Clarence Ray Allen - Murder of Mary Sue Kitts

Murder of Mary Sue Kitts

In 1974, Allen plotted the burglary of Fran’s Market, a Fresno area supermarket, owned by Ray and Fran Schletewitz, whom Allen had known for years. The plot involved Roger Allen, Clarence Ray Allen’s son, Carl Mayfield, Ed Savala and Charles Jones. Mayfield and Jones worked for Clarence Ray Allen in his security guard business as well as part of a burglary enterprise allegedly operated by Allen. As part of the burglary plot against Fran’s Market, he arranged for someone to steal a set of door and alarm keys from the market owner's son, Bryon Schletewitz, age 19, while Schletewitz was swimming in Allen's pool. Allen then arranged a date between Schletewitz and Mary Sue Kitts (his son Roger’s girlfriend) for the evening, during which time the burglary took place. The burglary netted $500 in cash and $10,000 in money orders from the store's safe. Following the commission of the burglary, Kitts told Bryon Schletewitz that Allen had committed the crime, which she knew as she had helped Allen cash money orders that had been stolen from the store.

Schletewitz confronted Roger Allen, informing him that he had been told of the crime by Kitts, and Roger Allen admitted the crime. When Roger Allen told his father Clarence of Bryon’s accusation, Clarence Allen stated that they (Schletewitz and Kitts) would have to be “dealt with.” He enlisted three employees of his security firm, Charles Jones, Carl Mayfield, and Lee Furrow. According to an opinion filed on May 6, 2004 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals:

Allen called a meeting at his house and told Jones, Mayfield, and Furrow that Kitts had been talking too much and should be killed. Allen called for a vote on the issue of Kitts’s execution. The vote was unanimous because those present feared what would happen if they did not go along with Allen's plan. Allen had previously told his criminal accomplices that he would kill snitches and that he had friends and connections to do the job for him even if he were in prison. He had also referred to himself as a Mafia hitman and stated that the “secret witness program” was useless because a good lawyer could always discover an informant's name and address. Allen kept a newspaper article about the murder of a man and woman in Nevada, and claimed he had “blown them in half” with a shotgun.

Allen then ordered the murder of Kitts by Lee Furrow. After an unsuccessful attempt to poison her with cyanide capsules, Allen called Furrow to learn if he had killed Kitts. Furrow told Allen he was in the process of strangling her and Allen replied, “do it.” After killing Kitts, Furrow threw her body into the Friant-Kern Canal. The body has never been found.