The Death of Radioman Petty Officer Allen Schindler

I watched The Deadliest Decade: 1990’s for this case. It’s season 1 episode 8, titled ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’ I also chose this case because there was and still are issues surrounding gay people in the military. They are still harassed to this day, and seem to have less rights than a straight person. My husband was in the Marines, and he has even said that gay people are definitely treated differently even today.

This case is about a man who was in the Navy, living out his dream, and was murdered one night because people found out he was gay.

Background

Allen Schindler was born on December 13, 1969. He grew up in a suburb of Chicago with 3 other siblings, and his mom Dorothy raised them on her own after her husband passed away. Allen’s father was also in the Navy.

Allen Schindler

According to Dorothy, Allen wanted to join the Navy to travel. He had traveled to Hawaii and Australia, before being transferred to work on the USS Belleau Wood in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan.

Harassment

Allen kept a journal, and wrote in it that he was constantly harassed, especially after it was found out that he was gay. His captain had outed him after he made a prank announcement. The captain had gathered everyone for a mast, and outed him. He also had tried to report this harassment several times to his superiors, but nothing was done.

He wrote that his locker would be glued shut, and that other shipmates would say derogatory comments to him such as “there’s a f***** on this ship, and he has to die.”

A few days before his death, he called his mom and told her that he would be coming home and leaving the Navy, and he’d be home before Christmas. Dorothy was surprised that he was leaving, but she knew he wasn’t happy. Allen had also begun his paperwork to leave the Navy early.

Murder

On October 27, 1992, Allen Schindler had went out to a bar that night and walking back to the ship. He had gone into a restroom before heading back to the ship. In the bathroom, he was confronted by Terry Helvey, an airman for the ship’s weather department and another man named Charles Vins.

Terry Helvey kicked Allen repeatedly. He had injuries to his head, chest and abdomen. His injuries included broken ribs, a broken jaw and his genitals were cut (reportedly from his own zipper, he was using the restroom when he was attacked). Allen also had shoe impressions embedded on his face and chest.

Another shipmate named Jonathan Witte was walking home and heard sounds coming from the bathroom. He was interviewed in this episode, and he said the bathroom had windows that you could make out shapes from. He said he saw two men, one was jumping up and down. He then saw another person laying on the bathroom floor.

Jonathan left to go get help, and came back with a shore patrolman. Jonathan said he was gone for a maybe a minute and the attackers were gone. He then saw that it was Allen Schindler who was laying on the floor, he could identify him from his tattoo. He said besides the tattoo, Allen was unrecognizable, and was struggling to breath through all the blood in his mouth.

The medical examiner described his injuries as being what you would see if a victim was involved in a high speed car crash.

“Investigation”

The next day, Dorothy was given the news that her son was murdered. She was not given any details about who did this or what actually happened to Allen. The only information that was provided came from a Navy press release that said it was beating death, and that the two men were already arrested.

On November 7, 1992, Allen’s body was returned to Chicago. The Navy had reportedly told Dorothy not to open Allen’s casket, well she did and she was horrified. She described that Allen’s face was smashed in, and that there were shoe prints on his face.

The Navy wouldn’t tell Allen’s family anything, and they wouldn’t give his belongings back to the family. The belongings that they really wanted were Allen’s log book and his diary. Dorothy decided she needed to get to the bottom of what happened to her son.

Trial and Conviction

In April of 1993, Terry Helvey was finally charged and arraigned. Charles Vins had already been released. They made a “sweetheart deal” with him that he would only get a sentence of 1 year and an honorable discharged if he testified against Helvey.

Terry Helvey (in white uniform).

Helvey confessed that on October 27, 1992, he and Vins were drinking, and saw Allen walk into the bathroom. Helvey said that Vins kicked Allen first, but told him to stop because he wanted to finish him off. Vins had to go outside, apparently because the beating was so brutal.

He said at trial, “I did not attack him because he was homosexual.” However, it’s reported that that’s exactly why he killed him, and that Helvey hated anyone who was gay. Helvey was also quoted as saying that “I don’t regret it, I’d do it again,” when he was asked about killing Allen.

According to the episode, Terry Helvey thought he was going to get a light sentence or no sentence at all for doing the military a favor. NEWS FLASH TERRY: THE MILITARY DOESN’T WANT YOU TO MURDER SOMEONE.

Terry Helvey was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison. He is being held at the FCI Greenville in Illinois.

Other

Dorothy is now an advocate for gay rights. In 1992, she received the National Leather Association International’s Jan Lyon Award for regional work.

In 1997, a movie based on Allen’s case came out called Any Mother’s Son. It won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie in 1998.

In December 2010, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act was enacted, allowing LGBTQ+ members to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces.

Dorothy, Allen’s mom

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m pissed. This case made me so angry. Most cases revolving the military do. I’ve also had this conversation with my husband many times before about whether the military covers things up and in my opinion, they do. My husband immediately changes the subject when I bring it up, which I don’t blame him. He served our country, and I thank him for it everyday. There’s definitely things the military needs to work on though, and that’s about as far as I’m going to take this.

Allen Schindler deserved better. It seemed that he was finally accepting who he was, and he even made a plan to get out of the military because he knew something bad would happen once people found out who he was. He seemed to accept that fact that his military career was over. His captain should not have outed him the way he did. They should have listened to his claims of harassment, and nothing was done. He was murdered because two homophobic assholes thought they were doing the military a favor. Helvey even said he thought he’d get off easy because of this. YUCK, WHAT A MONSTER.

I hope Helvey rots and dies in prison. They should have kept Charles Vins in jail, too. He was still there and even kicked Allen once. I guess sometimes people have to make deals with the devil, in this case Vins and Helvey are both horrible people.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Allen_R._Schindler_Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Ask,_Don%27t_Tell_Repeal_Act_of_2010