Blood trail led to woman’s body in 2018, Texas cops say. Now, suspect found in Florida

Blood trailed across a downtown San Antonio parking lot to the body of 46-year-old Tammy Fudge, Texas police told news outlets in March 2018.

How she was killed was uncertain, either bludgeoned or stabbed, but it was an unquestionably “violent act,” San Antonio Police Chief Will McManus said at the time, the San Antonio Express-News reported. It was later determined she died due to blunt force trauma.

A metal pipe was found under her body, as well as a pool of blood at a nearby bus stop, KENS reported.

The red stains around Fudge led to the pool of blood at the bus stop, police told KSAT.

Despite the efforts of investigators, the spotlight of local media attention, and even a sketch released by police of a possible suspect, the question of her killer’s identity remained.

But now, more than six years later, investigators say they’ve found the man who took her life, and he’s a long way from Texas, SAPD announced in an Oct. 8 news release.

Christopher Allen, 30, is accused of killing Fudge on the night of March 4, 2018. Investigators found him over 1,000 miles away from the scene of his crime, locked up in a federal prison in Miami, Florida, due to an unrelated case.

He’s now charged with murder, thanks to the department’s cold case team.

“A homicide investigation was initiated where leads were exhausted,” police said. “Through the years, information was received but no evidentiary leads were developed.”

Cold case investigators began looking into the case in May 2024, and they soon developed new leads after they “resubmitted” fingerprints collected during the initial investigation. Those prints were compared against a database of prints and investigators found a match.

“The suspect was interviewed, and DNA swabs were collected under the authority of a search warrant. In September 2024, the DNA was confirmed as being a match to DNA collected from the crime scene,” police said.

“The facility was contacted and was advised of the active arrest warrant for murder, where the suspect was additionally charged for murder,” police said.

This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 10:10 AM with the headline "Blood trail led to woman’s body in 2018, Texas cops say. Now, suspect found in Florida."