The Osco murders — Christopher Allen's post-dismissal record, and the case's standing in November 2026

August 25, 1990 – November 2026

The Murders file carries the case whole to the dismissal of the charges — the three killings at the Osco drugstore on August 25, 1990, the indictment of 1999, the hung jury, the 2002 conviction and 144-year sentence, the 2004 reversal, and the third jury's failure to agree in 2006. Its note held one item open: the compensation course, because the strongest source for it — the National Registry of Exonerations' case page — could not be read first-hand in that pass. This pass read it.

The documented course after the reversal: Allen was released on bond on November 17, 2004, after the Court of Appeals reversed his conviction that August. The third trial ended in a mistrial declared on July 20, 2006. On December 20, 2006, the prosecution dismissed the charges. The Registry's closing lines are the record's own summary: "No one else was ever charged with the murders."

The compensation claim: In 2019 Indiana enacted a law — HEA 1150, codified at Indiana Code chapter 5-2-23 — under which a person whose conviction was vacated may claim $50,000 for each year of incarceration from the state, with claims decided by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and a filing deadline of November 1, 2021 for those exonerated before the act. Allen filed a claim under the law. The Registry's closing sentence on the subject reads: "After Indiana enacted a law in 2019 enabling wrongfully convicted defendants to seek compensation from the state, Allen filed a claim, but it was dismissed." An advocacy profile of Allen published in September 2026 renders the outcome "denied" and states that he never received compensation; the Registry's word — dismissed — is the records-based account and governs here. No reason for the dismissal is stated in any source, and none is supplied. No separate civil action by Allen appears in the public record.

The case's standing: As the record states it in November 2026, the murders of Scott Dick, Tracy Holvoet and Connie Zalewski remain unsolved, and no one else has ever been charged with them. Tracy Holvoet's age stands as the banked file prints it — 24 in the Registry's accounting, 25 in the Tribune's; the conflict is carried, not resolved.

Sources:

1. National Registry of Exonerations, the Christopher Allen case page (Maurice Possley; posted September 9, 2016; last updated November 13, 2023) — read first-hand: the bond release of November 17, 2004, the mistrial of July 20, 2006, the dismissal of December 20, 2006, "No one else was ever charged," and the compensation claim's dismissal.
2. Indiana Code ch. 5-2-23 (HEA 1150, 2019) — the $50,000-per-year measure, the Criminal Justice Institute's deciding role, the November 1, 2021 deadline for prior exonerees.
3. Youth for Innocence, "Christopher Allen: Stories of Exonerees" (September 12, 2026) — the secondary account; its "denied" carried against the Registry's "dismissed."
4. Notable Murder Cases and EXPAND-MURDERS-NOTE — the banked entry and the held item this entry closes.