At about 9 am on Friday, October 2, 2020, 24-year-old Alyssa Burkett pulled into her usual parking spot at the Greentree Apartment complex where she worked in Carrollton, Texas. As she sat inside her car with the windows closed, likely gathering her things, witnesses would later tell authorities that they saw a man who was holding a gun climb out of his black Ford Expedition SUV. He walked up to Alyssa’s car & fired the gun through her closed window, striking her in the left eye & part of her face.
Likely assuming that Alyssa was dead, the man climbed back into his car & began pulling away. Meanwhile, Darin Ickeler, who was a maintenance supervisor who worked with Alyssa, just happened to be standing only fifteen feet away when he heard the blast from the gun. Unsure of what was happening, he noticed a dark SUV backing out of its parking spot. The next thing he saw was Alyssa climbing out of her car, heading in the direction of the leasing office to get help from her co-workers. Unbeknownst to the shooter, Alyssa had survived the gunshot wound to the face.
Darin watched in shock as he saw the shooter suddenly stop his car & sprint in Alyssa’s direction, now holding a large hunting knife in his hand. Meanwhile, the employees within the leasing office stayed inside, fearing an active shooter situation. Bloody handprints could be seen streaking the windows where Alyssa desperately tried to get someone to come out to help her.
Sadly, the man from the SUV began a frenzied attack & stabbed Alyssa 44 times, plunging his knife into her body over & over until he fled from the scene in his black SUV. At the time that he left, Alyssa was still breathing despite being shot in the head & stabbed so many times. At this point, her co-workers came out of the office & tried to begin lifesaving measures as another called 911.
The caller told the dispatcher that someone had just shot their assistant manager & only left in his car seconds earlier. The fire department was the first to arrive at the scene & immediately began tending to Alyssa, but sadly it was too late & she was already gone.
Alyssa Ann Burkett was born on December 31, 1995 in Mesquite, Texas to parents Josh Forsyth & Teresa Burkett. She was described as a loving mother to her daughter, Willow Ann & a strong-willed, ambitious, fiercely determined & driven woman. Her mom went on to marry a man named Chad Collard & between her parents, she had five siblings.
When Teresa Collard was given the devastating news of her daughter’s brutal murder, she was told that it was a black man who’d attacked her daughter. However, Teresa said that she knew exactly who was responsible & he was a white man named Andrew Beard. Teresa elaborated that Andrew was a very evil man who was in an active custody battle with Alyssa over their 1-year-old daughter, Willow. The custody battle spanned as far back as when Alyssa was still pregnant.
Once Willow was born, Andrew began demanding full custody of their daughter. Alyssa was adamant from the beginning that this was never going to happen.
Alyssa & Andrew met on a dating app two years earlier when Alyssa was 22-years-old & Andrew was 30. Initially, their relationship was very casual since Alyssa was so young & still trying to figure out what she wanted to do in life. However, things quickly changed when Alyssa realized that she was pregnant. Her close friends recall her bursting into tears & hysterically crying as she tearfully handed over her positive pregnancy test for them to see.
As Alyssa progressed in her pregnancy, her doubts & fears were eventually replaced with excitement. When she realized that she was having a baby girl, she was thrilled. Willow Ann was born on July 23, 2019 & Alyssa immediately took to being a mother. Her younger sister, Madison Grimes, indicated that Willow clung to her mother every second of every day.
After Willow was born Alyssa went back to college & started working as an assistant property manager at the Greentree Apartments. She hoped to one day secure a career that would give her the means to raise Willow in a stable environment where they didn’t have to struggle.
After their daughter’s birth, Alyssa & Andrew shared custody of Willow & they each spent a few days a week with her. However, as time went on, Andrew began to push for primary custody, forcing Alyssa to drain her bank account in order to cover the lawyers fees as she was in & out of court hearings.
According to Madison, her sister was living in constant fear of losing her daughter, who was the center of her universe. She worried that because Andrew was more financially stable, he would be granted full custody. Andrew had an established career at a tool company, he owned a nice house & even owned a plane. Since he had all the nice things that she could yet to afford, she realized that he had the upper hand.
However, Andrew’s mom, Lizette Bowers, believed that her son was fighting for custody from a place of love rather than malice because he believed that he could provide Willow with a more stable life than Alyssa could. Lizette described Andrew as loving & warm & someone who operated from the heart. She indicated that her son was an amazing father who constantly doted on Willow. She elaborated that anytime he had Willow, she could always be found strapped to his chest in a baby carrier so that she could experience the world alongside him each day.
In March 2020, when Willow was 8 months old, the dust began to settle & Alyssa & Andrew managed to find common ground. They reached an agreement on a visitation schedule & established child support. Alyssa began to relax as things grew calmer & the custody battle was resolved.
By this time, Alyssa was in a relationship with a new man named Ben while Andrew had also moved on & was in love with a woman named Holly Elkins. This was a relief to Alyssa & she was hopeful that Holly’s support would help the situation. Holly sent a text to Alyssa that read, … look forward to having a super healthy relationship with you & Ben! Alyssa responded, I hope your influence helps because I’d love nothing more for us all to have a healthy relationship.
Holly & Andrew’s relationship progressed very quickly. They began dating in April 2020 & by the following month, they were actively shopping for engagement rings. By the summer of 2020, Holly moved in with Andrew.
Alyssa’s hope that Andrew’s new love life would lead to a more harmonious co-parenting journey was short lived when she began to notice that Andrew’s demeanor was yet again shifting & he was becoming very hostile. It wasn’t long until the upheaval began again & Andrew was once again demanding primary custody of Willow & dragging Alyssa back into court.
Teresa noticed that Andrew was very short, rude & hateful in the way that he communicated with her daughter. The calm from March had taken a 180 degree turn yet again. With this, Alyssa carried an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach & had the sensation that someone was watching her. She told her family & friends that Andrew seemed to have an uncanny knack of always knowing where she was & what she was doing.
According to Teresa, when Willow was under her mother’s care, Andrew seemed to keep constant tabs on them. Alyssa’s friend, Shelbie, recalls a time when Alyssa was at a bar in downtown Dallas when Andrew suddenly showed up. Alyssa grabbed her phone & texted her shock at randomly seeing him & questioned if he was somehow tracking her. By this point in time, she felt like she was living her life looking over her shoulder in constant fear.
After Alyssa’s murder, her family discovered a video on her phone that she never shared or posted. It depicted Alyssa saying, Hi everyone, my name’s Alyssa. So this past year I have been going through a custody battle. A very ugly one. I have a 1-year-old child. It’s taken a toll on my mental & physical health… With that being said, I’ve become a lot stronger in the process.. And I guess just my message is no matter what you’re going through, stick it out. You can do it. And stay strong.
Things continued to be exceptionally challenging for Alyssa & in September 2020, one month before her murder, a man who identified himself as Frank Marrow called 911 & claimed that Alyssa was selling drugs out of the trunk of her car at work. He explained that he could both smell it & see it. He provided her license plate number from her which he described as a little Toyota Corolla.
With this, police visited the Greentree Apartments & confronted Alyssa in the leasing office where she was working. Alyssa was completely caught off guard & baffled as she quickly handed the keys to her car over. When officers opened her trunk, they not only found drugs, but also a pistol & some cash inside, just as the caller indicated they would.
It was very obvious that Alyssa was being set-up & made to look like a criminal which put her at risk for losing her job & more importantly, her daughter. She feared that she would be arrested for something she had nothing to do with. Alyssa was sure that the person who identified himself as Frank Marrow was actually Andrew.
Later that same day Alyssa texted her roommate Shelbie & wrote, he is going to try to get someone to kill me next. Those that knew Alyssa knew her as a very strong & brave person so the fact that she was asking for help proved that she was genuinely scared.
Madison remembers receiving texts from her sister that read, Come over while I walk inside. Lock the door behind you. Do you see anyone around you. Madison noticed that things were only getting worse & her family clearly recognized that Andrew was trying to have Alyssa arrested so he could gain full custody of Willow. They wondered what he could be capable of next & feared it was killing Alyssa. Only one month after the drugs were planted in her car, she was gone.
When Teresa responded to the scene of her daughter’s murder, she immediately told police that she knew exactly who was responsible as she spoke about Andrew. She was terrified, knowing that Willow was with him that day. If Andrew was capable of murdering her daughter, he was also capable of harming Willow & Teresa voiced that she wanted her grandbaby away from him.
Within hours, police pulled Andrew over in his F-150 pickup truck for an alleged traffic violation. Both he & Holly, who by this point was his fiance, were instructed to get out of the car while Willow remained in the backseat. Officers noted that Andrew seemed very unfazed & calm by the situation. Andrew was free to go because of the lack of evidence against him at this point & he left with Willow since he had court mandated visitation rights. The police seized his truck & told him not to go back to his house so he, Holly & Willow checked into a hotel.
When investigators searched Andrew’s home that night, they came across evidence that included an envelope with incriminating notes scrawled on it. The notes included Alyssa’s license plate number, the color & make of her car which was the information that the so-called Frank Marrow had given to police about the alleged drugs Alyssa had been selling out of her car. They were floored that he held onto the incriminating evidence for a month.
During the investigation authorities also discovered a tracking device on Alyssa’s car & right within plain view in his home, the lead detective found charging stations & batteries that matched the tracking device. Authorities assume that he installed the device on Alyssa’s car in hopes of catching her doing something that she shouldn’t be doing to gain an advantage in the custody battle.
When Andrew’s F-150 was searched, investigators found two dark vials of makeup inside of a backpack that contained a foundation called Java. Based on the dark shade, investigators immediately believed that he used the makeup to disguise his face during the attack to make himself look African American. They also discovered a pair of men’s hiking boots that had been cut up & were soaking in bleach.
Officers found the sheath of a knife at the scene of the crime but they were unable to locate the knife itself or the gun that was used to kill Alyssa. However, one day after Alyssa was killed, investigators found a black SUV that had been abandoned less than a mile from Andrew’s home. They soon learned that he’d specifically purchased it to use for the murder.
Images of Andrew were captured on a home security system fleeing through the neighborhood from the black SUV. Once this vehicle was processed, investigators discovered blood in multiple spots that later proved to be Alyssa’s. They also found a fake beard that was smeared with dark brown makeup. With this evidence, an arrest warrant was secured.
Investigators found Andrew at an Airbnb where he was staying with his mom, Holly & Willow. Lizette indicated that while they were there, her son received a phone call informing him that he was going to be arrested. Three days after Alyssa was killed, Andrew turned himself in to the Carrollton Police Department & was charged with her murder.
In the meantime, Willow was sent to stay with Teresa while Lizette was confident that police had the wrong man. Holly felt the same, unable to believe that the man she was ready to marry could be responsible for something this horrific. From Holly’s standpoint, she was engaged to the most wonderful man on the planet.
Holly went into the station in hopes she could convince investigators that they had the wrong guy. She said that Andrew was incapable of doing such a horrific thing to anyone, let alone a woman. Investigators spoke with her for about an hour with the goal that eventually they could convince her that Andrew had a side that she did not know & hoped she could be a witness for the prosecution.
According to Holly, Andrew had been with her at home when Alyssa was murdered, but the detective was firm that this was not possible & she was not being truthful. There were hours from the day of Alyssa’s murder when he had not actually been there. She remained adamant that she would have known had he left the house that day & described herself as a stage 5 clinger of a girlfriend.
Holly tearfully told investigators that she was torn apart by what happened to Alyssa & what her fiance was being accused of. As the interview came to an end, Holly remained loyal to Andrew & remained at the Airbnb with Lizette. Lizette & Holly bonded over their ongoing belief in Andrew’s innocence.
After two weeks behind bars, Andrew was released on bond, something Lizette was overjoyed about. When she told Holly about his planned release for the following day, Lizette was taken aback when Holly indicated that she would be leaving & going back home to Michigan. She watched as Holly packed her bags & climbed into an Uber, never to return.
Within two & a half weeks of Alyssa’s murder, Holly Elkins left Texas & returned to her home state of Michigan. Upon her return, her childhood best friend, Stephanie Goddard, said that Holly never once mentioned Alyssa’s nor Andrew’s names. Within seven months of her return, she had her own condo, a new Lexus & a new boyfriend. According to Stephanie, Holly was known to always have a man by her side who was wrapped around her finger, always the one to control the relationship.
With Andrew now free, Detective Chevallier was exceptionally concerned for Willow’s safety & contacted the federal government to take the case under federal firearm laws after an unregistered silencer was found in Andrew’s home. Because of this finding, they agreed & Andrew was rearrested only eight days after he bonded out & he was charged with cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death.
In June 2022, one year & eight months after Alyssa’s murder, Lizette received a phone call from her son & was stunned when he told her that he planned to plead guilty. Lizette remained convinced of her son’s innocence, believing that he was absolutely not capable of murder. She also felt that the crime itself had been very sloppy & stupidly done & since Andrew wasn’t stupid, he was not the one responsible. She told him that he could not admit to doing something that he did not do & recalls falling to her knees as if she had been punched in the stomach.
Andrew spoke with the FBI as part of his plea deal & explained that the murder plot had been fully planned out. During this conversation, investigators learned that Holly Elkins hated Alyssa with a burning passion. As they looked into text messages between Andrew & Holly, they read the derogatory words that Holly used in regards to Alyssa. She called her ugly, fat, a bad mom & Alyssa’s contact information in Holly’s phone was saved under the name C**t Baby Mama. It was clear that Holly’s message to Alyssa about their healthy co-parenting relationship for the sake of Willow was a complete farce.
With the revelation of these untrue, ugly messages, Alyssa’s family believed that Holly’s hatred was based on sheer jealousy. It’s likely that she viewed Alyssa as a barrier to a happy little family of three between herself, Andrew & Willow. As Andrew continued to speak with agents, they quickly saw that it was Holly who was running the show, telling him what he was going to do & how he was going to do it.
According to Andrew, Holly was the mastermind behind the planting of the drugs in Alyssa’s car & she’d even tried to get Teresa, Alyssa’s mom, arrested. After Andrew & Holly failed to return Willow to Alyssa as scheduled, Teresa & Alyssa drove to their house & Teresa saw Holly driving a golf cart with Willow on her lap. The cart drove to the end of the driveway, Teresa got out of the car & took Willow from Holly & she, Willow & Alyssa drove away.
After they left, Holly immediately contacted the police who arrived wearing body cameras & officers captured the conversation where Holly indicated that Teresa had assaulted her when she grabbed Willow from her lap. She said, She literally attacked me from behind or from behind side. I was facing the lake. She pulled up her shirt & showed officers scratches on her stomach that Teresa was allegedly responsible for, yet Teresa denies ever touching her. Police agreed that the wounds appeared to be self-inflicted.
It was obvious that the previous attempts to remove Alyssa from the picture wasn’t working which meant that the next step was to truly get rid of her. Holly had written a text to Andrew where she expressed that she didn’t want to be involved with a pushover & instead, wanted a man who protected his woman & child above everything. Andrew admits that he was emotionally drained & agreed to do whatever Holly wanted.
A week & a half before the murder, Holly left for Mexico but continued to text Andrew. On September 25, 2020, she wrote, I hope you handle it. I’m not coming home to BS. Andrew replied, That’s my goal. Holly responded, Well, it will be a whole different conversation if I feel like you are ride or die. If not, then I don’t know.
According to Andrew, after he murdered Alyssa, Holly begged him to tell her the details about what he did. She specifically wanted the details while they were in bed together.
On May 24, 2023, Andrew Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison. It’s likely that by this point, Holly believed that the case was closed & behind her. However, a month & a half later on July 6, 2023, nearly three years after Alyssa was murdered, Holly Elkins was arrested by federal agents in Miami after she came back from a vacation to the Dominican Republic.
Holly pleaded not guilty & was charged with conspiracy to stalk & stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death. Inspection of Holly’s phone proved that she had searched for tracking devices, she was with Andrew when the ammunition & the knife were purchased. They also tied her to the makeup that Andrew applied to disguise himself as a black man.
Despite the fact that Andrew was calm & cooperative as he confessed their murder plan, no one could not forget that he was a brutal killer who chased the mother of his child down after shooting her in the face. He stabbed her with an incredible force & brutality that the detectives had never before seen. When discussing the stabbing, he basically indicated that he was putting Alyssa out of her misery when she didn’t die as a result of the gunshot wound.
In April 2024, Holly was on trial where she was accused of being Andrew’s co-conspirator. The prosecutors said that Andrew was a monster, but he was Holly’s monster. She maintained that she didn’t need a lawyer as she did nothing wrong & had nothing to hide.
After Andrew & Holly were engaged in May 2020, she grew frustrated by Andrew’s ongoing association with Alyssa & by summer 2020, she began a campaign to harass Alyssa. This included placing a GPS tracker on her car, making a false 911 call where she claimed that Alyssa was driving erratically on the interstate, the false reports about Teresa attacking her that included self-inflicted scratches across her chest & stomach. Holly & Andrew had also hired a private investigator in an attempt to dig up dirt on Alyssa & her new boyfriend, Ben. She also helped Andrew plant drugs & a gun in Alyssa’s trunk & then told police that she was selling drugs to black men out of her car.
They purchased dark clothing & makeup, ammunition, a knife & dark makeup. One week before Alyssa’s murder, Holly texted Andrew & told him to handle it. Shortly after this exchange, Andrew searched the internet for how to remove gunpowder from his hands.
Lizette, who had previously adored Holly, later described the woman as wicked to the core. She couldn’t imagine how a woman could orchestrate such a thing against another woman who was the mother of a young child that she had come to love. Lizette feels that had Andrew not met Holly, he would never have committed such an unspeakable act & Alyssa would still be alive today. She acknowledges that she is the mother of a murderer & that what Andrew did was the worst thing anyone could do.
After a six day trial the jury deliberated for 90 minutes & found Holly Elkins guilty. On August 15, 2024 she was sentenced to two life terms, a much harsher punishment than what Andrew received.
Alyssa’s family were both relieved & heartbroken with the verdict since Alyssa was getting the justice she deserved while they were left to wade through the grief of losing her. Alyssa’s younger sister Madison is left in a world without her best friend who she described as her person.
Teresa recalled a day when Willow cried for the first time, asking to see her mommy one more time. She explained that her mommy was in heaven & Willow asked the heartbreaking question if she had a phone number for her in heaven. When Willow is old enough, Alyssa’s family plan on sharing the whole story of what happened to her. It’s their goal that when she does learn the truth she will see the beauty in her mom’s life rather than the tragedy of her death.
References:
- Culturemap Dallas: Rowlett woman found guilty of plotting to kill ex-fiance’s girlfriend
- CBS News: Ex-boyfriend & his fiancee behind fatal stabbing, shooting of Texas mom Alyssa Burkett
- CBS News: A week before Texas mom Alyssa Burkett’s murder, the killer received a text: “I hope you handle it”
- Rest Haven: Alyssa Ann Burkett
