Dorothea Allen

[mah79]

Hi Everyone,
I recently had the chance to watch the Dorothea Allen case again. Does anyone know if any of her heirs were located? I remember RS saying that if no heirs were located by the year 2002, then Dorothea's estate would revert back to the British government. 2002 was eight years ago, so I don't know what has come of it.
Dorothea's case intrigued me. Generally, the Lost Heirs cases are my favorite, because they make me wonder about "skeletons in the closet," or the deep mysteries of their pasts that they have guarded so closely. Also, I don't know if this sounds totally crazy, but Dorothea Allen is one Lost Heirs case that I didn't feel a lot of sympathy for. Normally, my heart goes out to other Lost heirs cases, like Kathryn Bennett, who grieved in seclusion for 10 years after her husband died, or Walter Rice, whose body was not found for more than a year after he died, or Howard Drummond. But Dorothea plainly did not want to be found. She took deliberate steps to conceal her identity, such as destroying her passport, refusing to make a will, and destroying old photographs too. I get the feeling that, if she could have built a separate coffin and taken her money with her to her grave, she sure would have! Dorothea reminds me so much of one of my great aunts that it is eerie. Like Dorothea, my aunt built a small fortune, but hers was in local NYC hotels, and she always believed that everyone was after her money. She was quite a ruthless businesswoman too...rumor had it that she even had her father (my great granddad) working as a janitor for her, and would yell at him if he did not clean the rooms right! My aunt died a dozen years ago, miserable and alone.
YOu know, as I reflect on my aunt, I wonder if the reason that no heirs were found for Dorothea is b/c she totally alienated herself from her family. Perhaps she has nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings, etc, who wanted nothing to do with her because of the kind of person she was. If she was ruthless in the workplace (counting the exact stitches, DEMANDING people walk out of her office backward) I could only imagine what she might have been like around family. This is exactly what happened to my aunt.
Anyhow, that's just a theory. I don't know how plausible it is, but it has often crossed my mind. I welcome any insight you might have!

[bell83]

Originally Posted by mah79

Hi Everyone,
I recently had the chance to watch the Dorothea Allen case again. Does anyone know if any of her heirs were located? I remember RS saying that if no heirs were located by the year 2002, then Dorothea's estate would revert back to the British government. 2002 was eight years ago, so I don't know what has come of it.
Dorothea's case intrigued me. Generally, the Lost Heirs cases are my favorite, because they make me wonder about "skeletons in the closet," or the deep mysteries of their pasts that they have guarded so closely. Also, I don't know if this sounds totally crazy, but Dorothea Allen is one Lost Heirs case that I didn't feel a lot of sympathy for. Normally, my heart goes out to other Lost heirs cases, like Kathryn Bennett, who grieved in seclusion for 10 years after her husband died, or Walter Rice, whose body was not found for more than a year after he died, or Howard Drummond. But Dorothea plainly did not want to be found. She took deliberate steps to conceal her identity, such as destroying her passport, refusing to make a will, and destroying old photographs too. I get the feeling that, if she could have built a separate coffin and taken her money with her to her grave, she sure would have! Dorothea reminds me so much of one of my great aunts that it is eerie. Like Dorothea, my aunt built a small fortune, but hers was in local NYC hotels, and she always believed that everyone was after her money. She was quite a ruthless businesswoman too...rumor had it that she even had her father (my great granddad) working as a janitor for her, and would yell at him if he did not clean the rooms right! My aunt died a dozen years ago, miserable and alone.
YOu know, as I reflect on my aunt, I wonder if the reason that no heirs were found for Dorothea is b/c she totally alienated herself from her family. Perhaps she has nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings, etc, who wanted nothing to do with her because of the kind of person she was. If she was ruthless in the workplace (counting the exact stitches, DEMANDING people walk out of her office backward) I could only imagine what she might have been like around family. This is exactly what happened to my aunt.
Anyhow, that's just a theory. I don't know how plausible it is, but it has often crossed my mind. I welcome any insight you might have!

If I remember correctly, they did find her heirs. I watched this one on the site which will not be mentioned about four or five months ago, and did a little research. Mind you, I was watching a lot of them, around that time, so I may be thinking of another case. But I'm pretty sure they did, because I remember the British part, and I remember the amount being in pounds

[The Dutchman]

Yes, circa 1996, a number of heirs were found and her 2 million pound estate was cut apart to relatives of Dorothea's parents. This appears to have been done in part through DNA testing from a piece of Dorothea's hair. No offense to the deceased, but I'm sure Dorothea didn't plan on that scientific trick! By all accounts, Great Britain was just thrilled to get the case off their books.

I watched the episode for the first time in November 2003 and wondered back then if the money had gone back to the government in 2002, or had gone to heirs. According to the article I found, Dorothea wound up not being married to her husband (and he was still married to his first wife while living with Dorothea), cheated on him, and had lovers after he died. That, and possibly most distressing to Dorothea, she had a steel worker for a father! To be related to a blue-collar worker was probably not a feather in the cap for Dorothea.

I think she probably suffered from mental illness before she died, but also didn't want people to find out all her secrets. She seems like the female Howard Hughes of England (he also died with no Will).

However, she took the worst route possible to concealing her past. Think about this. If she had left everything to a charity in her Will, legally that can't be contested by any heir (not that I know of). The money would have been paid out, no one would have looked into her past (she never would have made it on Unsolved Mysteries), and none of those greedy people Dorothea thought filled the world would have gotten a thing!

With no Will, she also ran the risk of her entire estate going to the government in 2002. While I'm a resident of America, I would rather have every dollar of my estate burned than go to Uncle Sam after I'm gone.

Her story is fascinating, and I don't feel any sympathy for the woman. I have always loved the lost heirs segments, and feel sympathy, and regard, for almost every other person spotlighted on the lost heirs segment (even "George J. Stein," who may have robbed banks).

If you do a Google search for Dorothea Allen, there are a few links regarding her past and what happened to her estate. I found information from this website compilation of newspaper articles:

http://www.corsetiere.net/Spirella/C...thea_Allen.htm

[alistaircranium]

Just watched this last night. What an awful woman! I can't stand people who mistreat their employees. I love that, in the end, people (strangers) from the past she tried to bury ending up inheriting her fortune.