Fifty-year-old Dawn Allen worked as a manager at Subway in Carroll, Iowa, a town of 10,000 people in the west-central part of the state, ninety miles northwest of Des Moines and eighty miles east of Omaha, Nebraska. As she had never missed or even been late for work in her over twenty years with the company, coworkers became concerned when she was absent without explanation on May 5, 2011. Thirteen years later they, along with investigators, are still searching for answers.

Few clues have surfaced since Dawn Allen was last seen and the most likely person who could provide answers to her disappearance chose to remain silent forever.

Dawn Allen

Dawn was last seen at her home at 8:30 p.m. on May 4. A check of her cell phone records showed her phone was last used at 3:30 a.m. on May 5 and was turned off a few hours later.

Last Sighting

Later that morning, Dawn’s white 2001 Chevrolet Blazer was found locked in the parking lot of Carroll’s Piranha Club. The restaurant had closed at 10:30 the previous evening and no one could recall seeing the car there at that time.

A search of both Dawn’s car and her home found no signs of a struggle.

Piranha Club

Carroll, Iowa

The preceding eight months had been rough for Dawn; her twenty-five-year-old son, Michael, had died unexpectedly in September 2010, and she was in the process of divorcing her husband, Thomas.

Although her divorce was not yet finalized, Dawn had told friends she was casually dating a man she had met online.

Trying Times

Fifty-four-year-old James Snovelle lived in Rolfe, Iowa, seventy miles north of Carroll. The married father of two children erroneously told Dawn that he was separated from his wife.

Authorities sought to question Snovelle but were initially unable to locate him.

James Snovelle

After learning Snovelle had friends and family in Kansas, investigators tracked him to a farm near Gridley in Coffey County, three-hundred-thirty miles from Carroll County, Iowa. They located him on May 9, five days after Dawn was last seen.

When authorities attempted to question Snovelle regarding Dawn’s disappearance, he attempted to flee in his car, a 2000 Mercury Sable. When the vehicle became stuck in the mud, he fled on foot through a wooded area. Police gave chase and as they closed in, he pointed a gun to his head and fired.

Snovelle’s drastic action led investigators to believe he was likely responsible for Dawn’s disappearance.

Snovelle Commits Suicide

Snovelle had shot himself near the South Big Creek in Coffey County; a search of the creek and surrounding wooded areas found no trace of Dawn.

Because police could find no one in Coffey County who could recall seeing Dawn, they came to believe she was never in Kansas. Whatever Snovelle had done to Dawn was likely done in Iowa.

South Big Creek

Near Gridley, Kansas

Police and volunteers combed wooded areas, waterways, ditches, and buildings in and around Carroll County as well as in six bordering counties. They found no trace of Dawn nor any potential evidence relating to her disappearance.

The ensuing years have met with similar failure.

No Dawn

Dawn Marlene Allen has been missing since May 4, 2011. At the time of her disappearance, she was fifty-years-old, five-feet-two-inches tall, and weighed one-hundred-forty pounds. She had blue eyes and short, spiked hair dyed white, but her natural hair color is brown. Both of her ears were double pierced, and her naval was also pierced.

Dawn had a tattoo of a charm bracelet encompassing her right ankle, a tattoo of a Tinkerbell cartoon character on her right shoulder blade, and another tattoo on her front waistline. She was taking medication to control high blood pressure.

At the time of her disappearance, Dawn was going through a divorce described as amicable. Nothing I found indicated her estranged husband, Thomas Allen, is a suspect in her disappearance, nor could I find any source stating James Snovelle’s wife, Bonnie, is suspected.

The Trail Is Cold

Dawn’s bright orange purse, similar to the one pictured, and white three-carat diamond solitaire ring similar to the ring pictured, have never been found.

Similar Ring And Purse

Dawn Allen would today be sixty-two-years-old. If you have any information relating to her disappearance, please contact the Carroll, Iowa, Police Department at 712-792-3536 or Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Laura Myers at 712-252-0507.

I was living in Carroll, Iowa, at the time of Dawn’s disappearance. I did not know her personally, but I remember making small talk with her as she took my order a couple of times at Subway. She was very friendly.

The Carroll, Iowa Subway Where Dawn Worked

(Subway Now Has A New Location)

SOURCES:

• Carroll Daily Times Herald
• Charley Project
• Des Moines Register
• Iowa Cold Cases
• KCCI Channel 8 De Moines CBS Affiliate