Defendant Pleads Guilty to 2018 Stabbing of Girlfriend

By Racquel Bazos - August 16, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

After being tried twice for the same crime over the past five years, the case against 73-year-old Michael Allen concluded on Aug. 14, as he pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend, 68-year-old Elizabeth Holland, before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Althea M. Handy.

“She doesn’t get to see her grandchildren,” said Holland’s daughter in a victim impact statement.

“He killed my sister. He knows he killed my sister,” said Holland’s brother. 

Allen’s attorney, Robert Cohen, told the victim’s family that Allen had “very deep remorse” and was “sincerely sorry.”

Because Allen and the victim had been in an off-and-on relationship for over 50 years, the prosecutor said the two families were “intertwined,” but that Holland’s family no longer wanted to receive letters from Allen or have anyone contact them on his behalf.

Standing between his attorneys, Cohen and Judit Otvos, Allen accepted the plea agreement offered by the prosecutor assigned to the case. For first-degree murder, he is sentenced to life suspending all but 20 years with five years of supervised probation. For possessing a deadly weapon with the intent to injure, he agreed to serve three years consecutive to his murder sentence. Allen is also required to have no contact with the victim’s family.

According to the prosecutor, on June 1, 2018, police responded to a 911 call placed by Allen saying Holland was unresponsive and bleeding in her bed at their home on the 3000 block of Ascension Street. While Allen claimed that he had been walking his dog at the time of her death, investigators found blood on his arm, the dog’s fur and on some money inside the center console of his car. Holland was stabbed 13 times.