If you or a loved one believes you’re experiencing domestic violence, SAFEline is a 24-hour confidential hotline for people seeking help and is available by phone at 512-267-7233, by text at 737-888-7233, or by online chat.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Police believe a man killed his off-and-on girlfriend after entering her home through a window on Oct. 4, according to an arrest affidavit for 26-year-old Paul Lester Allen.
Online jail records showed Monday evening Allen was in custody for a murder charge and held on a $500,000 bond. KXAN has reached out to his attorney and will update this story when we receive a response.
On Oct. 5, police went to an apartment on Avenue A near the intersection 45th and Guadalupe Streets in central Austin for an urgent welfare check. Investigators found the victim – a woman – on her bed with bruises on her face and signs of strangulation on her neck.
KXAN is not identifying the victim at this time because APD has not released her name, and the details of the arrest affidavit suggest domestic violence.
The victim’s family told police, according to court documents, Allen was her off-and-on boyfriend and had “stalked” her in the past. A friend of the victim told police she had seen the victim shortly before the alleged attack.
The friend told police she texted the victim when she got to her apartment, but the victim said she was at the nearby Walgreens and “Allen had followed her there and wouldn’t leave her alone.” When the friend got to Walgreens, she said she Allen “appeared to extremely agitated, pacing back and forth, punching his hands together,” the affidavit reads.
Allen then followed the two women back to the apartment, but eventually left.
Police found a handprint on the living room window and boot prints on the floor. Crime scene analysts tested the fingerprints on the window, and they were identified as belonging to Allen, the affidavit states.
The department tried to detain Allen a few days later, and he ran away. But officers eventually arrested him, and he was booked into the Travis County Jail around 2 a.m. on Oct. 10.
Allen’s criminal history
Allen has a criminal history in Travis County.
The most recent case, according to online court records, was a misdemeanor trespassing case from 2024, where prosecutors with the County Attorney’s Office reviewed and declined the charges. In this instance, police believe Allen entered an unoccupied apartment on Burnet Road through an unlocked door. This case did not involve the alleged murder victim.
Records show Allen served a 30-day jail sentence in 2022 for an attempt to commit unauthorized use of a vehicle case in 2020.
Additionally, Allen appears to have had multiple arrests related to protest activity in 2020. Those charges were declined.
Domestic violence resources in Austin
Locally, the SAFE Alliance provides housing and support services to various domestic violence survivors. Staff told KXAN there are nearly 1,000 people at a SAFE shelter on any given night.
The Texas Advocacy Project provides free legal services to abuse survivors.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 by calling (800) 799-7233 or texting “START” to 88788.
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