Young Mom Murdered Over A Delusional Fairytale... The Case Of Alyssa Burkett

[MUSIC] Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rey. Thank you so very much for joining me today. And if you're new to my show, be sure to hit subscribe. I'm so happy you're here, and I'd love for you to stay. And that way, you will not miss episodes when I upload them. Okay, guys, so the case that I'm going to be telling you about today truly pissed me off. I mean, they all do. But this one in particular has an element to it. That first of all, I have never seen before in all my years of covering a case. I have never seen someone do something like this. It's so diabolical and just mind-blowing that they actually thought this would work. The whole case is so messed up. My jaw was on the floor, as I was researching this case, and it's really one that just brings tragedy to a whole new level. I'm going to be telling you guys about a very young mother, 24-year-old Alyssa Burkett, who in October 2020 was heinously murdered. And the details surrounding her murder and how it took place, they're going to leave you speechless. I mean, they certainly left me speechless. And like I said, I've never seen anyone try to do something like this. Although, I'm curious if any of you have heard of cases where someone does this. Because, you know, for as many cases as I have covered, I don't know about every single case out there. And I'm sure someone else has probably done something as despicable as this. Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show and also any of the mile hire media shows. Your support makes it possible for us to continue funding grants through my foundation Higher Hope, which supports victims of violent crimes, their families, and like-minded nonprofits. And with that, let's go ahead and dive into this case. So, on December 31st, 1995, Alyssa and Burkett was born in Mesquite, Texas, to Josh Forsyth and Teresa Burkett. She had one sister through her parents' marriage, Taylor. And then, after they split, she welcomed additional siblings through her parents' recoupling, including another sister named Madison. Now, Alyssa was described by her family members as being very strong-willed and also ambitious. She was really a natural-born leader, and that was obvious from a young age. She seemed to be a very driven person, a very determined person. And yes, a little bit headstrong, which I personally think is a great quality. And even though she, you know, had that intense side to her, she also is described as really having a heart of gold. Her mom says that she was always there when she needed her. And her little sister, Taylor, fondly remembers her own 18th birthday. When Alyssa told her that now that she was an adult, they were finally going to get to do a bunch more together and really have, you know, that adult sister bond. Alyssa was that kind of person who also noticed others getting picked on and then chose to be their friend. And once she was your friend, she had your back for life. A friend described her as being like a mama bird, just a total caretaker, and that could not be more true. And I think all of those traits that I just described are truly a recipe for what it takes to be a phenomenal mother. And she certainly was. Alyssa was 22 years old when she got pregnant with her daughter, and like so many others can probably relate to, finding out that she was pregnant was, of course, nerve-wracking. She had been casually seeing a guy named Andrew Beard, who she met on a dating app, but she wasn't looking for anything serious. He was almost nine years older than her, and they were definitely in different places in life, you could say. So she never meant for things to get serious. And I've actually watched some professionally produced coverage on this case, and I was very disappointed as I often am with professionally produced content, like 50, honestly, like 70% of the time I'm not thrilled with the way they do it, but they really spoke so diabolically about her as a victim compared to the perpetrator. In fact, there is a pretty viral clip from, I believe it's a 48 hours episode I'm quite confident it is, where the way that they described her just felt so disrespectful, and didn't make any sense to what was actually going on in her life or the person that she was. I'm hoping I can put a clip of it in there, but I don't know. We'll see. They're heavy with the copyright. You guys may have even seen this clip either if you've watched the whole 48 hours episode on this case, or if you've just seen it on TikTok, because it's like I said, pretty viral there, but they described Alyssa as someone who loved eating turkey legs at a state fair and was still figuring life out. Out of all the great qualities about her, that is what they came up with. And when I had first seen that clip, because I actually had seen that like a friend had sent it to me months before, I figured that has to be them talking about the killer. Like they're trolling her a little bit, right? When I found out that she was the victim, I was just floored. Anyways, I just had to mention that because yuck, what the fuck are you doing 48 hours come on? But yeah, pregnancy was a total shock for her. It was a big wake-up call, and it ended up being something that she ultimately wanted to go through with, and figuring out that she was having a baby girl made her much more excited. Her daughter, who I won't be naming for the sake of her privacy, was born in July of 2019, and this monumental shift in her life ended up really inspiring Alyssa, so much so that she decided to go back to college. She was determined to be successful so that her daughter never struggled, and what a beautiful thing to do. And her selflessness is something that I really took away from this case while I was doing my research. Alyssa was definitely someone who clearly sacrificed for others, gave so much of herself in a genuine way to the people that she loved, and her daughter, of course, was no exception. I mean, she was her whole world, and I think choosing to raise her daughter without staying with Andrew was actually a big act of selflessness. Even though it went against what she ultimately wanted for her daughter, she wanted, you know, two parents under the same roof, raising their child like the most ideal situation, you could say. She knew it was not going to be best for her daughter, and being able to recognize that young early on is so huge. But yeah, she really had told family members that all she really wanted for her daughter was a single household, a stable household, as any parent wants for their child. She didn't want her to have to go back and forth or change schools or do anything associated with living between two parents, but she realized that even though it was going to be tougher, and it wasn't exactly what she wanted, the right decision for both of them was to not stay with Andrew. He, on the other hand, had a different vision though. He had pictured them moving in together and raising their daughter in the house that he had bought on a lake in a suburb of Dallas, but two weeks into attempting that, someone close to Alyssa says that she just knew they needed to part ways. Her friends said that he became controlling, and always just wanted everything to be on his terms without considering much of how she felt about everything. And she knew that that just wasn't going to foster an environment that she was comfortable living in. And so ultimately she and her daughter moved out. And when it came to custody, as it's so often is, it unfortunately was not a smooth road. In fact, even before their daughter was born, they were already having disagreements, already really, you know, struggling. And according to Alyssa's friend, Andrew had asked for full custody before she'd even given birth. And then, of course, he kept going with that afterwards. And when they were splitting custody, he took her in and out of court, pushing to get their daughter all to himself. And not only was this totally stressful and emotionally traumatizing for Alyssa, it was also just financially a massive burden on her. Andrew definitely had more resources than she did. He was also older. He had more stability. And so he used that to his advantage. And she feared, understandably, that the courts would view him more favorably. Now thankfully, the two of them did end up reaching an agreement to co-parent, which was going to be better for everyone. And Alyssa, even though Andrew didn't feel this way, she reportedly really wanted Andrew to still have a relationship with their daughter. And she wanted things to be as smooth and civil as possible, which I think speaks to her selflessness, too. I mean, he was the vindictive one, and she was still willing to let him play a role in her life. And I think that was mainly because she had hoped that would be what was best for her daughter. So yeah, an agreement was reached. And at least for a short period of time, it appeared that they were amicably co-parenting, and things were going okay. They even both began dating new people, which of course can be tricky to navigate with a child involved. 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And because of the early stages of the pandemic, and for other reasons that I will explain later, Andrew and Holly's relationship was really sort of expedited, which I know sort of happened with a lot of couples. But by the end of April, she was being introduced to his daughter, and by May, they were shopping for engagement rings. And Holly even was eager to be playing the stepmother role to Andrew and Alyssa's daughter. And at one point, she texted Alyssa saying, "I look forward to having a super healthy relationship with you and Ben." To which Alyssa replied, "I hope your influence helps because I'd love nothing more for us all to have a healthy relationship." But unfortunately, this did not last long. And it wasn't long until the healthy relationship dynamic really shifted. And by the summer of 2020, shortly after Andrew and Holly got married, they were back in court fighting over custody of their daughter. And that whole summer was honestly plagued by one bad thing of another, but no one could have expected the worst thing possible to happen, which occurred on October 2nd in the morning. Now, that day was a Friday, and as usual, Alyssa was headed to work. She had gotten a great job as the assistant manager at the Green Tree apartment complex in Carrollton, Texas, and she rolled up to her office right around 9 a.m. as she usually did. But then the unexpected happened, because before she even got the chance to exit her vehicle, a man pulled up in a black SUV beside her, exited his vehicle, and then proceeded to shoot her through her driver's side window. Yet, despite being shot in the head, she somehow survived. And knowing that she was so close to work and that her co-workers were literally just a few feet away inside the building, Alyssa managed to get out of the car as quickly as possible and attempted to seek help. But this is when horror struck again, because after seeing her run towards the door of her building, the masked assailant grabbed a knife and proceeded to stab her over and over again. Like it was absolutely brutal, a really bloody scene right outside of her office. And it's important to note that this person left behind the knife sheath that he dropped as he initially ran towards Alyssa. And this was brutal for their co-workers to be watching out the window. Helpless. Not knowing if this attacker is coming after all of them. I mean, they're trying to make sure that they can lock down the building as best as possible. And they're just completely helpless in the situation. They don't know if they go outside to try and help her if this person then kills them, but after her attacker left, of course, they were able to go outside. And thankfully, someone from her office called 911, but sadly, by the time first responders arrived, there was nothing they could do to save her. And like I said, there were multiple people who witnessed this crime beyond her co-workers. It was two of her co-workers specifically that were able to see what happened through the window, but a few people were outside and got glimpses of the attack as well. And by piecing their statements together, they put together a description of this assailant as a black man with a beard who drove a dark colored SUV. And of course, the nature of her injuries also told them a lot about her attacker, specifically the fact that her killer came back and stabbed her once he realized the gunshot didn't work. And as I'm sure a lot of you know, especially if you consume a lot of true crime content, or if you work in criminal justice in some capacity, stabbing someone is a highly personal way of committing murder. I mean, it's up close in personal. It requires a lot of force, which normally there is a lot of rage behind that force. So whoever did this to her was angry, right? Someone was clearly rageful. One investigator even described the scene as the most brutal scene that he had ever witnessed in his career. And I'm obviously not going to show the picture because it's far too upsetting, very disturbing, but her bloody handprint was found on one of the office windows as she was desperately trying to seek help. Oh my God, this next part truly broke my heart, but her mom quickly rushed to the scene when she heard what happened. She had received a call that Alyssa had been shot. You know, when it was in total shock and knowing that she even had to see a glimpse of that scene is just devastating. When her mom Teresa arrived at the scene, she remembered asking the officer, did she make it? Did she almost like she knew her daughter was already gone? And when they confirmed her worst fear, there's footage of it, but she completely fell apart, not only because her firstborn daughter was gone, because this was the moment she realized the thing they had feared happening most had come true. She and Alyssa, along with other family members, had suspected that her life was in danger. And it's no surprise who they thought had committed this murder, right? I'm sure who you are all thinking as well. They knew who they were all so afraid of. As the summer of 2020 progressed, her and Andrews amicable co-parenting relationship had turned incredibly toxic. I mean, so much so that she lived in fear of the violence he may inflict on her. She even said, "I think he's the kind of person that's gonna try to kill me." And they did, but they did. God, that footage of her mom just tears me up the first time I watched it. I just broke into tears. I cannot imagine that pain as a mother. And it's so, it's so horrible. But I think it's really powerful to see it and also listen to what she says right off the bat. I mean, their thinking this is Andrew, right? In fact, she said she knew Andrew was behind this, because of other attempts that he had made to try and take full custody of their daughter. And when those attempts didn't work, he was angry. So get this, you guys. One month before this vicious attack, a 911 call was made by someone who identified themselves as Frank Morrow. And this person was reporting a list of for selling drugs out of the trunk of her car at work. And I have this call for you. Take a listen. And like you heard, he had her license plate number and he was reportedly very specific about what he had witnessed. So much so that the police ended up visiting Alyssa at the Green Tree apartment complex where she worked to search her car. And when they did, they found weed, cocaine, cash, and a pistol with its serial numbers scratched off in the spare tire well of her Toyota Corolla. Now thankfully, nothing came out of this. Alyssa was very adamant that she was being set up and that none of these things were hers. And luckily, they believed her. But understandably, this incident left her feeling totally scared, vulnerable, and incredibly shaken. She just knew in her gut that Andrew had to be responsible for it, right? given the circumstances, she knew he was trying to get her arrested to then use that as ammo and court. She even texted her friends saying he's going to try and get someone to kill me next. In fact, before the drug incident happened, she had a gut-wrenching feeling that something wasn't right, and she had suspected that he was following her. For example, there was one time that summer where she was at a bar with friends in downtown Dallas, and Andrew just happened to show up there. And sure, coincidences happen, but things like that started to happen a lot. There was another instance where Andrew mentioned Alyssa's address in court, despite the fact that he reportedly wasn't supposed to know where she lived. So, very understandably, she became fearful for both her safety and the safety of her daughter. And in text to her sister, she said, quote, "Come over while I walk inside. Lock the door behind you. Do you see anyone around you?" And this is all coming from someone who, according to her family members, wasn't afraid of much, but clearly Andrew's behavior was continuing to escalate, and he was doing it, obviously, so that he could get full custody of their daughter. And it was all shortly after he began dating Holly. You know, at first, like I explained, they had this pretty amicable situation. Everyone was trying to get along, or seemed that way, but eventually a switch just flipped. And he went from being fine with their setup, their shared agreement, to wanting their daughter all to himself again. So that summer, they were back to fighting in court. And if it gives you any idea of just how fearful Alyssa was, she made a go fund me to ask for help with her legal fees. And in the description, she wrote, "In part, at this point, I am scared for my life and my daughter's life." And then after what happened in October, it seemed that everything she and her loved one were scared of happening had come true. And it did not take investigators long to confirm what she was fearful of. But of course, they were confused because multiple witnesses had reported seeing a black man in a black SUV commit the murder. And if you're listening to this episode, let me be clear, Andrew is a white man. So there was a lot of confusion there. Maybe it wasn't Andrew. He of course seemed like the obvious suspect, but it didn't match up with what these witnesses were saying. Big news for Akatar fans, Nick's KNIX just launched their exclusive Akatar and Nick's collection, bringing Nick's signature intimate together with designs inspired by the courts and characters of Akatar. 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That's Nick's.com/akatar. Code TCKR. Happy shopping! So they're thinking maybe Andrew isn't involved. Maybe this was something totally random. But again, the attack did feel very personal. But then they're thinking, maybe it's possible he got someone else to commit the murder. But then when inspecting her car, they did end up finding a tracking device on it. And after learning more about their recent history, Andrew was immediately zeroed in on. Investigators did do their due diligence and looking into other people as well. But the nature of the attack plus everything they were finding out. I mean, it seemed pretty obvious, right? Right? And then of course, there was concern that if he was the one who did this, and they could somehow explain the witness's descriptions of him, that maybe he might attempt to flee with their daughter. Because don't forget, he had his own plane. And that's what her family was initially worried about as well, is that he would take their daughter and leave in his own plane. And so things moved really quickly. Within three hours of the murder, rolet police officers were already outside surveilling his house. And it didn't take long for something to happen. Pretty soon, he, Holly and the baby were seen leaving in his white truck, after they were seen loading bags into the vehicle. Now, obviously that was concerning. So officers called Carrollton police and two detectives happened to be headed that way. They were actually pulling onto the street as Andrew was driving towards them. And so they were able to stop him because his truck was missing its front license plate. At that moment in time, they didn't have a warrant to arrest him yet. I mean, this was hours later. So this was the next best thing. It worked out pretty well. And when they approached him, he seemed totally calm, totally collected, didn't seem to have any idea that this had all happened. Even after they placed handcuffs on him, he was totally chill and didn't appear to be very nervous or anything, just confused. And Holly was the same way she was totally confused. They seemed like they had no idea what was going on. And they said that they were just headed out to brunch. And when it came to their cooperation, Holly definitely seemed really willing to help. She let them search her bag. But Andrew, on the other hand, wouldn't consent to his truck being searched. He seemed to be really flustered that they wouldn't tell him what exactly was going on. They did not let them know that Alyssa had been murdered. So they didn't seem to understand why they were being looked at and why he was being placed in cuffs. So he was asking things like, do I need an attorney? What's going on? And so he didn't want them to search his truck. But ultimately his consent to have the truck search or lack of consent. And sort of overall lack of cooperation in that moment didn't ultimately matter because detectives told them they were seizing his car, pending a warrant. And they also told him that he, Holly and his daughter were not allowed to go home because a search warrant was also pending there. So they ended up robbing his daughter in a car seat and seemed to be pretty calm as they left in an Uber and watching the footage of this, which I don't believe I can play due to copyright reasons, unfortunately. But they seem to really have no idea what was going on and seemed very relaxed for someone who could have potentially been involved in a murder just a few hours before. And this whole interaction didn't stop there, though, because despite being told to go to the police station in their Uber, shockingly, they did not. Officers ended up following them in the Uber because duh, why wouldn't they? And mainly they were doing that to make sure they didn't throw anything out the window or do anything else sketchy. But they ended up taking an exit that wasn't an exit for the police station. Now, I don't know if they were repulled over or what, but there's body camera footage that shows them all in a 7-Eleven parking lot where Andrew was ultimately on the phone with his attorney. And so at one point, they're talking to officers in their car and they're explaining that they're just feeling confused. They don't know what's going on. Yada Yada and Holly says something along the lines of, I assume that this is something going on with baby mama because, you know, we've had issues with her. And that's when the officer tells her baby mama was murdered this morning at her work. To which Holly reacts to with total surprise, she's like, oh my god, what? Oh my god. And meanwhile, Holly had also made a phone call to Andrew's mom, Lizette. And she basically told her that they'd pulled her over and that the cops had their guns drawn on them and they didn't understand why. So anyway, instead of going to the police station, they ended up deciding to go to an Arabian B and they ultimately just waited there until the rest of the investigation unraveled. And let me tell you, boy, did it unravel fast. Later that same evening, the search warrant was executed on Andrew's house. And one of the first things they found was an envelope with writing on it that looked like a script for the Frank Morrow drug call the setup against Alyssa. These two were actually dumb enough to just leave a script sitting around their house. Nice work. And in it, it includes specific details about her car, including her place of employment, her license plate number, as well as the name Frank Morrow, literally written directly on the paper. And that wasn't it. Despite not finding the murder weapon itself, they did find an unrelated gun, as well as a homemade silencer. They also uncovered charging stations, batteries, and a box for the exact type of GPS tracking that had been placed on Alyssa's car. And it turns out that it wasn't just Alyssa's car that they were tracing. They were also tracing her boyfriend Ben's car as well. He found one there too. So even though these witnesses describe her killer as a black man. They were really questioning if these witnesses were not mistaken, because as if finding all of this evidence wasn't enough, more evidence just continued to reveal itself almost too easily. I mean, almost like Andrew is a big fucking idiot. So the following day, October 3rd, detectives canvassed the area and you guys, they found his getaway car. The same Black Ford Expedition that Alissa's killer drove was parked less than a mile away from his house. Bro, this guy has rocks for brains. I mean, in the 26-mile distance from her office to his house, he figured the best place to possibly dump it was in his own goddamn neighborhood. I mean, you cannot make this shit up. For all the effort that he attempted to put into covering his tracks, he left so much evidence just frantically at his doorstep and in his house and get this. Inside the car, they found a fake beard with what looked like dark makeup on it, as well as bloodstaining that would soon come back as a match to Alissa. Of course, the blood itself is a home run, but that beard was a close second and also, can we take a moment to remember that his name is Andrew Beard. So when detectives executed a search of Andrew's truck, they found several concerning items in his daughter's diaper bag. This included a serrated kitchen knife, workboots which had been cut up and doused in bleach, as well as two what was described as Java-colored foundation bottles, specifically Mabeline Fitme Foundation, which I've got to say, as soon as I heard it was Mabeline Fitme, I figured a woman had to be involved in this as well. They also found a partially burned makeup brush and makeup wipes with brown residue on them. So yeah, this explains why witnesses saw a black man commit this murder. Andrew Beard was in black face when he killed his ex. And this is the element to the case that I was saying I don't think I have ever seen. Unless I'm forgetting, I really don't think I've seen anyone do this. Like I said, I'm sure other people have just not any cases that I have heard of. If you know of any others, let me know. But wow, wow. So not only are you just a terrible person, a terrible parent, a fucking murderer and abusive bitch, but you're also a racist and trying to frame this on a black guy. Now, this situation makes me so angry for so many reasons, but it also makes me wonder where his logic, if you can call it that, got lost. Now, to be clear, at this point in time, we know that this man does not have an ounce of logic in his brain. Like, let's count the brain cells. Ready? One. But even when you're that stupid, how do you go from buying a new car and trying to conceal your identity to leaving the car and all the other evidence in plain sight and leaving the script for what you did earlier, just sitting around at home. It's truly like he thought this was such a brilliant plan. Like I am going to frame this on a black person. People are going to see that it was a black person. And I'm good to go. As soon as he completed his mission, he thought it was over and nobody could catch him. Yet there was literally surveillance video from his neighborhood, from 30 minutes after the murder of him running across the street after having ditched the getaway car. Now, at the time, police technically weren't able to directly link him to buying the new car because the woman whose name it was registered to said he sold it to a guy back in September who paid cash and wore a baseball cap and a mask. But honestly, the other physical descriptions that he was able to give of him did seem like a pretty damn close match to Andrew. So they were confident it was him. So I now have a bathroom at my office, which is pretty cool. I have somewhere to get ready before my show. And for this bathroom, I wanted calming pink vibes. And so I was looking for the perfect pale pink swivel vanity chair. And I knew right away that way fair would not let me down because they have the most unique products they really have anything that you're looking for. 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And by this point, his mom had joined him in Holly at the Airbnb and interestingly, after he went to jail, Lisette and Holly continued living together. And they were like besties at the time. And she also thought Holly was just the sweetest, most amazing girl was wonderful with his daughter, her granddaughter. And at the time, both of them were convinced that Andrew could not have possibly been involved in this. Even Holly went and volunteered to speak with the police and told them that they had to have the wrong guy. She even provided an alibi with him saying, he was with me the entire morning. I just told all my friends and family that I'm engaged to the most wonderful man on the planet. And now people want me to believe that he's not that. And there are so many emotional roadblocks for you to try to believe that. I get that. I can't believe that my fiance would do something like that to a woman or to anybody, but a woman. Knowing you, there's a side of him that you do not know. There are a few hours that you know he was not in that house. You cannot tell me that I feel that way, sir. I can tell you that because I know that for a fact that he was out of the house, Holly. I don't know that for a fact. I am a total stage five clinger girlfriends. I'm always up his ass. I find it hard to believe. Now I must say calling yourself a stage five clinger and that you're always up his ass is quite the way to describe yourself. And then this really rubbed me the wrong way, but she said that she was prone to anxiety and panic attacks, which, honey, aren't most of us these days, not to, you know, downplay anyone's anxiety, but I am also, you know, a very anxious person and prone to anxiety attacks. But because of that, the reason I'm ripping on her for that is because she used that as an excuse for why she didn't want them to explain to her how they could prove he did it. It's like she just didn't want to know the truth. And of course, they're thinking she's just got to be in denial because she would not budge on the idea that he could have possibly been responsible for this. But for as team Andrew, she seemed in the beginning, homegirl couldn't have packed up and high-tailed it out of their sooner, right after he posted his $1 million bail. Literally the day before he was set to come back home, she packed up all her belongings very quickly and moved back to her home state of Michigan, and Andrew's mom was like, what are you doing? This is This is the most important time for you to stay here and support Andrew, who we both think is innocent, right? And also just side note, I'm not sure how he or someone else scraped together the money for his bail with it being $1 million, but of course, investigators were not happy about that. Mainly because everyone was very worried about Alyssa's daughter and her safety. So much so that they ended up contacting the FBI in order to get his ass thrown back in jail. It goes back to the homemade silencer that I mentioned earlier that they found in his house. Well, ultimately, that allowed the FBI to pursue federal charges against him. And since the GPS device he put on Alyssa's car belonged to a company with servers in Florida. Technically, it had been operated across state lines, which made it a federal crime. So in total, they were able to charge him with cyber stocking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. And they put him back in jail until it was time for his trial, thankfully. And they actually dropped the murder charge and they pursued these other two charges instead, which is a little bit confusing I will explain. Now, if all of that we're not shocking enough, just buckle up for what is next, you guys. It's insane. I'm sure a lot of you are already seeing this coming and I've probably hinted at it quite a bit, but despite the initial allegations, Andrew did end up pleading guilty and confessed to everything. He pleaded guilty to both federal charges in June of 2022 and just outright admitted what everyone believed this entire time, which was that the plot to kill Alyssa was rooted in his desire to have full custody of their daughter. And of course, as part of his plea, he had to sit down with federal prosecutors and literally you guys, he told them everything from start to finish and I'm talking about everything he did to her over that summer in an effort to try and take her daughter away from her. But here's the next twist, the one that I'm sure you've seen coming. He said that none of this was his idea. Andrew completely flipped on Holly. He blamed everything on her and said that he was just going along with her orders and she was the true mastermind behind this entire scheme. And like I said, for me, the first clue was the Maybelline Fittme foundation. I mean, most women know about that foundation. It is a cult classic and it works pretty damn well, I must say. So yeah, he was accusing Holly of really being the puppet master and listen, do I feel some gratitude, some gratitude that he was honest, absolutely. Do I think he would have been found guilty if he hadn't confessed 100%. The evidence against this man was just absolutely stacked with or without that confession. I am glad that his conscience caught up with him and he decided to just be honest about everything. That's great. But it doesn't reduce the violence, horrible behavior, the racism, I mean, I could just go on and on about this fucking loser. But at the end of the day, he committed such a brutal murder against a wonderful person, a mother, the mother of his child. I just can never wrap my mind around that. And he inflicted lifelong trauma on so many people. And what's really interesting is he actually agreed to a phone call with John Kenyones, a famous 2020 news correspondent. If you know who that is, I'm sure a lot of you do. And he gave an exclusive interview talking about what happened and also talked a lot about his mom. Now I truly feel so bad for his mom. She absolutely did not think that her son was capable of committing such a violent act against a woman. Andrew explained in that interview that Lizette was, yeah, just shocked when he told her that he was pleading guilty because she couldn't understand why he would plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit and he had to explain to her that this was a crime. He committed a crime that he committed at Holly's insistence. He was definitely not as forthcoming in this conversation with John, but in his official confession, he went into detail. And here's how he said it all shook out. Okay. So from the jump, Andrew claimed that it was Holly's idea, the whole thing to get full custody of his daughter so that they could be a family and have Alyssa completely removed from the situation. She had this very tailed dream of raising her together and Holly felt that Alyssa stood in the way of that. You were to ask me whose idea was what drugs and the planning drugs was, was, was Elkins. Andrew also said that any time he tried to back down from the plan, she made sure that he went through with it. And that was true for each of their plots against her, including that drug setup that he admitted to orchestrating. In text messages between the two of them, Holly said things to Andrew such as, "Your baby mama owns you. You continue to put baby mama first. You continue to be, I don't know, for a lack of a better term, submissive to her. I don't want or need any bullshit from anyone. I don't want anyone who is a pussy to some low life or push over. I want a man who protects his woman and his child before anyone and doesn't give two fucks otherwise." I could literally throw up. And he admitted that these messages got to him and that he felt drained and just ended up becoming submissive to her as a result. It was made very clear to me that your previous methods aren't working. This is what you're going to do now in order to prove that, that, that, that you're basically you're worthy. Like I was emotionally drained and at that point, I just basically said, okay, it became submissive to whatever she wanted me to do, that's the task I did. And Andrew also explained that Holly had placed a 911 call under the name Amber and falsely reported that Alyssa was driving erratically. And of course, and this is no shock, right? He mentioned that it was her idea to put the GPS tracker on Alyssa's car. They even went as far as hiring a private investigator to dig a dirt on her, but when that didn't lead anywhere, because there was no dirt, Holly continued to escalate her behavior and the murder was essentially their last resort. And according to Andrew, it was Holly's idea to change his race. She supposedly told him, even if they see you, it would be somebody else. It was, um, you're going to dress, dress up as a, as a different person, essentially anywhere this dark makeup. That was her plan, that was how it's going to be done. It doesn't plan out because it was the process was planned out really. You really thought it was that easy? You really thought that was a brilliant plan. Okay, let's count the brain cells between the two of them. One, two. When we adopted our dog, Lucy, we had no idea what breach he was and we were so curious. So we turned to embark and turns out she is a whole lot of different breeds. But the number one breed she is is great Pyrenees and we were really surprised because we adopted another dog who ended up being 100% great Pyrenees and the two of them get along so well and they have so much in common that it shouldn't have shocked me as much as it did. But I find it hilarious that we actually have two mostly great Pyrenees. And I never would have guessed that either because she doesn't look like a great Pyrenees really at all. And we've always been so curious what exactly my cousin's dog cookie is. A lot of you probably know my cousin Janelle. She just sent in the test kit for her dog and you're waiting to get the results. Embark test for over 400 breeds and you get a full breakdown of your dog's breed mix, their ancestry and a family tree going back to great grandparents. They offer 99% breed identification accuracy. It's actually the most accurate dog DNA test on the market. But there's so much more to learn about your dog. 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Investigators also uncovered that in their texts, Holly was referring to Alyssa as ugly, fat, a bad mom, and her contact name in her phone was "Cunt Baby Momma." God, that just makes me so bad. And ugh, I don't know how her loved ones possibly processed all of this, finding all of this out after she was murdered to hear such vile things like that in all the ways they tried to harm her. The anger would just be next level. And her text also revealed a message to Andrew from just before the murder on September 25th saying, "I hope you handle it. I'm not coming home to BS right now." And this is just paraphrasing, but she also said something along the lines of, "Well, [BLANK_AUDIO] be a whole different conversation if I feel like you were a Ryder die. And Andrew told investigators that he thought her saying Ryder die was referencing his willingness to commit a crime for her. Which I think that's pretty clear is exactly what she meant, right? And clearly he was. According to Google Records, shortly after that text exchange, he began searching for how to remove gunpowder from his hands. And if you guys were not already just repulsed enough as it is, it turns out that after the murder, Andrew said that he and Holly were in bed together, and she was begging him to tell her the details of what happened while they're laying in bed together. How sick is that? And they didn't stop with Alyssa. They even went after her mom Theresa. In August of 2020, Holly ended up filing a false police report, accusing Alyssa's mom of attacking her. And here's what actually happened with that, okay? Theresa and Alyssa had gone over to their house to pick up their daughter after she and Andrew failed to return her at the scheduled time. And basically Theresa just went over to Holly and Andrew on their golf carts and just took the baby from them and left. Well, Holly called the police and said she literally attacked her and left scratch marks all over her chest. Now to be clear, the officers never did anything about this. And Holly's wounds literally looked self-inflicted. There was no other evidence supporting this crazy claim, but yeah, it was now confirmed to have been one of her poised to get custody. Andrew literally spilled everything and the digital evidence backed it all up. Her messages like the ones that I have read for you revealed how much hatred Holly harbored for Alyssa and Andrew was just complicit in whatever she wanted to do. Basically, he was just her baby-backed bitch. Now in the end, and this is frustrating because of his plea, he received a sentence of only 43 years in prison. And of course, that plea did play a big role in his sentencing outcome, which I think is the main reason he did that. But 43 years to me seems really light and extremely unfair for not only the murder, but repeated harassment leading up to it. I have heard people in interviews close to Alyssa saying that they do feel that justice was served, but I think they are mainly referring to Holly because things did not shake out like that for her. And like I said earlier, she had long since dipped out. She actually went back to Michigan, where she started a new life with a new man. That quickly. Yes, that quickly. A friend of hers has come forward to say that she had always been super controlling in her relationships and was clearly just used to getting her way. But thankfully, reality and the law were finally now catching up with her and after the digital evidence was uncovered, they confirmed that Holly's computer had been used to search for spy stories, GPS trackers, and other related inquiries. And I've just got to mention some of my personal favorites here that just show how stupid this woman is. She searched if it was legal to track someone's car, whether a person must admit to calling 911 anonymously, and whether someone could avoid going to court by obtaining a psychiatrist note. She also searched contact psychiatrist in Dallas and can I be subpoenaed to jail if I have a mental issue. So that plus Andrews confession was enough to make an arrest. And so in July of 2023, Holly Elkins, a woman made of pure evil, was taken into custody at the Miami airport, as she made entry back into the United States after yet another international vacation. Unsurprisingly, she pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to stock, stocking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death, and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. And the evidence against her was undeniable. I mean, in addition to everything that I've already outlined here, investigators determined that on September 10th, she accompanied Andrew to a sporting goods store where he purchased a black rain suit in cash and on September 14th, she purchased the makeup that Andrew used to disguise his identity. And on September 19th, she was involved in purchasing the shotgun shells and knife. Holly's trial went on for a week, and despite her defense attorneys attempts to distance her from the plot, it only took the jury 90 minutes to find her guilty. And she initially ended up receiving a double life sentence, which I personally was very grateful to hear. Now, unfortunately, in December of 2025, the firearm count was vacated, as well as its life sentence, but one of her life sentences still stands. And so when it comes to Holly, justice was served. And like I said, I know some of her loved ones feel that way. I'm not sure about the rest of them, but yeah, of course, though, at the end of the day, it doesn't bring a list of back. And it doesn't change the fact that her daughter has to grow up without her mother. And she also doesn't have a father in her life either. And I'm sure a lot of you are wondering about her daughter. So she actually was officially adopted by Teresa, who from everything I've consumed on this case, has done such an amazing job raising her and keeping Alyssa's spirit alive. There have been some really difficult times, as you can imagine, like cleaning out Alyssa's car, for example, or going through her belongings, but it sounds like they really try and talk about her as much as possible and visit her grave site as often as they can to keep as much of her memory active in her daughter's life. Family members say they see so much of Alyssa and her daughter from the way that she talks to the way that she walks. And I think that's so beautiful. But God, there is one thing that Teresa said that just, "Mm, absolutely crushed me." She explained that there was one time where her daughter asked if there was a phone in heaven, and if she could talk to her mom and hearing something like that, I mean, it just breaks your soul. It's so hard to wrap your mind around how these two who claim to love this little girl so much, so much so that they were going through all these hoops to try and have full custody of her would be willing to damage her in such a massive way to place this pain in trauma and burden on her that she will carry the rest of her life. What were you thinking? How was this possibly a good solution for her? It wasn't. It was always about them and having the picture-perfect life that they wanted, especially that Holly wanted. I do take a lot of comfort, though, in knowing that she's being raised by people who will help her through all of that, who will love her through the hard moments, and keep her mother's memory alive for her. At the end of the day, what's so sad is that nobody wins in a case like this, even when justice is served. Alyssa is gone, her daughter doesn't have a mother or a father, like I said. And Alyssa's family, they have lost so much. No matter how many cases I cover, I will just never understand how people actually come to the conclusion that murder makes more sense than a divorce, a breakup, or splitting custody as is the case in this case. In God, Alyssa was just so strong too. After her passing, her sister Madison found this video where she talked about the custody battle and how difficult at the time she was having, but her message to people was to keep going to stay strong, and that's what I want to leave you all with today. It is possible to get to the other side of a very difficult situation, and you don't have to do it alone. Whether that be friends, family, even community on the internet, or, of course, professional help therapists, I mean, there are just so many people out there who want to help see you through this, whatever the situation may be. And I think that's what Alyssa was trying to explain. And when it comes to domestic violence, I'm always trying my best to remind people that it's not just physical, emotional manipulation, stalking, financial abuse, gaslighting. There are just so many different examples that are not physical, and they're all forms of DV that other people might not be able to see, but they are just as real. Hi, everyone. My name is Alyssa. This past year, I have been going through the custody battle, a very ugly one. I have a one-year-old child, sticking a toll on my mental and 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 could do it and stay strong. Now, as always, there will be resources linked in the description box or show notes that you can use for yourself or for someone you know who might be struggling with a situation like this, and maybe you can pass that along to them. That is going to be it for me today. You guys, thank you so much for joining me as always, and I'll be back next week to discuss another case, but until then, stay safe out there.