Alyssa Burkett, 24, seemed to be building a stable life in Carrollton, Texas: a young mother to her daughter Willow (born July 23, 2019), work as an assistant property manager and plans for the future. By the fall of 2020, however, she was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her daughter’s father, Andrew Beard, and living in near-constant fear. That fear became reality on October 2, 2020, when coworkers found Alyssa outside the Greentree Apartments leasing office, shot and then brutally stabbed. She had been slashed and stabbed 44 times; part of her face was destroyed. Although she was briefly still breathing, she did not survive.
From the start, Alyssa’s mother, Teresa, suspected Andrew. The couple had a volatile history after meeting as teens and separating while Alyssa was pregnant. Andrew, older and more established, sought primary custody and repeatedly dragged Alyssa into court fights. Friends and family described months of harassment and stalking-like behavior. In September 2020 someone using the name “Frank Morrow” tipped police that drugs and a gun were in Alyssa’s car; police later concluded the items had been planted and tied that false 911 call to evidence found at Andrew’s home.
The attack took place in daylight. Witnesses reported a black SUV pulling up beside Alyssa’s car, a man firing through the windshield and then approaching with a knife to stab her repeatedly. Some observers described the shooter as Black; investigators later found evidence that Beard had attempted to disguise his appearance by darkening his face with heavy makeup and wearing a fake beard. Investigators say he bought a Ford Expedition for the attack and parked it near the scene; the vehicle was later found abandoned. Blood taken from the SUV matched Alyssa.
Police quickly focused on Andrew. He had visitation with Willow that day and was stopped within hours in an unrelated traffic stop. Andrew and his then-fiancée, Holly Elkins, were initially cooperative and released while detectives continued to investigate. Searches of their residences and belongings turned up material that prosecutors characterized as damning: notes connected to the “Frank Morrow” 911 script, batteries and chargers that matched a GPS tracker later found on Alyssa’s car, dark makeup and costume facial hair, and an envelope containing the license plate and vehicle details used in the fake drug tip. A tracking device had been affixed to Alyssa’s car using matching batteries. Detectives also found blood in the black SUV.
Andrew denied involvement at first but was rearrested after federal agents invoked federal firearms laws; investigators recovered an unregistered silencer in his home. He eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges and admitted to killing Alyssa. In interviews he described returning to stab her after believing the gunshot had been fatal, saying he “finished” her; prosecutors portrayed him as the triggerman who carried out a plot he later said he had executed under Holly’s direction.
Holly Elkins emerged as a central figure in investigators’ account of a planned conspiracy. Text messages and phone records, investigators say, showed animus toward Alyssa, derisive language and repeated efforts to undermine Alyssa’s standing as a mother. Friends recalled Holly saying she wanted a “perfect” family and that Alyssa stood in the way. Authorities tied Holly to the earlier framing attempt—the false “Frank Morrow” 911 call that resulted in planted drugs and a gun—and to efforts encouraging Andrew to surveil and track Alyssa. Evidence later connected her to searches for tracking devices, purchases of ammunition and a large hunting knife, and to the dark makeup used to alter Andrew’s appearance.
After the homicide Holly left Texas and returned to Michigan. In July 2023 she was arrested at a Miami airport and charged federally with conspiracy to stalk and stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death. As part of a plea deal, Andrew Cooperated with the FBI; his statements, prosecutors say, depicted Holly as a “puppet master” who pressured and directed him, coached him on disguises and on making the crime appear to be committed by someone else, and demanded he prove he was “ride or die.” At trial prosecutors presented the physical evidence recovered from Andrew’s possessions—fake beards, costume facial hair, notes tied to the 911 call, purchased makeup—and surveillance video of Andrew fleeing the area after the attack.
In May 2023 Andrew Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison. Holly Elkins’s case went to trial in April 2024. Jurors convicted her of conspiracy to stalk and stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death; she was later sentenced to two life terms, a sentence longer than Andrew’s. Those convictions closed a legal chapter for Alyssa’s family but could not undo the loss.
The human cost has been lasting. Willow, who was about one year old when her mother was killed, was returned to family care after the arrests. Relatives have developed rituals to keep Alyssa present in Willow’s life: showing photos, visiting her grave on Mother’s Day and talking about her often. Alyssa’s mother, Teresa, and sister, Madison, speak of small daily moments—Willow’s questions, the gap left by Alyssa’s absence—and of the hope that Willow will grow up knowing her mother’s love rather than only the circumstances of her death.
Investigators and prosecutors emphasized the case’s pattern of stalking and conspiracy: months of surveillance, the framing attempt with a fake 911 call, placement of a GPS device on Alyssa’s car, the purchase of a vehicle and disguise for the attack and the eventual, violent execution at her workplace. For Alyssa’s family, the sequence of intimidation and control that escalated into murder is what defined the case.
In the wake of the convictions, loved ones have praised the work of local and federal investigators who pieced together physical traces tying the crime to Andrew, cell and purchase records linking Holly to planning and materials, and testimony that documented a relationship marred by manipulation and jealousy. The verdicts brought a measure of accountability but not solace. The family’s continued focus remains on Willow — raising her with memories of her mother’s life rather than allowing the violence that ended it to be the only story she knows.