← All Cases / Episode #576
The Case of Billie Allen
📻 Episode #576
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jun 04, 2026
About This Episode
On March 18, 1997, two men exited a minivan and walked into the lobby of a bank in St. Louis, MO wearing ski masks and armed with semi-automatic rifles. Shots were fired and a security guard, Richard Heflin, was shot and fatally wounded. Billie Allen, aged 19, was arrested at about 2am the next morning…
The Case
On March 18, 1997, two men exited a minivan and walked into the lobby of a bank in St. Louis, MO wearing ski masks and armed with semi-automatic rifles. Shots were fired and a security guard, Richard Heflin, was shot and fatally wounded. Billie Allen, aged 19, was arrested at about 2am the next morning and taken to police headquarters where he remained in an interrogation room, handcuffed to a table, for the next several hours. Later that morning, he was positively identified in a line-up by two forestry workers who had come across an individual in the woods. According to the police, after being told of these identifications, Billie Allen said he wanted to discuss the robbery, recanted his request for a lawyer and made statements incriminating himself in the murder. Billie Allen was charged with committing an armed bank robbery and using a firearm to commit a crime of violence. He was convicted on both counts and sentenced to death.
https://linktr.ee/freebillieallen
We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:08:44“Speaker 2: your life before this horrible scenario took place. Speaker 4: You know, I grew up in a house with three Speaker 4: sisters on the north side of Saint Louis, which was Speaker 4: I guess you can say, flooded with drugs, a lot Speaker 4: of violence and stuff like that. Even though I lived”
00:27:07“Speaker 2: not doing. His job so we already heard about al Speaker 2: Mcgillion And. William green so what happened when these park Speaker 2: workers walked into the. Speaker 4: Lineup Room When william green didn't pick, me out the, Speaker 4: officer walked, You Know william. Green out when they opened,”
00:45:49“Speaker 2: that class never cease to blow my mind with, the Speaker 2: amazing amazing work that they do semester, after semester class, Speaker 2: after class and of course their work has led two Speaker 2: the actual freeing of. Four people, NOW right I Mean, Speaker 2: Keith Washington, Valentino Dixon, eric riddick And Now Orlando. Trey,”
Listen to the Episode
🎧 Listen on Omny / the podcast's platforms
Resources & links from the episode:
Share this case, follow the organisations working on it, and support the podcast's fight for the innocent at lavaforgood.com.
← #575 Larry DeLisle #577 John Giuca →
Also on the podcast: #303 Billie Allen · #542 Nicholas Allen