Security Investigations
Professor Brown
October 23, 2016
Laura Christie
Allyson Dalton was a two-month-old child who went missing from her mothers apartment
on July 27th, 1998. Born on June 7th, her mother, Sylena, was only twenty-years-old. Sylena and
her daughter lived on the second floor of an apartment in Strasburg, Virginia. The two were last
seen by a family member around 7:45 a.m. that morning. After not attending work in the
morning of July 27th, Sylenas coworker went to her house to check in on her. She arrived around
2:00 in the afternoon and found Sylena stabbed to death on her couch and noticed Allyson wasnt
in the apartment. After contacting police, they determined that the crime happened between 9:15
In the early stages of the investigation, local and state police, along with detectives searched
Daltons apartment. Police noticed that Allysons baby bottles were missing along with clothing
and toys. The missing items from Allysons bedroom showed that the crime had been thought
through and they believed that the goal of the crime was not to kill Allyson, but to keep her take
her from her mother and keep her comfortable in the process. While taking evidence for Sylenas
murder investigation, they reported that she was stabbed multiple times all over her body with a
large knife, which had been taken from the crime scene. The numerous stab marks told police
that this was a personal murder. Multiple stab wounds meant whoever performed this attack
wanted to inflict as much pain as possible to her. The amount of pain and suffrage that Sylena
endured through the stabbing made the disappearance of Allyson that much harder on their
Because of the personal aspect linked to these crimes, the polices main suspect was Sylenas
previous boyfriend, Dan Pompell. The couple had a complicated relationship and broke up
before Allysons birth but still kept in touch. Pompell was listed as a probable father on
Allysons birth certificate, in which he expressed extreme distress about child payments and
fatherhood. According to the warrant, Pompell, who could not be reached for comment, was
angry about the possibility of additional financial obligations on him if paternity of the child
was proven. It also states that Pompell was at Dalton's apartment at the approximate time of her
death (Washington Post). Although Pompell was cooperative during the police investigation,
he showed a great amount of stress but did not act in a suspicious manner. He agreed to allow
police to search his home, stating they wouldnt find anything. The police spent a few days going
over every inch of Pompells apartment, but came up empty-handed; there was no sign of
Allyson as well as no sign of evidence that would link him to the murder of Sylena; such as
Due to Pompell not wanting a child and claiming Allyson was not his, Sylenas mother did
not like him nor get along with him. She was adamant that he was the one to commit these
crimes and was angry that police could not find evidence linking him to the case. In an attempt to
take matters into her own hands, Sylenas mother filed a wrongful death suit against Pompell for
$1.5 million in damages; the ruling for the case in still unknown to date. She has continued to
pursue policing into deeply investigating Pompell, but due to lack of evidence, there was nothing
Since Allysons kidnapping and Sylenas murder, the Dalton family has hired a private
investigator, Christopher Borba, to take over the case. In an attempt to still receive any
information anyone may have, family and friends have created a Facebook page directed towards
them. A couple years prior to hiring Borba, the Strasburg Police Department received a tip about
a downstairs elderly neighbor who said he may have seen a man put a baby in a truck the
morning Allyson went missing. Unfortunately, Borba had taken the case on too late to follow up
justice for the two of them. In most recent attempts, authorities made an appeal for tips about the
case from the public in 2005. We don't have a murder weapon, we can't find the child, and
there are no traces at the crime scene as to who killed her, said Shenandoah County
Commonwealth's Attorney William H. Logan. We're left with asking the public -- if anyone saw
Personally, I believe it could have possibly been an ex-boyfriend of Sylenas that killed her
and kidnapped Allyson. When reading articles, it stated she was unsure of the true father but
believed it was Pompell. With how many times she was stabbed and how it was all over her
body, not just in one location, shows that it was a very personal crime. The attacker also made
sure Allyson would be comfortable; taking food, bottles, clothes, blankets, and toys with them.
There was no report of anything suspicious nor did any neighbors state they heard anyone
arguing. However, I do not believe it was Pompell. Although someone claimed that he may have
been at the apartment around the approximate time of the crime, there was nothing linking him to
the attack, other than his relationship with Sylena. In a thorough investigation through Pompells
house, they found no sign of Allyson, they didnt find the murder weapon or anything with any
amount of blood on it. Another reason I believe it was an old boyfriend of Sylenas is the fact
that they knew her schedule. They had obviously known her day-to-day routine or had been
possibly stocking her on that given day. If she was unaware of who could be Allysons father, an
ex-boyfriend could have felt it was his child and he deserved a life with her; away from someone
who was not her actual father even though Pompell did not want children.
Work Cited
"The Charley Project: Allyson Kathleen Dalton." Allyson Kathleen Dalton. The
Charlie Project, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
o Parenthetical: ("The Charley Project: Allyson Kathleen Dalton")
"The Unsolved Murder of Sylena Jo Dalton and The Kidnapping of Her 2 Month Old
Infant Still Unsolved." Missing and Unidentified People. Let's Find Them, n.d. Web.
23 Oct. 2016.
o Parenthetical: ("The Unsolved Murder of Sylena Jo Dalton and The
Kidnapping Of Her 2 Month Old Infant Still Unsolved")
o
"Allyson Dalton." Have You Seen This Child? National Center for Missing and
Children, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
o Parenthetical: ("Allyson Dalton")
Ordonez, Jennifer, and Maria Glod. "4 WEEKS AFTER VA. MOM'S SLAYING,
MISSING BABY'S FATE STILL ..." Washington Post, 28 Aug. 1998. Web. 23 Oct.
2016.
o Parenthetical: (Ordonez & Glod, 1998)