Robert F. "Bob" McAllister

Peacefully and surrounded by family on August 5, 2016 ROBERT F. “Bob” MCALLISTER; a retired Baltimore City homicide detective who worked high-profile criminal cases in the 1980s, died of leukemia Friday at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Monkton resident was 64.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville on Bloomsburg Avenue, he was the son of William McAllister, a chemist, and his wife, Lucille Barnett.

He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master's degree in forensic science from Stevenson University.

He joined the Baltimore City Police Department in 1972 and was assigned to the Northern District, where he worked initially in a vice and gambling unit. He was later transferred to the Central District's Sector Three, which included the area around high-rise apartments at Myrtle Avenue and on George Street.

After a short period in the narcotics section, he was sent to the Criminal Investigation Division. He worked undercover at a Northwest Baltimore pawn shop and, in conjunction with the Maryland State Police, worked to apprehend those who brought in stolen goods. Friends said that as part of his cover, he grew a beard and sported longer hair.

Family members said he was also trained as a hostage negotiator and was called upon to use that training on numerous occasions.

He was promoted to detective in the homicide unit in the 1980s. He worked high-profile cases, including that of 15-year-old honor student Trudy Ann Levin, whose body was found by the side of the CSX Railroad tracks near Loch Raven Road off 25th Street in September 1986.

His investigations led to a suspect, Willie Marshall Featherstone, who was later convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in 1987 in the death of the high school sophomore.

Mr. McAllister "had the uncanny ability to see these crime scenes unlike anyone I worked with," said his longtime partner, Richard Garvey, who now works in the Harrisburg federal Public Defenders Office.

"He would figure out the scene, and once he did, he was tenacious," Mr. Garvey said. "He would work a case for 40 hours without sleep, then he would quip, 'I need a beer.'"

He was a part of the team of detectives that investigated the 1988 case of La-Tonya Kim Wallace, an 11-year-old whose body was found behind a Newington Avenue alley in Reservoir Hill. The body was discovered four blocks from her home, and she had been at the Enoch Pratt Free Library minutes before her death.

The case baffled detectives and remains unsolved.

David Simon — author, television writer, producer and former Baltimore Sun reporter — spent a year with Mr. McAllister and other detectives and recorded their work in his book, "Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets."

"He was one of the sanest men in that unit," Mr. Simon said of Mr. McAllister. "I never saw him lose his temper on the street. In whatever irrational circumstances he found himself, he never stopped making sense.

"He had the ability to be calm. He would say, 'We can do better than this,'" Mr. Simon recalled. "He was a good detective, and he was a good soul."

Friends said Mr. McAllister's patience earned him friends within the press. For instance, he would take 3 a.m. phone calls from the late Richard "Dick" Irwin, a Baltimore Sun reporter who compiled the paper's police blotter.

In 1994, Mr. McAllister left the Police Department and joined the federal Public Defenders Office. He retired in 2013.

He also was a Stevenson University adjunct professor in forensic studies.

Mr. McAllister, a photography buff, shot scenes of nature and animals around his Baltimore County home. He also enjoyed taking photographs of his family and friends.

He was a skilled cook and followed the recipes of Ina Garten. He often made her onion soup, filet of beef and chicken paella.

Bob is the beloved husband of 27 years to Susan McAllister (nee Tracy), a retired IBM business control analyst; loving son of the late Lucille Pearl Barnett and William McAllister II; dear brother of Patricia Lou McAllister of Westminster and the late William McAllister, III; devoted uncle of William McAllister IV and his wife Barbara and Rick Urquhart, Jr. and his wife Joy. Also lovingly survived by several great-nieces and one great-nephew.

In lieu of flowers (optional) expressions of sympathy may be directed in Bob’s memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,100 Painters Mill Road, Suite 800,

Owings Mills, MD 21117 (443-471-1600) or visit www.lls.org.