Former Fort Cavazos soldier sentenced for attempted murder at base
(Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)
FORT CAVAZOS, Texas - A former Fort Cavazos soldier has been sentenced to 200 months in prison for the attempted murder of a female soldier. It happened in June 2000, while he was stationed at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos). He was sentenced on Feb. 27, 2025.
Attempted murder
The backstory:
According to court documents, Allen Houston James, 46, of Suffolk, Virginia, entered the barracks room of another soldier while she was sleeping and attempted to rape her at knife point. The victim resisted and was repeatedly stabbed.
After James left the room, she escaped and reported the incident before she was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery for stab wounds. Medical records showed that one of the victim’s neck wounds was within millimeters of her jugular vein and penetrated from the front to the back, nearly reaching her spine. The victim has permanent nerve damage because of the stabbing.
When a DNA profile did not produce a match and a suspect was not identified, the case went cold until 2019.
Through new DNA analysis by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL), the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) was able to identify James as the suspect and find him while he was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia in March 2021.
James was indicted on July 13, 2021, for one count of attempt to commit murder and arrested the following day in the Eastern District of Virginia.
He was transferred to Waco on July 19, 2021, then reassigned to Chief Judge Alia Moses in Del Rio on Nov. 13, 2023.
James was found guilty by jury trial on Feb. 23, 2024.
Army CID investigated the case.
The Source: Information in this article is from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas.