On May 21st, 1982, 23-year-old secretary Andrea Allen left work early, at 3 p.m., saying that she wasn’t feeling well. On May 22nd, around 11 p.m., an anonymous man phoned the police to report a woman slumped over the steering wheel of her car in a grocery store parking lot in West Palm Beach—located approximately two miles away from Andrea’s workplace.
Yet when authorities arrived just minutes later, they found only Andrea’s abandoned car, with her purse sitting on the driver’s seat. There was no sign of Andrea herself anywhere.
The investigation into her disappearance would fail to uncover any evidence for what became of the missing woman, and more than four decades later, the question remains: What happened to Andrea Allen?
Andrea Darlene Allen was born on February 24th, 1959.
(Note: Unfortunately, there is very little information available about either Andrea herself or her case. I read everything I could find on her disappearance and what I’m including in this article is pretty much all that’s publicly available. I still wanted to highlight her case because it hasn’t received much coverage.)
She was married to a man named Glenn Shapiro, but the two divorced in 1981. Some early newspaper reports state that she also went by the name “Darlene Shapiro.”
She was employed as a secretary for the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. According to The Palm Beach Post, following her divorce from Glenn (about whom there is also scant information), she “had lived in several places,” before settling in Greenacres (around 10 miles away from West Palm Beach, where Glenn still resided at the time).
At approximately 3 p.m. on Friday, May 21st, Andrea left work early, explaining that she felt sick, although she didn’t specify what her symptoms were. This was the last time that anyone who knew her saw or heard from her.
At 11 p.m. on Saturday, an anonymous man called the local police to report that he’d spotted a woman slumped over her steering wheel in the parking lot of Winn-Dixie, which was 2 miles away from Andrea’s workplace. He stated that he’d noticed her there twice that night and thought she might need help. The caller has never been identified.
The Palm Beach Post:
“A Police Department spokesman said an anonymous caller told police about 11 p.m. Saturday that he had seen a woman at 2500 N. Dixie Highway (where the Winn-Dixie was located) twice that evening, slumped against the wheel as if ill. But when police arrived a few minutes later, they found no one in the car.”
It was quickly confirmed that the car belonged to Andrea Allen. Her purse was sitting on the driver’s seat, but there was no sign of Andrea herself anywhere. Nothing else was said about the condition of the vehicle. Whether or not it was ever processed for evidence, such as fingerprints, was not reported either.
What happened in the small window of time between the call and law enforcement’s arrival? How far could she realistically have made it on foot in mere minutes if she felt unwell?
After learning that Andrea had been ill on Friday, they went to local hospitals to see if she had been admitted anywhere, but were unable to locate her or anyone who had seen her.
A week after she vanished, a woman’s body was found in a nearby canal. Investigators wondered if it might be Andrea, but soon realized that it wasn’t.
“The fingerprints, teeth and some other things don’t match,” said Sheriff’s Detective Fred Deloreto. “Right now, all indications lead away from Miss Allen.”
Using dental records, the girl was eventually identified as 17-year-old Mary Lynn Kennedy. An autopsy determined that she’d died of a drug overdose, and a cocaine dealer, Abraham Thomas Oliva, was later convicted of dumping her body in the canal.
The investigation into Andrea’s disappearance continued, but authorities revealed that they had no other leads to pursue.
The detectives working on Andrea’s case started looking into her acquaintances, which led them to a man named George Belanger. While investigating Belanger, authorities were able to uncover evidence linking him and his friend Everette Lohr to the unrelated 1981 murder of 32-year-old George Birmingham.
A fight reportedly broke out between the men after Birmingham allegedly stole money from Belanger’s girlfriend, culminating in Birmingham being shot and killed. Lohr and Belanger were ultimately convicted of the crime and imprisoned.
However, though Belanger lived just a few miles away from where Andrea vanished, investigators noted that they did not consider him a suspect in her disappearance, nor did they find any evidence to suggest his involvement.
In fact, no one has ever been named as a suspect in her case and no details relating to any other potential persons of interest they might have looked into have ever been released.
In the absence of forensic evidence or significant clues, Andrea’s case became cold.
Since she was feeling ill before she went missing, it has been theorized that she might have wandered away, suffered a serious medical emergency and died. Or perhaps fell into a body of water and drowned.
Another theory is that she was the victim of foul play. Did an opportunistic predator spot her, recognize her vulnerability and take advantage of the situation? Or is it possible that she was drugged by someone at work and then followed?
Some have speculated that the anonymous man who called the police might have known more than he claimed to or was even directly involved in her disappearance.
After all, the last confirmed sighting of her was actually in the afternoon of the day before. Moreover, we have only the caller’s word to verify that she was sitting in the parking lot on the following night, as there were no other reported sightings that corroborated this.
What occurred between the afternoon of Friday and the night of Saturday? Did he want to throw off the timeline of what really happened? That remains a mystery.
Ultimately, since little information has ever been disclosed about her case or the investigation, one can only speculate. The details of the search—including how thoroughly the area was canvassed—are unknown. Similarly, it’s unclear whether or not Andrea’s ex-husband Glenn (who also lived in the area) was ever looked into as a potential suspect.
Sadly, there have been no further updates in Andrea’s case in decades. It remains open and unsolved.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Andrea Allen, you are encouraged to contact the West Palm Beach Police Department at (561) 822-1900.
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