08/26/2026
⚠️ UGA STUDENT DONNA LYNN ALLEN WAS MURDERED IN 1983. MORE THAN 40 YEARS LATER, HER KILLER IS OUT ON PAROLE.
📍 ATHENS / OCONEE COUNTY, GEORGIA
More than four decades after the murder of University of Georgia student Donna Lynn Allen shocked the Athens community, the man convicted of killing her is out of prison and living in Watkinsville.
According to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles’ public database, Warren Reid Hall, now 66, began parole on April 22, 2026. His primary offense is listed as murder.
Hall was sentenced to life in prison for the 1983 murder of Donna, a University of Georgia sophomore who was stabbed to death on UGA’s Athens campus.
But there is much more to this case.
Months before Donna’s murder, Hall was receiving treatment through the University of Georgia Psychology Clinic, where he disclosed disturbing thoughts about ra**ng and killing a woman.
Within days after Donna’s murder, Hall was involved in two additional attacks on women.
And Donna’s parents later filed a $3 million lawsuit against Hall, the UGA psychology professor who treated him, and the Georgia Board of Regents, raising difficult questions about the warning signs that existed before their daughter’s death.
🎓 THE MURDER OF DONNA LYNN ALLEN
Donna Lynn Allen was a sophomore at the University of Georgia.
On December 21, 1983, she was stabbed to death on UGA’s Athens campus.
According to the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Hall v. State, Hall was arrested by Athens Police on December 28 after an incident involving another woman at a local shopping center.
Athens Police and University of Georgia Police questioned Hall initially about that incident and another attack on a woman the previous day.
The investigation then turned to Donna’s murder.
Hall initially denied killing her.
Two days later, Hall gave investigators a statement admitting that he murdered Donna.
The State of Georgia sought the death penalty.
On September 19, 1984, a jury found Hall guilty of murder. The following day, the jury sentenced him to life in prison.
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Hall’s conviction in 1985.
⚠️ WARNING SIGNS MONTHS BEFORE THE MURDER
One of the most troubling chapters of this case began months before Donna was killed.
The Greene County Department of Family and Children Services referred Hall for treatment at the University of Georgia Psychology Clinic.
According to the Georgia Supreme Court, Hall was treated there by a licensed clinical psychologist who was also a tenured UGA professor, with assistance from a graduate student.
That professor was Dr. Jack Jenkins.
During an interview with the graduate student on February 17, 1983, Hall made a disturbing disclosure.
According to the Georgia Supreme Court, Hall said he sometimes thought about finding someone, ra**ng the person and then killing them.
This occurred approximately 10 months before Donna Allen was murdered.
Contemporary reporting on the subsequent civil case documented another troubling allegation from Hall’s treatment records: Hall reportedly said he had previously brought a knife concealed in his sleeve to one of his psychology sessions.
Dr. Jenkins took action after learning of Hall’s homicidal thoughts.
According to contemporary reporting, Jenkins had Hall admitted to Athens Regional Hospital, where Hall was placed in a locked psychiatric unit.
Doctors released Hall approximately six days later after determining that he was not homicidal.
Hall subsequently continued treatment.
⚖️ DONNA’S PARENTS FILE A $3 MILLION LAWSUIT
The questions surrounding Hall’s treatment did not end with his criminal conviction.
In 1985, Donna’s parents, J.C. and Bernice Allen, filed a $3 million civil lawsuit against:
• Warren Reid Hall
• Dr. Jack Jenkins
• The Georgia Board of Regents
The Board of Regents was named because Jenkins was a University of Georgia employee.
The lawsuit raised a difficult question:
After Hall disclosed thoughts of r**e and murder, should police or his probation officer also have been warned?
Hall was already on probation for burglary at the time.
The Allen family’s attorney argued that if authorities or Hall’s probation officer had been notified about his statements, his probation could have been revoked and Hall could have been returned to jail.
The lawsuit alleged that Jenkins was negligent because he did not notify police or Hall’s probation officer about Hall’s homicidal thoughts.
But there was another side to the case.
Jenkins had responded to Hall’s statements by having him hospitalized.
The hospital subsequently released Hall after doctors determined that he was not homicidal.
The defense also emphasized that Hall had not identified Donna Allen as an intended victim.
⚖️ WHAT THE JURY DECIDED
The case went before a Clarke County Superior Court jury in January 1989.
The jury ultimately found in favor of Dr. Jenkins and the Georgia Board of Regents.
They were not held legally responsible for Donna’s murder.
That distinction is important.
The jury did, however, find against Warren Reid Hall and ordered him to pay Donna’s family more than $1.2 million in damages.
Because Hall was an indigent prisoner serving a life sentence, the Allen family’s attorney acknowledged at the time that collecting the judgment was unlikely.
The lawsuit therefore did not establish that UGA, the Board of Regents or Jenkins was responsible for Donna’s death.
But it became an important part of the history of the case because of the extraordinarily difficult public-safety question at its center:
What should happen when a mental-health professional learns that a patient may pose a serious danger to others, but no specific intended victim has been identified?
🚨 TWO ADDITIONAL ATTACKS ON WOMEN
According to the Georgia Supreme Court, Hall attacked two additional women on December 27 and December 28, 1983, just days after Donna’s murder.
One attack involved a knife. The other involved a gun.
Evidence concerning those attacks was introduced during Hall’s murder trial to demonstrate identity, intent, course of conduct and malice.
Historical reporting also states that Hall later pleaded guilty in connection with those attacks and received additional prison sentences.
⏳ MORE THAN FOUR DECADES LATER
Hall spent more than 40 years incarcerated.
He is now back in the community.
According to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles’ public parole database, Hall’s record currently lists:
Name: Warren R. Hall
Age: 66
Primary offense: Murder
Parole begin date: April 22, 2026
Parole office: More Circuit
Listed community: Watkinsville, Georgia
The state database also provides a specific residential address.
We are intentionally not publishing that address.
Hall has served more than four decades in prison and has been legally released by the State of Georgia. He is entitled to live in the community subject to the conditions of his parole.
🔎 WHY CAN THE PUBLIC SEE THIS INFORMATION?
Some people may wonder why Georgia allows citizens to see where a parolee lives.
The answer is that Georgia deliberately created a system allowing residents to access this information.
In 1997, Georgia lawmakers passed Senate Bill 23, commonly referred to as the “Know Thy Neighbor Act.”
The legislation led to Georgia’s public parolee database.
The purpose was described by the state as providing an “electronic neighborhood watch” in the interest of public safety.
The database allows members of the public to search for parolees by information including name and ZIP code.
The information available can include:
• Photograph
• Residential information
• Physical description
• Parole dates
• Primary offense
The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles continues to maintain a public parolee search today.
📢 WHY WE’RE SHARING THIS
This information is not being shared to encourage harassment, confrontation or vigilantism. Please do not contact, threaten, harass or confront this individual.
Warren Hall served more than 40 years in prison and has now been legally released on parole.
This case is an extraordinary chapter of Athens and University of Georgia history that has suddenly become relevant again. Georgia makes information about parolees publicly available so citizens can be informed about individuals living on parole in their communities.
Awareness is not vigilantism. It is simply awareness.
And we believe our community should know.
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🤝 A special thank you to one of our followers who brought Hall’s recent parole to our attention. Our community is often our best set of eyes and ears, and we appreciate those who take the time to share information that may be important to others.
🔗 SOURCES
Georgia Supreme Court — Hall v. State, 255 Ga. 267 (1985)
https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1985/42273-1.html
Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles — Parole Population / Parolee Database
https://pap.georgia.gov/parole-population-georgia
Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles — Official Website
https://pap.georgia.gov/
The Red & Black — February 14, 1985: “Parole denied for Univ. murderer”
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1179162/1985-02-14/ed-1/seq-1/print/image_549x817_from_51,0_to_3523,5159/
The Red & Black — March 27, 1985: “Slain student’s parents to sue”
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1179162/1985-03-27/ed-1/seq-1/
The Red & Black — January 11, 1989: Jury verdict in Allen family’s lawsuit
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/gua1179162/1989-01-11/ed-1/seq-1/
UPI Archives — January 11, 1989: “Psychologist not responsible for crimes by patient”
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/01/11/Psychologist-not-responsible-for-crimes-by-patient/1970600498000/
Digital Library of Georgia — Georgia’s public parolee database / “Know Thy Neighbor Act”
https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_i-ga-bj800-b-pp1-bw4-b3-s2-belec-p-btext
Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles — Victim Information Program (V.I.P.)
https://pap.georgia.gov/victim-information-program-vip
Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles — Open Records Requests
https://pap.georgia.gov/open-records-request
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🛡️ Live Smart. Live Safe.
SafeD Athens
