{"id":31819,"date":"2026-08-08T03:05:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31819"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:05:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:05:32","slug":"78-year-old-man-stabbed-by-teen-in-clown-costume-was-likely-making-surprise-visit-to-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31819","title":{"rendered":"78-year-old man stabbed by teen in clown costume was likely making surprise visit to sister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-173626\" class=\"body-graf\">A 78-year-old man was likely making one of his regular, unannounced visits to his older sister when he tragically crossed paths with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/illinois-teen-in-clown-outfit-charged-with-murder-of-78-year-old-man-rcna591242\" target=\"_blank\">knife-wielding teenager <\/a>in a clown costume, the victim\u2019s family said Friday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-99bfb8\" class=\"body-graf\">John Wesley Allen was found dead Monday night in East St. Louis, Illinois, \u201cin a random attack by a suspect wearing a clown outfit,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/illinois-state-police.prezly.com\/illinois-state-police-arrests-juvenile-suspect-for-murder-after-stabbing-death-in-east-st-louis\" target=\"_blank\"> state police said.<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ba1350\" class=\"body-graf\">The intersection where he was found is near a bus stop Allen would frequent for surprise visits with his sister Delores Fowler, the victim\u2019s family said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b92106\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHe\u2019d never make an appointment. He\u2019d just call me and say, \u2018Are you at home?\u2019 Then I\u2019d say, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019ll come get you at the MetroLink station or the bus stop,\u2019\u201d Fowler, 82, told NBC News.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-45056f\" class=\"body-graf\">Loved ones, who said Allen was a retired St. Louis bus driver, said they worried about Allen traveling on public transit alone, but the senior citizen enjoyed being out and about. Allen drove a bus for Metro Transit in St. Louis from 1977 until his retirement in 1994, according to the agency and his family. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-992d0c\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHe was a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksdk.com\/article\/news\/crime\/78-year-old-man-police-say-was-randomly-stabbed-by-killer-clown-remembered-as-veteran-devoted-family-man\/63-6f2230a2-ab4b-4291-bcfe-7a0e75de5055?tbref=hp\" target=\"_blank\"> very friendly person<\/a>. He would talk to anybody. He just loved people,\u201d Fowler said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-6f7e96\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1279\" data-original-width=\"1279\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg\" alt=\"John Wesley Allen.\" height=\"1279\" width=\"1279\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">John Wesley Allen.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Courtesy Tenia Stanford<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-0eec0b\" class=\"body-graf\">Allen was a widower who lived in a retirement community in nearby St. Louis. His wife, Yvonne Allen, was 65 when she died in 2019, according to public records and the victim\u2019s loved ones.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2def55\" class=\"body-graf\">A 15-year-old boy has been charged in connection with Allen\u2019s killing. Police said there are no known previous connections between the victim and the suspect.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-217534\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe were always concerned about him coming over without calling, but he just enjoyed being with his sister,\u201d said Allen\u2019s niece, Tania Stanford, 49.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-29fd98\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHe was a joyful person and he was loved. He was a friendly guy who would do anything. He\u2019d give you the shirt off his back if he could,\u201d Stanford said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-eae3c4\" class=\"body-graf\">Allen\u2019s loved ones only found out about the retired bus driver\u2019s death from local news. Fowler said she didn\u2019t believe her brother had been killed, even after hearing his partial name read on TV.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-edc16d\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cFriends were asking me, \u2018Is this John that we\u2019ve been seeing (on local TV news), that somebody killed him?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I turned the TV on and they said it was a \u2018Wesley Allen\u2019 and I said to myself, \u2018Well, that\u2019s not him. His name is John Wesley Allen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b8f1de\" class=\"body-graf\">East St. Louis police referred all calls about the killing to Illinois State Police, which is now leading the investigation. A spokesperson for the state authorities declined to comment Friday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a6b0de\" class=\"body-graf\">It wasn\u2019t clear on Friday whether a lawyer had been hired or assigned to represent the suspect.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a16bb0\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cWe want him tried as an adult,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cHe took a person\u2019s life for no reason.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 78-year-old man was likely making one of his regular, unannounced visits to his older sister when he tragically crossed paths with a knife-wielding teenager in a clown costume, the victim\u2019s family said Friday. John Wesley Allen was found dead Monday night in East St. Louis, Illinois, \u201cin a random attack by a suspect wearing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-john-wesley-allen-mn-1625-3f9326.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}