Man 'Who Wanted To Teach Himself To Be A Serial Killer' Goes On Shotgun Murder Spree

On July 10, 2002, the generally tranquil aura of Columbia, South Carolina was punctured by flames. 

Early that morning, two people called authorities to report a fire burning on the side of the road. When firefighters arrived they realized it was a body that was aflame — a nude woman who had been shot in the head and set on fire.

"I noticed right away her leg was kind of deformed, like it had been shot in half," Dave McRobert, a captain with the Richland County Sheriff's Department told "Twisted Killers," airing Thursdays at 9/8c on Oxygen.

An autopsy would later reveal she had been shot three times with a shotgun and was dead when she was set on fire.

"To us, that was a clue. They wanted to inflict a lot of pain on her," Leon Lott, a sheriff with the Richland County Sheriff's department told producers.

An employee from the sheriff's department reported he had a missing relative, Dale Evonne Hall, who matched the victim's description and lived close to where the body was found. Dental records confirmed Hall was indeed the victim.

"It's like I blacked out … I lost a part of myself. Everything just went blank. I didn't get angry, I didn't get upset, I just felt like i lost my best friend," Hall's son, Bernard Pressley told producers.

Family told investigators Hall was a nurse, but a criminal record showed she also had a history of sex work. Then, just five days later, another sex worker contacted authorities to say that the night after Hall was found dead she got in the car with a potential customer. After they negotiated terms the man took off his shirt. He had the words "serial killer" written on his stomach. The woman immediately fled.

Investigators theorized that Hall's murder was potentially linked to a nearby attack on an unhoused man named Jimmy White, who had been sleeping on a bench on July when he was shot several times with a shotgun. While he survived the attack, he was left seriously wounded.

"The shooting of Mr. White was almost like a target practice," Dr. Kate Termini, a forensic psychologist, told producers.

Then, another shooting occurred on August 8, 2002 at a nearby Texas Roadhouse. A man named Jedediah Harr was shot in the head.

"The crime scene was very chaotic. We had a lot of witnesses, people were upset," Lott told producers.

The shooting began when a fight broke out between two employees at the restaurant — Quincy Allen and Brian Marquis. Allen, 22, would apparently "play childish games" with the female employees, and on this particular night, Marquis' pregnant girlfriend and fellow Texas Roadhouse employee, told Allen to stop. Allen then threatened to punch her hard enough to kill her baby. 

Marquis confronted Allen. When a manager made the two leave the restaurant, Harr and Marquis got into their car. That's when Allen pulled a shotgun out of his own car, aimed it at their vehicle, and pulled the trigger, witnesses told investigators.

Harr was hit in the head and died from his wounds. Marquis, meanwhile, ran out of the car into a nearby gas station to hide.

"I need you to call the police! Oh my gosh, am I bleeding? Am I bleeding?" Marquis is heard saying in surveillance footage obtained by "Twisted Killers." " ... Tell them that somebody fired a shotgun at me."

As Marquis hid in the store, Allen walked in, gun smoking. The gas station attendant, Roberta Harrison, told him nobody was there and he had to leave. "And then he looked at me and turned around and went out the door," she told producers. 

Four days later, Richard Hawks, a 53-year-old convenience store worker was shot, along with a young Ohio schoolteacher named Robert Roush who had been traveling to see friends. Investigators found a car parked behind the store that belonged to Allen. After reviewing security camera footage, they saw Allen had gone into the store, bought something, and then came back to shoot Hawks. 

As the mass murderer fiddled with the cash register, Roush walked in. Allen shot him too. He then took the man's keys and wallet. 

"It felt like he wasn't afraid of any consequences, he was just out there killing because he could do it. And he enjoyed it," McRoberts said.

In an act of brazen disregard, Allen began using Roush's phone to call friends and brag about his crimes, saying he had a hit list and wanted to be a serial killer. Those people contacted the sheriff's office, including a woman who agreed to tape her next conversation with Allen. During that talk, he once again bragged about the killings.

Quincey Allan

"He never turned around. I just shot him in the back," he boasted of murdering Hawks. "This is going to be really gory but could you look at the inside of someone’s head without puking?" he asked. 

Police caught up to Allen when he used Roush's credit card in Texas. Authorities found him asleep in the slain man's stolen vehicle. When they confronted him, he tried to drive away before being taken into custody.

He admitted to his crimes and was sentenced to death.

"Quincy Allen wanted to teach himself to become a serial killer," legal analyst Beth Karas told producers.

For more on this case and others like it, watch "Twisted Killers," airing Thursdays at 9/8c on Oxygen.