Bio

Allen Richard Holman was born on March 29, 1959. North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records list him as Allen R. Holman, offender number 0587681. The same official record identifies his name of record as Allen Richard Holman and lists his later inmate status as inactive after his death on April 19, 2023.

The verified record places Holman in Wake County, North Carolina, by the 1990s, where he was married to Linda J. Holman. Holman and Linda Holman were separated before the murder. Court records show that Linda had already contacted police on July 6, 1997, about her fear of Holman. She told the Morrisville Police Department that she believed he would kill her if she returned home. Officers met her, escorted her home, and spoke with Holman. After that incident, Holman was allowed to collect his remaining belongings and was warned that he could be cited for trespass if he returned.

In the weeks before the killing, Linda Holman took several steps to protect herself. According to the North Carolina Supreme Court, she tried to remove Holman’s name from her lease, arranged to have a security system installed, changed her phone number and locks, kept her car positioned for quicker departure, nailed shut the windows of her home, and kept the curtains drawn so Holman could not shoot at her from outside. She also told nearby law enforcement agencies that she feared Holman would kill her and made sure officers knew how to find her house.

The court record states that witnesses testified Linda Holman repeatedly told others between July 6, 1997, and July 28, 1997, that she was terrified Holman was going to kill her. Those facts became important during Holman’s capital sentencing proceeding because prosecutors presented the case as a killing that followed a period of fear, pursuit, and threats.

Murder Story

On the morning of July 28, 1997, Linda Holman called 911 from her cellular phone while driving on Highway 55 toward Apex, North Carolina. The call came at about 6:04 a.m. She told the dispatcher that Allen Holman was chasing her in his own vehicle, that he was trying to kill her, and that he was ramming her car. Court records state that she was driving about 85 to 90 miles per hour while trying to get away.

The dispatcher alerted law enforcement and told Linda that officers were waiting farther ahead on the road. Linda then saw an officer’s car in a grocery store parking lot and stopped near it. The officer saw Holman turn away and leave the area. Linda remained in the parking lot while the officer began chasing Holman.

Holman was able to evade the officer. He then returned to the parking lot where Linda was still waiting for other officers to arrive. Sergeant Denson of the Apex Police Department arrived and saw Holman’s car stopped in front of Linda’s vehicle. Holman was beside the driver’s side of his car holding a shotgun. He then got back into his vehicle, aimed the shotgun from the window, fired at Linda, and drove away.

As Sergeant Denson pursued Holman, he saw Linda lying on the ground beside her car in a pool of blood. Other officers were sent to help her, but when they reached the parking lot, they found her dead beside the vehicle. The medical examiner later found two shotgun slug entry wounds in Linda Holman’s back and determined that she died from massive blood loss caused by those wounds.

After leaving the parking lot, Holman drove back toward the home he had shared with Linda. Police followed him. When he reached the house, he held officers at bay for a period of time and then shot himself in the abdomen. During that standoff, Holman spoke by phone with one of Linda’s co-workers and admitted that he had shot Linda twice in the parking lot. He later also admitted the shooting to an officer. Police then took him into custody, and medical personnel treated him for the self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Holman was indicted on August 19, 1997, for the first-degree murder of Linda J. Holman. On March 17, 1998, before jury selection began, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on the basis of premeditation and deliberation. Because the state sought the death penalty, a jury was still required to hear evidence and recommend whether he should receive life imprisonment or death.

At the capital sentencing proceeding, the jury recommended a death sentence. The trial court entered judgment in accordance with that recommendation. North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records list April 7, 1998, as Holman’s conviction date and admission date to Central Prison, with the sentence recorded as death.

The North Carolina Supreme Court reviewed the case and issued its decision on December 21, 2000. The court concluded that the capital sentencing proceeding had no prejudicial error and left the death judgment undisturbed. The jury found one statutory aggravating circumstance: that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The jury also found mitigating evidence, including that Holman acted under mental or emotional disturbance and had depression that was worsened by events after an on-the-job injury.

Holman later declined further appeal efforts and sought to have his execution carried out. In December 2006, a federal judge ruled that he was mentally competent to withdraw his appeals. North Carolina prison officials set his execution for March 9, 2007, at Central Prison in Raleigh. However, the execution was not carried out because North Carolina executions were delayed during legal disputes over the state’s lethal injection protocol and the role of doctors in executions.

Holman remained on death row for years after the scheduled execution date passed. North Carolina had not carried out any execution since 2006, and Holman was among the death-row prisoners whose sentences remained active but were not carried out.

On April 19, 2023, the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction announced that Allen R. Holman died of natural causes at about 1:45 p.m. at an outside medical center. He was 64 years old. His official offender record lists his last movement as death on April 19, 2023, and his sentence service status as expired.