RETIRED G-MAN NAMES KILLER IN 1951 TENN. COLD CASE

A NEW book by a retired FBI agent hopes to finally name a killer in a notorious unsolved Tennessee homicide. Murder in Harrill Hills by Bob Allen explores the 1951 slaying of Mary Tabler Hankins, 27, shot to death in her home. She was found by her husband Fred, her life hanging by a thread. She later died and for 60 years the files have gathered dust.

But in an interview with the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Allen names the killer and defends the cop, Sheriff Buddy Jones, who he believes has been unfairly hammered all these years. He told the paper: "This crime could have been solved. But so many things were done different then."
The recently married Hankins' had designed and built a new house about six months before she was killed. The book cites a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing to longtime career burglar James William "Bill" Luallen as the murderer. The ex-G-Man believes what began as a robbery spiraled out of control into a sex attack, and finally, murder. Luallen told cops he had stolen the murder weapon, a .32 Colt revolver, then sold it before the killing. Without a confession or further evidence against Luallen, prosecutors declined to bring charges.
The book is $10.95 and can be ordered online at http://www.murderinharrillhills.com. Copies can be ordered through Allen with $13.50 payable to R.S. Allen, P.O. Box 34016, Knoxville, TN 37930.
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