A memorial fountain and monument were dedicated to the memory of Sheila Allen on Thursday.

The Colonie Board of Trustees held the remembrance event Wednesday afternoon.
Allen was a 16-year-old Colonie High School senior who was abducted and murdered back in October 1970, just two days shy of her 17 birthday.

The Sheila Allen case went unsolved for over four years, until February of 1975 when State Police arrested the two men responsible.

“What happened to Sheila was unprecedented in the village history. No crime had ever been committed like that on one of the village children on the streets, and I thought it was a good idea that maybe we consider doing memorializing Sheila,” Colonie Fire Chief Jeff Kayser said.

Sheila was a member of both St. Clare’s and St. Michael’s churches.
A short time after her funeral, St. Michael’s Church members built a water memorial for Sheila on the church property.

Unfortunately, the location was ignored over the years, and allowed to become completely overgrown and unrecognizable.

However, several months ago, the Colonie Village Board authorized a committee to design a memorial to her memory.