FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — This story is part of Evil in the Archives: The Case Files, a new digital series revisiting some of the most haunting crimes preserved in the Action News archives.
Three young employees were executed at pointblank range inside Fran’s Market in September of 1980 in Fresno, a crime authorities later described as a calculated act of retaliation ordered from behind prison walls.
Investigators concluded the shotgun slayings were not spontaneous but deliberate executions, carried out by a recently paroled man acting on instructions from convicted murderer Clarence Ray Allen, who was serving time at Folsom Prison at the time.
“It was obviously a deliberate killing that did not take place in the heat of passion,” one investigator said.
Authorities said the gunman was armed with a sawedoff shotgun and killed each victim one at a time. The victims were 27yearold Bryon Schletewitz, 17yearold Josephine Rocha and 18yearold Douglas White, who had graduated just weeks earlier and had been working at Fran’s Market for only six weeks.
“The young people died instantly, leaving their families with only the pictures on the living room wall as a memory,” a reporter said in the original broadcast.
Jack Abbott was the first person to discover the bodies.
“Oh, I couldn’t believe it. It was unbelievable to see those. It was, kids lying there, and, I thought, what in the world was happened here?” Abbott said.
Store clerk Joe Rios survived the attack after being wounded by shotgun pellets. He later told investigators he watched as each victim was shot in succession at close range. During the chaos, Abbott fired his own shotgun at the fleeing gunman, striking him.
Five days later, Billy Ray Hamilton was arrested in Modesto. Authorities said shotgun pellets were still lodged in his hands and feet. Investigators determined Hamilton had been sent to Fresno upon his parole, acting under orders from Allen.
Prosecutors said Allen ordered the killings as punishment for testimony against him in a 1977 murder trial and to eliminate potential witnesses in future proceedings. Bryon Schletewitz and his father, Ray, had testified against Allen.
“Bryon Schletewitz had been a witness in a major homicide, and he had ended up a victim in a major homicide,” an official said.
In 1982, Allen’s murder trial was moved to Willows in Northern California. During the 10week proceedings, he denied any involvement in the killings at Fran’s Market.
“He thinks of himself as, being an extremely hard man, a killer. he’s a very manipulative personality,” the prosecutor said.
In court, Allen was questioned about his views on informants.
“How do you feel, Mr. Allen, about informants, about snitches? I don’t like them,” Allen said.
“Mr. Allen, do you feel that, a great deal of harm should come to people who inform or who snitch, as you call. Isn’t that correct?” “In some cases maybe,” Allen replied.
The jury found Allen guilty and recommended execution.
“Clarence Ray Allen will be the oldest inmate ever to be put to death in California,” Nancy Osborne, former Action News anchor and reporter said ahead of the sentence being carried out at San Quentin in 2006.
On the day of the execution, media witnesses were escorted to the execution chamber as prison officials prepared to carry out the sentence on Allen, who was blind, ailing and confined to a wheelchair.
“It is very intimate. You are very. Close to it,” Osborne stated.
Officials said it took approximately 15 minutes to prepare Allen for the first of three chemical injections. A fourth injection was later administered. Allen was pronounced dead after more than 22 minutes.
“Clarence Ray Allen’s final statement was in the form of an Indian phrase meaning it’s a good day to die,” a Osborne said.
“It has taken 30 years from the burglary of Fran’s Market to this night. For Clarence Allen to receive his just punishment,” officials announced when Allen had died.
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