncle has been driving buses [for] over 35 years, and this is the first time ever something happened to him.' His sister, Marie Stanford, added: 'He's the best brother that someone took away. I'm going to miss him.'
Allen was also a Navy veteran. He resided in a senior living complex in St Louis and had attended a hospital appointment the morning of his death. He planned to visit his sister later on; she lived near the bus stop where he was fatally attacked. 'I'm just wondering why this person did this,' added Marie, with Tenia saying: 'Now we have to sit here and go through this pain and suffering because of some random act.'
