The Murder and Robbery of Scott Howard Allison, September 1977

Scott Allison grew up in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, before he and his family moved to Bakersfield, Kern County, CA for his senior year of high school. He was a varsity wrestler at West High, and finished third in the league. His former coach stated that Scott was "extremely strong, wrestling at 154 pounds." He graduated from high school in 1974.

Scott Allison. Photo from FindAGrave

By September 1977, Scott, 21, was an active-duty Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. At the time of his death he was on 30-day leave before departing for his new post in Ft Richardson, Alaska. On Thursday, September 1, 1977, Scott set out on a cross-country trip to visit his family at their residence at 1805 Esther Drive in Bakersfield.

Scott's family heard from him for the last time on the afternoon of Sunday, September 4, 1977, when he called his mother from Prescott, Yavapai County, AZ and told her that he would be home in about 10 hours. According to Google Maps, the drive from Prescott to Bakersfield is about 7hr 20-40min. The drive from Fort Campbell, KY to Bakersfield is about 29hr total, and does run through Arizona, though driving to Prescott adds a roughly 2hr detour. 

When the 10-hour mark came and went, his mother called the police to file a missing person report. The police did not begin their search immediately, claiming that not enough time had passed.

The next day, Labor Day, Monday, September 5th, an 11-year-old boy found the body of a young white man partially inside a sleeping bag in a vacant lot off of 37000 Flower Rd near the fire station in Hinkley, San Bernardino County, CA. This is a desert area 14mi west of Barstow. 

The man was unidentified at the time due to a lack of identifying papers near the body. The victim had been bludgeoned to death, having suffered massive head injuries. One contemporary clipping elaborated further, stating that "part of [his] head was missing, and tire tracks leading from the roadway up to and over his head were discovered."

On Tuesday, September 6th, a service duffel bag containing Scott's military personnel records was found along Highway 95, about 12mi south of Needles. This led to the identification of the body found the previous day as that of Scott Allison. Other personal belongings of his were found at Lake Havasu.

Scott's car, a 1977 yellow Monza, was missing at the time. It was reportedly last seen parked at a cafe in Needles at around midnight on Monday, September 5th. "Nobody was around the vehicle at the time, but about a half-hour later the car was seen at a service station in Needles with two male occupants" inside. Detectives theorized that Scott may have picked up a hitchhiker.

Scott's car was found on Monday, September 19, 1977 outside a Gardena gambling casino "where it apparently had been parked for more than a week." It was impounded, and casino employees told police that it had been in the parking lot since Sunday, September 11th. The car was locked and nearly out of gas when it was found.

In 2017 it was reported that William Zamastil, a serial killer who is known to have killed at least four people across three different states, including CA, was a possible suspect in Scott's case. However, there has been no further news on the theory, and his case is still unsolved as of at least August 2024.

Anyone with information about Scott's case is urged to contact the SB County Sheriff Homicide Detail at (909) 387-3589 or anonymously call WE TIP at 1-800-78-CRIME.

Sources

San Bernardino County Cold Cases 

FindAGrave, with further clippings

Bakersfield Californian 9/8/77

San Bernardino County Sun 9/20/77 

2024 Project Cold Case article

2017 Daily Breeze article