In the months after Alyssa Burkett was murdered, she appeared to her mother, Teresa Collard, in a dream.

Teresa Collard:  I see her across the room and in my dream — I knew she was gone but I was hysterically happy that I was seeing her and I was thinking  “you’re back.”

Teresa Collard: She came to me and said, no, I’m not back. And I don’t want to come back and I never want to be there again. I was puzzled why don’t you want to come back and she said, because I was always afraid there.”

Although 24-year-old Alyssa Burkett had been afraid for months, the attack at the apartment complex where she worked in Carrollton, Texas, north of Dallas, came as a surprise.

THE DEADLY ATTACK ON ALYSSA BURKETT

According to Sgt. Michael Harding, one of the lead detectives, Alyssa pulled into her usual parking space at around 9 a.m.

Sgt. Michael Harding (in the parking lot): Alyssa’s car was actually parked right here … where the green van is right here. … And the assailant’s vehicle had parked right next to her …

Witnesses say the assailant exited his vehicle, a black Ford Expedition SUV, with a gun in his hand.

Sgt. Michael Harding (in the apartment complex parking lot): She had the window up and he shot right through the wind — right through the window.

Maintenance supervisor Darin Ickeler, who was about 15 feet away — “it was horrible” — heard the gun blast and turned around.

Peter Van Sant: What do you see?

Darin Ickeler | Witness: I see, uh, uh, black SUV starting to back out of the parking spot.

Investigators believe the shooter thought Alyssa was dead. The blast had destroyed her left eye and part of her face. But Alyssa Burkett was still alive.

Sgt. Michael Harding (in the parking lot):  She gets out of her car. She walks up to this landing to try to get help because she knows her — her coworkers are here.

The shooter, described by some as a Black man, got out of the vehicle and began sprinting toward Alyssa. This time with a new weapon in his hand — something more personal: a large hunting knife.

Sgt. Michael Harding: He starts to — to stab her, she’s still fighting. … (On a window of the building) there was a blood handprint smear where Alyssa was trying to get anyone to come out and help her.”

But fearing it was an active shooter situation, they stayed inside, and the attacker launched into a rabid killing frenzy — plunging his knife into flesh and bone again and again. Incredibly, Alyssa was still breathing when her assailant fled.

Sgt. Michael Harding: Once the suspect left, her coworkers came out to try to render aid.

One of her colleagues made this call to 911:

911 DISPATCHER: 911, what is the address of the emergency?

CALLER: Someone came up and just shot my — my assistant manager.

911 DISPATCHER: Where is the shooter?

CALLER: I don’t have enough information. He may be gone, he left in his car, he literally left a second ago.

Darin Ickeler: Fire department pulled up first. They come up. I get out of the way and let them do their thing.

Peter Van Sant: They start working on her right here.

Darin Ickeler: Immediately. Yeah. And it was too late. She was gone.

Alyssa had been stabbed and slashed a total of 44 times. Alyssa’s mother immediately gave the police a name, and it wasn’t a Black man; it was Andrew Beard.

Teresa Collard (police bodycam video): (Crying) I know he did this … he is an evil person.

Collard told detectives that Andrew Beard and Alyssa were in the throes of an ugly custody battle over their 1-year-old daughter, Willow Ann — a battle that began when Alyssa was still pregnant says her friend, Brandi Reagan.

Brandi Reagan: He initiated by asking her if he could have full custody of the baby after the baby was born.

Peter Van Sant:  And what did Alyssa have to say to his idea of him getting full custody?

Brandi Reagan: “You better be effing kidding me …”

Alyssa and Beard were worlds apart from the beginning. He was almost nine years older, established with a good job at a tool company, a nice house, and even had a plane. She was 22, loved eating turkey legs at state fairs and was still figuring life out. After meeting on a dating app, they had a fling, nothing serious. But then she found out she was pregnant says her friend and roommate, Shelbie Wright.

Shelbie Wright: I’ll never forget. … she’s just standing there, hysterically crying, um, and upset. … She couldn’t even speak, and she hands me a pregnancy test that said positive. And I honestly had no words for her.

But as the pregnancy progressed, Alyssa’s fears turned to excitement, says Wright — especially when she learned it was a girl. On July 23, 2019, Alyssa gave birth to a baby girl she named Willow.

Peter Van Sant: And when you saw them together … Alyssa and Willow, what was that experience like?

Shelbie Wright: Amazing. Motherhood looked great on her. Yes (laughs).

Madison Grimes: Just looking at the two of them … you could tell that their relationship was I mean … everything.

Madison Grimes is Alyssa’s younger sister.

Madison Grimes: Willow clung to her every second, every day. And I think that tells you a lot about the mother Alyssa was.

Alyssa went back to college and got a good job as an assistant property manager.

Madison Grimes: I think everything she did at that point in her life was for Willow. She wanted to be successful for Willow. She didn’t want Willow to grow up and struggle. She just wanted Willow to have an easy life.

Beard, who had joint custody, had Willow a few days every week. But he kept pushing for primary custody, dragging Alyssa in and out of court hearings — emptying her bank account.

Madison Grimes: She was terrified. … Willow at this point was the most important thing in her life. And when she you know … looked at the bigger picture … Andrew, he made more money than her … you know he had a house, he had all of the nice things that she didn’t have. … So she was afraid that you know … he wanted Willow and he was gonna get her.

Beard’s mother, Lizette Bowers, says her son was acting out of love, not malice.

Lizette Bowers: My son Andrew Beard is a loving, warm individual who always operated from his heart, from his core center. … When he had Willow, she was constantly strapped to the front of him. He was reading to her … He wanted her to see the whole world, every day.

Lizette Bowers: He just felt that he could provide her more stability.

In March 2020 when Willow was 8 months old, things seemed to change for the better. The feuding parents found common ground, finally reaching an agreement on visitation and child support.

Peter Van Sant: And so things seemed to calm down?

Madison Grimes: Things, calm down. Yeah.

But a gathering storm was about to come barreling in.

“SHE WAS GENUINELY SCARED”

In the spring of 2020, it looked like the bitter custody battle between Alyssa and Beard had finally come to an end. Alyssa had a new guy named Ben. And Beard fell hard for a woman named Holly Elkins, someone his mom was thrilled about.

Lizette Bowers: I adored her from minute one. She just has this charm and energy … I warmed to her very quickly.

Teresa Collard: Alyssa was happy that he started dating someone else.

Madison Grimes: I guess, hopeful that Holly would help this situation, that Holly would be supportive of the mother that’s involved.

Elkins sent this text to Alyssa: “… look forward to having a super healthy relationship with you and Ben!” Alyssa responded,”… I hope your influence helps because I’d love nothing more for us all to have a healthy relationship …“

Despite Elkins’ message, Beard suddenly became hostile with Alyssa. He was once again demanding primary custody of Willow, dragging Alyssa back into court.

Teresa Collard: He was always very short, very rude, very hateful. … it just totally changed … the way that they communicated together.

Alyssa couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling that she was being watched and began telling family and friends that Beard always seemed to know what she was doing.

Teresa Collard: He knew where she was. He knew where Willow was. He knew … just other places that she had been.

Shelbie Wright: I remember one night she was out with one of her friends and, they were at a bar in downtown Dallas. … And she’s like, texted me, “oh my gosh, Andrew is here.” And in my mind, I’m like … the odds of that happening — are slim to none … you know she didn’t know how he was tracking her she just knew that she was being tracked.

Peter Van Sant: How would you describe what she went through?

Teresa Collard: Hell … I mean, every day you feel like you’re having to watch over your shoulder. … that’s how I felt she lived …

Grimes found a video after Alyssa’s death. It was never posted.

ALYSSA BURKETT (video): 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 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 can do it. And stay strong.

But Alyssa would continue to be tested. In September 2020, one month before her murder, it reached a whole new level. A man, who said his name was Frank Marrow, called 911 and reported that Alyssa was selling drugs out of the trunk of her car at work.

CALLER: I saw … what I thought looked like someone just selling some drugs out of … their trunk. And I could smell it and I could see it.

911 DISPATCHER OK, what kind of vehicle is it?

CALLER: …it’s a little Toyota Corolla … I have a license plate if that helps.

911 DISPATCHER: OK, Frank. …what was your last name?

CALLER: Marrow.

Acting on this tip, Carrollton Police officers descended on the Greentree Apartments leasing office and confronted Alyssa. She gave them the keys to her car, and they opened the trunk. Inside, they discovered drugs, a pistol, and some cash exactly where the caller said they would be.

Peter Van Sant: So your daughter suddenly now looks like a drug dealer, and a dangerous one as well. She’s armed.

Teresa Collard: Yes.

Peter Van Sant: I mean, is Alyssa … worried that she’s gonna get arrested? Lose her job?

Teresa Collard: Yes. All of the above. She’s worried about her job. She thinks, yeah, she’s gonna be arrested. Now, he’s gonna use this in court. So she’s for sure gonna lose Willow.

After questioning Alyssa, it was clear to police that she knew nothing about the drugs and pistol in the trunk of her car. They concluded those items had been planted. The caller had tried to frame her. Alyssa knew in her gut that caller was Andrew Beard. Later that day, she texted her roommate Shelbie.

Shelbie Wright: Alyssa messaged me and said … “he is going to try to get someone to kill me next.”

Peter Van Sant: And when you read those words?

Shelbie Wright: My heart dropped.

Brandi Reagan: That wasn’t who she was. She wasn’t a fearful person. … showing and asking for help shows me that she was genuinely scared.

Shelbie Wright: She knew that, you know, whatever was coming next was going to be serious.

The once fearless young woman had become scared for her life. These are some of the texts she sent to her sister Madison:

“Come over while I walk inside”

“Lock the door behind you”

“Do you see anyone around you”

And Alyssa wasn’t the only one who was terrified.

Madison Grimes: … it kept progressing. Each thing that he would do just kept getting worse. And after this point framing her and she didn’t get arrested, I thought, well, what else is there to do besides kill her?

ZEROING IN ON ANDREW BEARD

One month after the drugs and gun were planted in Alyssa Burkett’s car, she was dead.

TERESA COLLARD (police bodycam video): I knew that it was him when — when the drugs didn’t work in the car for him to get the baby …

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Once we talked to Alyssa’s mom … we had an idea who we were looking for.

Peter Van Sant: And who is that person?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: That person was Andrew Beard.

And to Collard’s horror, he had visitation with Willow that day. The baby was with him.

TERESA COLLARD (police bodycam video): … yes — I want my grandbaby away from him.

Madison Grimes: My first thoughts were … he’s gonna kill Willow.

Within hours of the murder, the police pulled over Beard’s F-150 pickup truck for an alleged traffic violation. Beard and his fiancée, Holly Elkins, were asked to get out the vehicle.

OFFICER (bodycam video): The daughter is in the car seat in the back seat.

OFFICER (bodycam video): They’ve been pretty cooperative.

Beard seemed unfazed by the whole thing, says Harding.

Sgt. Michael Harding: He was very calm. … he wasn’t amped up … he — he didn’t seem nervous.

OFFICER 2 (bodycam video): My part was to just find you. That’s all they asked me to do.

Ultimately Beard and Elkins were allowed to go, and because he had court mandated visitation rights, take Willow with them. But the police seized his F-150 pickup and instructed him not to return home. Beard, Elkins, and Willow went to a hotel. That night, a search of Beard’s house turned up critical evidence, such as an envelope scribbled with incriminating notes.

Sgt. Michael Harding: Upon reading the notes, we realized those were tied to — the Frank Marrow 911 call.

Frank Marrow — that caller who had reported Alyssa was selling drugs out of her car.

Sgt. Michael Harding: Alyssa’s license plate number, the color, and model of the vehicle … Frank Marrow … everything that he needed to make that 911 call was on this back of this envelope.

Peter Van Sant: It’s like you discovered the screenplay to this — phony call to 911.

Sgt. Michael Harding: Yes.

Sgt. Michael Harding: I was kind of shocked. I was like, he — he kept this?

Also in plain view, says Jeremy Chevallier, another lead detective, charging stations and batteries that matched the tracking device detectives discovered on Alyssa’s car after the murder.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier:That was all part of his plan to — to catch her doing something that he believed that she — shouldn’t be doing. … to gain an advantage in that … child custody dispute.

A search of that F-150 seized at the traffic stop turned up more jaw-dropping evidence.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier (holding a vial): So this is — one of the makeup vials that were recovered from inside one of the bags in the F-150.

It was a foundation called Java.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier:It’s really dark.Very dark.

Peter Van Sant: And the purpose of that was what do you believe?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Was to … disguise Andrew Beard’s face, to make him look like an African American.

The police found the knife sheath at the scene but never found the knife or the gun. But the day after the homicide they found something just as important: that black SUV. They learned Beard had bought it specifically to commit the murder. And there it was — abandoned less than a mile from Beard’s house.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: … he drove it to that location, and he fled back to his house the … the morning of the murder.

Beard is captured on a home security camera fleeing through the neighborhood.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: He is — doing the bigfoot run from this vehicle.

Peter Van Sant: What’d you find when you guys processed the inside of this vehicle?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: We were able to recover multiple spots where blood was recovered. that was later tested to be Alyssa’s blood.

They also found another part of his disguise: a fake beard.

Peter Van Sant: That looks like a Halloween kind of beard.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Exactly, he — had purchased a Halloween costume.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: So, that’s what led us to get the arrest warrant for Andrew Beard.

Beard, who still had Willow, had been staying in an Airbnb with his fiancée, Holly Elkins, and his mother, Lizette Bowers.

Lizette Bowers: When we were at the Airbnb, he got a call … he was going to be arrested …

Just three days after Alyssa was killed, Willow was sent back to Collard and Beard turned himself in to the police. He was charged with murder.

Lizette Bowers: I was confident … they had the wrong man.

So was Holly Elkins. She volunteered to speak to the police — incredulous that the man she planned to marry was capable of murder.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS (police interview): So I just told all my friends and family that I’m engaged to the most wonderful man on the planet.

DET. CHEVALLIER: Yeah.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: And now people want me to believe that he’s not that.

DET. CHEVALLIER: There — and there are so many emotional roadblocks for you to try to believe that. I get that.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: I can’t believe that my fiancé would do something like that to a woman or to anybody, but a woman.

Chevallier and Harding interviewed Elkins for about an hour, hoping to turn her into a witness for the prosecution.

DET. CHEVALLIER: I’m telling you there is a side of him you do not know.

But Elkins stood by Beard, insisting that he had an alibi: he was home with her when the murder took place.

DET. CHEVALLIER: There are a few hours that you know he was not in that house.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: You cannot tell me that I feel that way, sir.

DET. CHEVALLIER: I can — I can tell you that because I know that for a fact that he was out of the house, Holly.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: I don’t know that for a fact.

Elkins remained adamant that she would have known if he had left.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: I am a total stage 5 clinger girlfriend. I’m always up his ass. I find it hard to believe …

The interview ended with Elkins standing by her man. She and Beard’s mom continued living together in an Airbnb. They became extremely close and bonded over their shared belief that Beard was innocent, says Bowers.

Lizette Bowers: We stayed so close. We were just connected at the hip and made agreements to never go anywhere without one another.

Finally, after two weeks behind bars, Beard was released on bond. Bowers was overjoyed. Elkins, as Bowers would soon discover, not so much.

Lizette Bowers: They’ve told us he’s coming home tomorrow. And Holly says … “I’m going.” … She’s holding her suitcase and — and she goes … “I’m leaving … I’m going home” … But the day before Andrew gets home? What — why are you choosing now? … during this scary, scary time … for — in his life. … She’d already ordered … her — her Uber and never came back.

Chevallier says he was so worried about Willow’s safety he reached out to the federal government to take the case under federal firearm laws. Because an unregistered silencer was found in Beard’s home, the feds agreed. Beard was rearrested eight days after he bonded out.  

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Ultimately, at that point, our goal was to get him back into custody.

Beard was ultimately charged with cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death. One year and eight months after Alyssa’s murder, Beard called his mother with unimaginable news.

Lizette Bowers: He said, you know, mom, I’m – “I’m going to plead guilty.” … So, I immediately said, “well, Andrew, you’re not going to — you’re not going to plead guilty to anything you didn’t do.” … Because clearly, he didn’t murder her in my mind because that’s out of character and not who he is. And it was stupidly done and he’s not stupid. So it never was him.

But she would learn it was him. He admitted he did it. He killed the mother of his child.

Lizette Bowers: I have physically dropped to my knees, sometimes feeling like I’ve gotten punched in the stomach. And I have to tell myself — I have to tell myself that that was, um, a moment, a heinous, awful out-of-character broken moment.

Beard pleaded guilty.

But the investigation wasn’t over.

Beard was talking and he had a lot to say.

HOLLY ELKINS’ GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE

Holly Elkins left Texas and returned to her home state of Michigan two-and-a-half weeks after the murder of Alyssa Burkett. She gave no hint of what she’d left behind says her best friend from childhood, Stephanie Goddard.

Peter Van Sant: Did she ever mention the name Alyssa Burkett to you?

Stephanie Goddard: Never.

Peter Van Sant: Never.

Stephanie Goddard: Never. Never.

Peter Van Sant: Not once. She didn’t talk about Andrew Beard either?

Stephanie Goddard: Not even once, nope.

Goddard, who met up with Elkins about seven months after she returned to Michigan, says her old friend appeared to be starting life anew. She had a new condo, a new Lexus, and a new man.

Stephanie Goddard: She had this boyfriend with her. So, everything just seemed really normal.

Goddard says, from the time she was a teenager, Elkins always had a guy and she knew how to wrap them around her little finger.

Stephanie Goddard: it was like a cat-and-mouse thing.

Peter Van Sant: When you say cat and mouse, she was the cat?

Stephanie Goddard: Oh, absolutely (laughs). Yes, she was the cat.

Peter Van Sant: She controlled the relationship.

Stephanie Goddard: Absolutely. She was the one in the driver’s seat.

Back in Texas, investigators were just beginning to learn more about the fiancée who had skipped town after the murder. One year and nine months after Alyssa was killed, Beard spoke to the FBI as part of a plea deal.

ANDREW BEARD (FBI interview):  I’m assuming, absolutely, it does look planned out, ’cause it was. The process was planned out.

It quickly became clear to investigators that this Holly Elkins — “I’m trying to help and no one’s helping me” — the Holly Elkins seemingly torn apart by Alyssa’s death was giving the performance of her life.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS (police interview): I just feel bad, you know. (crying) I just feel bad to not help something that I think is very sad that happened.

DET. CHAVALLIER: Mm-hmm.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS: I’ve literally cried myself to nauseam every single night over this.

Peter Van Sant: What did you learn … about her true feelings about Alyssa?

Sgt. Michael Harding: She hated Alyssa with a — with a burning passion.

Investigators dug back into Beard and Elkins’ text messages, many of which Alyssa’s family also saw.

Peter Van Sant: Both of you learned that Holly had, um, some derogatory words about Alyssa. … What did she call her?

Madison Grimes:  Ugly, fat, a bad mom, all things that she wasn’t. And … C*** Baby Mama … is — was my sister’s contact name in Holly’s phone.

Peter Van Sant: What the heck’s all that?

Madison Grimes: Jealousy.

Elkins wanted something Alyssa had and she didn’t, says Grimes.

Madison Grimes: She wanted Willow.

Peter Van Sant: Why was she so obsessed with Willow?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: That was her life. … she wanted a … a perfect family and that was her way of getting it  … Alyssa was gonna stand in her way of doing that.

The more Beard talked the clearer Elkins’ role became says Chevallier.

Peter Van Sant: What portrait did he paint of Holly Elkins?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: That she was the one running the show, uh, that she was telling him what he was gonna do, when he was gonna do it, how he was gonna do it.

Remember that drug plant?

ANDREW BEARD (FBI interview): If you were to ask me whose idea was what, drugs and — and — the planting of drugs was — was Elkins.

Elkins even tried to get Alyssa’s mom Teresa Collard arrested. The incident started when Collard and Alyssa drove by Elkins and Beard’s home. Collard says Elkins and Beard had failed to return Willow at the appointed time.

Teresa Collard: We see Holly on the golf cart with Willow in her lap coming towards the end of their driveway. … I got out of the car … and I grabbed Willow, went, and got back in the car, handed Willow to Alyssa, and sped off

Elkins immediately called the police who arrived with bodycams rolling. Elkins told them Collard assaulted her when she grabbed Willow from her lap.

HOLLY ELKINS (police bodycam video): She literally attacked me from behind or from behind side. I was facing the lake.

Collard says she never touched Elkins. But Elkins pulled up her shirt to show cops scratches she claimed Teresa had inflicted.

HOLLY ELKINS (police bodycam video): OK I have a, uh, on my stomach too.

OFFICER 2: No, no, no. Oh, you have some in your — on your stomach?

Peter Van Sant: What did you think of those pictures?

Teresa Collard: That they were ridiculous … that it was so apparent that she had done that to herself?

Madison Grimes: How would they even think someone else did that to her? Because they’re going downwards, like your own hand did it.

The police agreed, concluding the injuries looked like they were self-inflicted. But it only made things more dangerous for Alyssa, says Chevallier.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: The things that they were doing to try to get custody of Willow wasn’t working at that point. And I think that they decided … we — we gotta up the game and, uh, up in the game meant getting rid of — of Alyssa.

Elkins began playing her game of cat and mouse.

ANDREW BEARD (FBI interview): It was made very clear to me that your previous methods aren’t working, this is what you’re gonna do now in order to prove that, um — that — that — that you’re — basically you’re worthy.

Worthy of being a man who deserved her love.

Peter Van Sant: Holly Elkins writes to Andrew, “I don’t want anyone who is a pussy to some low life or a pushover. I want a man who protects his women and child before anyone and doesn’t give two Fs otherwise” … Your comment?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Just straightforward manipulation. … she was gonna make him do what she felt needed to be done no matter what.

And Beard told investigators it worked.

ANDREW BEARD (FBI interview) Like, I was emotionally drained. And at that point, I just basically said, OK, and became submissive to whatever she wanted me to do, that’s the task I did.

A week-and-a-half before the murder, Elkins left for Mexico, but didn’t let up on Beard.

Peter Van Sant: Here’s a text. This is one week before the murders. This .s September 25th, 2020. … Holly Elkins writes, “I hope you handle it. I’m not coming home to BS.” Andrew Beard says, “that’s my goal.”

To that, Elkins texted back.

Peter Van Sant (reading text): “Well, it will be a whole different conversation if I feel like you are ride or die. If not, then I don’t know.” What is she saying to him?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: … to me it means you’re either with me or you’re not with me. Uh, you’re either gonna ride with me and die with me … or you’re not gonna be with me at all.

After he killed Alyssa, Beard told investigators Elkins begged for details about the crime.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: … her request was that he described, uh, the murder to her while they were in bed together.

Sgt. Michael Harding: It’s one of the most degrading things I’ve ever heard.

In May 2023, Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison. Investigators believe Elkins thought the case was over.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: I think she believed that the further she got away from this, the less involved she was gonna be, but it didn’t work out for her.

THE FBI BUILDS COMPELLING CASE AGAINST HOLLY ELKINS

In July 2023, almost three years after Alyssa’s death, Holly Elkins was arrested by federal agents at the Miami Airport as she was returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic. An arrest a long time coming for Alyssa’s family.

Madison Grimes: I thought — we were never gonna see that happen. … I felt relief.

Elkins, who pleaded not guilty, was charged with conspiracy to stalk and stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death. The FBI had built a compelling case against her, says Chevallier.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Holly’s phone really had a lot of stuff on it. … searching for tracking devices … there were indications that they were together, whenever the ammunition … and the knife were purchased.

And they also tied Elkins to the makeup Beard used to disguise himself as a Black man. 

ANDREW BEARD (FBI interview): It was, um, you’re going to dress — dress up as a — as a, uh, different person, essentially. You’re gonna wear this dark makeup. … That was her plan …  that was how it’s gonna be done.

While Beard seems harmless while being questioned, never forget that he was the one who chased Alyssa down like a hunter tracking a wounded animal. He furiously stabbed her with a brutality these detectives had never seen.

Peter Van Sant: Andrew ends up saying about why he came back to finish her. What did he say?

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: His statement to us during the interview with Agent Hanson was that he did it out of mercy, that he knew that she was still alive, and he was somehow doing her a favor … by — by killing her.

Beard may have committed the murder alone, but according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he didn’t plan it alone. In April 2024, Holly Elkins went on trial as a co-conspirator. In the courtroom where no cameras were permitted, one of the prosecutors put it like this, says Harding:  “Andrew Beard is a monster, but he was Holly Elkins’ monster.”

HOLLY ELKINS (police interview): I don’t want or need a lawyer because I don’t have anything to hide …

U.S. attorneys painted a picture of a woman who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

HOLLY ANN ELKINS (police interview): Will I feel like the dumbest, most manipulated woman on the entire planet if this is true? Yes.

And what she wanted was a little girl named Willow.

Peter Van Sant: And do you believe Holly Elkins was a puppet master in all of this?

Sgt. Michael Harding: 100% I do … she orchestrated this whole thing.

Lizette Bowers: I think Holly is wicked. I think she’s wicked to the core, that she would ever want this to happen to another woman, to a mother, to a mother of the child that she had come to love.

Peter Van Sant: What if these two had never come together, Holly and Andrew. Would Andrew have committed this murder?

Sgt. Michael Harding: I don’t think they would have. I 100% believe that if Holly and Andrew had never met that Alyssa Burkett would be alive today.

After a one-week trial, the case went to the jury.

Peter Van Sant: The jury takes just 90 minutes to deliberate. When they come back to that courtroom, what is the verdict?

Sgt. Michael Harding:  Guilty.

Det. Jeremy Chevallier: Guilty.

Elkins was found guilty and sentenced to two life terms — much longer than Beard.

For Alyssa’s family, the verdict was a bittersweet victory.

Madison Grimes: I was thrilled, but heartbroken at the same time because — I’m so happy that, you know, Alyssa’s getting the justice she deserved, but at that point it’s over … our fight is over.

Two families are left to grapple with the wreckage Elkins and Beard left behind. Lizette Bowers will forever be known as the mother of a murderer.

Lizette Bowers: He killed someone. And that is beyond awful. … It’s the worst thing anyone can do. But that’s not who I love.

And Collard and Grimes must try to make sense of a world without Alyssa in it.

Madison Grimes:We don’t get to live the normal life anymore. … It was always me and her … my best friend, like … that was my person, and only getting to be with her for 20 years, that’s not — just not fair.

After the trial, Collard was allowed to take Alyssa’s things out of her car.

Teresa Collard: It was pretty emotional for all of us actually … this was the mirror that she used so she could see Willow from the driver’s seat … you know, just knowing that was the last place she was sitting when it happened.

Willow, who was with Collard, had never cried over her mother until that day.

Teresa Collard: She was crying, asking me if I could please bring her mom back just so she could see her one more time. … And I tried to explain to her that she’s in heaven …  And then, she asked me if she had a phone number. … in heaven.

One day, Willow will learn the whole story of what happened to her mother.

And when that time comes, her family hopes Willow will see the beauty in Alyssa’s life, not the tragedy of her death.

Teresa Collard: I hope that one day she grows up … and she feels the love that her mom sincerely had for her.

Teresa Collard is in the process of adopting Willow.

Produced by Liza Finley and Gabriella Demirdjian Gregory M. McLaughlin is the producer-editor. Diana Modica and Wini Dini are the editors. David Dow and Sara Ely Hulse are the development Producers. Megan Kelly Brown is the associate producer. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

• 48 Hours
• Texas
• Murder

Peter Van Sant

Peter Van Sant is an award-winning correspondent for “48 Hours, where his true-crime and justice reporting is featured across multiple CBS News broadcasts and platforms. During a career that spans nearly five decades, Van Sant has covered many of the most significant events of our lifetime.Additionally, Van Sant hosts the top-ranking podcast “Blood is Thicker.”

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This story originally aired on Jan. 6, 2024. It was updated on Nov. 16.

On a steamy summer morning in 2014 in the tiny Southern town of Cottonport, Louisiana, Steve and Missy Ducote faced the unthinkable.

Steve Ducote: I wouldn’t know how to tell you. I’ve never felt like that before or since.

The couple found their youngest daughter Megan Parra lying on the floor of her living room.

Missy Ducote: I had no idea what was to become of all this.

The 29-year-old mother of two appeared to have been shot in the head.

Steve Ducote: It was a 357 magnum gun with the 38 caliber bullet..

Just one day earlier, Megan’s parents and her husband, then-30-year-old Dustin Parra, had been dealing with the aftermath of a car crash.

Missy Ducote: Dustin called … and said that Megan had been in an accident.

Megan was alone driving down a stretch of road not far from home when she somehow careened off the road and hit a tree. Dustin grabbed their two young sons and rushed to the scene. So did Steve and Missy Ducote.

Steve Ducote: Cop said she was going about 45 miles an hour, wasn’t on her phone. Had her seatbelt on.

Megan had only minor injuries. But a state trooper was troubled by the fact that there were no skid marks.

Missy Ducote: He said that … she had not applied the brakes.

Steve Ducote:  Cop came, and he asked me, “would your daughter want to try to hurt herself?” I said, “No, I don’t think so.”

But it was not clear whether Megan actually tried to stop the car. Missy Ducote says Megan told her she was distracted.

Missy Ducote: She said she had lost focus.

But Steve Ducote says Megan told him that the brakes didn’t work, and that she hit that tree to avoid the river. However, the brakes were never tested. At the Avoyelles Parish Hospital where Dustin worked as a nurse, Megan was treated for a cut to her right hand. Once released, Dustin took his wife home, while Missy and Steve Ducote kept their boys overnight. The next morning, around 7 a.m., Megan sent her mother a text.

Missy Ducote: “Hi mom. Are — are the boys OK? … are you all OK?”  … I called her. … And … I told her that, um when the kids would get up and I had fixed breakfast, we would … bring her breakfast and go check on her.

David Begnaud: Anything sound unusual?

Missy Ducote: Not at all.

About an hour later, Missy Ducote says Dustin called her to say that Megan was going to take a bath while he went out to fill a prescription for her at the local Walmart.

Missy Ducote: He said he would … pick up the kids on the way back. … Well, an hour has passed by and he’s still not here. … and then I said … let’s go, we — we need to go.

It was close to 10 a.m. when Steve and Missy Ducote arrived at their daughter’s house with their grandchildren in tow. There they discovered Megan lying on the floor with blood pooling around her head.

Missy Ducote: She was still in the paper shirt from the hospital … and … underwear.

Steve Ducote: I grabbed the oldest boy. And when I leaned over to pick him up … I saw the gun kind of tucked against her leg.

Missy Ducote called her parents to pick up the kids. Steve Ducote called 911. Missy, a nurse practitioner, knelt beside her daughter and realized she still had a pulse.

Missy Ducote: She was breathing … just barely though.

Steve Ducote called Dustin.

Steve Ducote: I can’t remember exactly if I told him Megan killed herself or Megan shot … herself.

Steve Ducote: And I said, “where are you?” He said, “I’m in Mansoura. I just came through the … four-way stop sign.”

Dave Blanchard was the first officer on the scene.

Dave Blanchard: I entered the house, saw the victim on the floor … Mrs. Ducote … was administering first aid to the head area.

Dustin Parra arrived about 10 minutes later.

Steve Ducote: He comes running in … and he slides, and he just catches the end of the blood.

Missy Ducote: After … he slid … He got up, he pushed the gun away.

Missy Ducote says Dustin then reached into a pocket in Megan’s paper shirt.

Missy Ducote: And he pulled out a picture.

It was a picture of their boys.

Dustin and Missy, both medically trained, worked to save Megan. Minutes later, paramedics arrived. That’s when Blanchard began documenting the scene.

Dave Blanchard: I didn’t want to interfere in them giving the first aid.

Megan was airlifted to a trauma center in Lafayette. The mayor of Cottonport drove Steve and Missy Ducote and Dustin in his car. Back at the Parra home, Blanchard continued to document the scene and collect evidence — including that gun, which belonged to Dustin; Dustin’s shorts, which were bloodied from that slide; and a note, which was discovered on the kitchen counter.

Steve Ducote: It says, “tell the boys I love them. I’m sorry.” That was it.

The morning after the shooting — as her parents struggled with how Megan could have taken her own life — doctors told the family they had done all they could. That is when the decision was made to take her off life support.

The next morning, Megan’s organs were donated. Her body was transported to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. That’s when Dustin and the Ducotes headed for the Cottonport Police Department, to meet with lead detective Christopher Knight.

Steve Ducote: Well, Dustin went in first … he came back out, and he raised his hands and said, “I’m not a suspect.” … it was kind of shocking. … Then Missy and I go in. And, you know, Chris didn’t ask us a whole lot. Wasn’t much of an interview.

Steve and Missy Ducote say it was that day when they began to question everything about the investigation into their daughter’s death. Especially when Knight handed Dustin that note, presumably left behind by Megan, and Dustin debated what to do with it.

Missy Ducote: He said, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with it. I think I’m just gonna throw it away.” I said, “No, don’t throw it away. We might need it later on.”

The very next day, Steve Ducote says Knight showed up at his home. He had some news for him.

Steve Ducote: He says, “Mr. Steve, Megan’s fingerprints were all over the gun. Dustin’s were too, but it’s his gun.”

Steve Ducote’s brother-in-law Luke Welch was there.

Luke Welch: Steve repeated to him. “So, the only fingerprints on the gun were from Megan and Dustin.” And he said, “That’s it. That’s the only ones. End of story.”

Steve Ducote: I said, “Well, she must have shot herself, then.”

But Steve Ducote would soon learn that what he says Det. Knight told him was not true. The gun that killed Megan had not been tested at all.

David Begnaud: That was a major turn in the story.

Luke Welch: Yes. That’s one of the major turns. This … thing goes 360 degrees a lot.

QUESTIONING THE INVESTIGATION

Three weeks after Megan Parra’s death, an autopsy report declared her cause of death to be “a gunshot wound to the head.” The manner of death was “suicide.” The report said Megan tested negative for sedatives, and that the gun was in direct contact with her temple when it went off.

Betsy Jeansonne (crying):So much life to live and love to give.

Megan’s uncle Luke Welch says the medical examiner confirmed Knight’s theory that Megan had shot herself. Because remember, according to Knight, Megan’s fingerprints were found all over that gun.

Luke Welch: With that information coming from Chris, I think there’s no doubt it’s a suicide.

Knight denies ever saying he tested that gun, and just four days after the shooting, he closed his investigation and summarized it in a one-page report.

David Begnaud (reading Knight’s report): “According to the evidence, collected statements from family and the doctor’s report, this investigation shows … Megan Parra did in fact commit suicide.”

Betsy Jeansonne: The only doctor’s reports we had were Lafayette General.

David Begnaud: Yeah, but Lafayette General was not doing any kind of forensic exam on her.

Betsy Jeansonne: No, no.

Jeansonne, who was pregnant with her first child at the time, says Megan had been planning her baby shower.

Betsy Jeansonne: Two days before she died, she asked me what color balloons I wanted.

Megan was also just months away from getting a master’s degree. She had her eye on becoming a school principal. Steve Ducote says the more he thought about his daughter’s death, the less it made sense.

Steve Ducote: Never shot a gun. Never fooled with a gun. Wouldn’t have known how to hold a gun.

He says there was also no way that Megan would have shot herself knowing that he, Missy and her boys would discover her that way.

Steve Ducote: She’d never do something like that.

But Megan was found behind locked doors, there was no evidence of forced entry. So, if she didn’t kill herself, who pulled the trigger?

David Begnaud: Did you start to believe that Dustin shot her?

Betsy Jeansonne: Yes.

David Begnaud: And tried to cover it up.

Betsy Jeansonne: Yes.

There were questions about Dustin’s alibi. Jeansonne says he told three different stories to three different people about where he was when Steve Ducote called him, but according to Megan’s family, Knight never resolved those conflicting stories.

Betsy Jeansonne: There were so many things that were not done.

Knight also never followed up on reports that Dustin may have been having an affair.

David Begnaud: Did Megan ever talk to you about trouble they were having in the marriage?

Betsy Jeansonne: She didn’t.

David Begnaud: Did you ever ask her?

Betsy Jeansonne: I didn’t. … And I feel like that’s one of my biggest regrets.

Steve Ducote fears that in the days leading up to Megan’s death, the couple may have been fighting. And something in the autopsy report haunted him.

Steve Ducote: It indicated she had some bruises in the abdomen and chest area.

David Begnaud: What do you think happened that morning she was shot?

Betsy Jeansonne: I think she was leaving him.

Ducote says around the time he was becoming increasingly concerned about Knight’s investigation, an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office told him there was no way Knight had fingerprinted that gun in just two days.

Steve Ducote: “Uh-uh Steve. It takes me, with a rush on it, about 14 days.” … Then I knew.

David Begnaud: Knew what?

Steve Ducote: I knew she hadn’t killed herself then.

But by then, the gun was no longer in evidence. With Knight’s permission, it had been returned to Dustin.

Steve Ducote: They gave him the gun back … before the coroner ever ruled.

Ducote says he begged local authorities to just hear him out, but no one would listen. Until four months later, when a local judge agreed to help.

Dan Schaub: Steve Ducote … convinced the judge that there was something to look at.

Dan Schaub was commander of the Criminal Investigations Unit at the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office. That judge asked Schaub himself to review the case.

Dan Schaub: First thing I did was uh, you know, talk to uh, Steve, see what his concerns were.

Steve Ducote: We started working on things. And, boy, he was working.

Unfortunately, says Schaub, there wasn’t much to work with.

Dan Schaub: Here there was not even basic Detective 101 that was done by Chris Knight.

Schaub says his hands were also somewhat tied by Steve Ducote, who prevented him from accessing certain evidence, like Megan’s cellphone.

Dan Schaub: At that point … Dustin had the cellphone, and he did not want to ask Dustin … for her cellphone.

According to Ducote, Dustin and the boys were living in Steve and Missy’s house at the time —and he didn’t want his son-in-law knowing they were investigating him. So, Ducote says he asked Schaub not to talk to Dustin until they had more evidence.

Steve Ducote: I wanted to be sure.

David Begnaud: Why not at least call the husband — not to go after him, but to say, hey, listen, just want to ask some questions so I can button some things up.

Dan Schaub: That’s real easy. I — I did it out of respect for — for the Ducote family.

Rather than go against Steve Ducote, Schaub steered clear of Dustin Parra. Instead, he reviewed Chris Knight’s one-page report – examined 115 photos taken by Officer Dave Blanchard, and he talked with two witnesses who had not been interviewed — neighbors, who each thought they heard what sounded like a gunshot that morning, but at two different times. The neighbor on the right told Schaub she heard a very loud “boom” a little after 7 a.m.. But the neighbor to the left told Schaub he was certain he heard a gunshot about two hours later.

Dan Schaub: He was still in bed, and he wasn’t sure of the time. He supposed at around 9:15.

Schaub says the neighbor to the right wasn’t sure if what she heard at around 7 a.m. was actually a gunshot—so he created a timeline based on what the other neighbor reported hearing. Then, the question became could Dustin have even been home at 9:15 a.m.?

David Begnaud: Dustin arrives at Walmart – 

Dan Schaub: Yes.

David Begnaud: — at 8:53 a.m.

A state trooper told Commander Schaub that he saw Dustin at an intersection not far from that Walmart, just before 9 a.m. Knight never had Walmart’s surveillance footage subpoenaed to verify Dustin’s alibi, but Schaub found the next best evidence: a time-stamped receipt.

David Begnaud: Dustin signs for scripts at Walmart at 9:43 a.m.

Dan Schaub: OK, yeah.

David Begnaud: So based on this timeline from you, there’s no way Dustin could have been at the house when the shot was fired?

Dan Schaub: That’s a — uh, uh, uh, a reasonable conclusion, yes.

On Jan. 15, 2015, Dan Schaub released his eight-page report, also concluding that Megan “died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Ducote did not buy Dan Schaub’s timeline, which he had based on the neighbor who reported hearing a gunshot around 9:15 am. But Schaub’s report ended up being a gift. Ducote now had those 115 photos taken the morning of Megan’s shooting—and his investigation was about to ramp up.

Steve Ducote (showing Begnaud a photo): This, you know, caught everybody’s attention.

THE FAMILY FINDS CLUES IN THE PHOTOS

Commander Dan Schaub’s conclusion that Megan Parra likely shot herself, was yet another blow to the Ducote family’s theory that she may have been murdered by her husband, Dustin Parra. But Schaub’s report did provide some valuable clues, says Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote: That report came with some blurred pictures.

So Steve Ducote tracked down the officer who took the photos, Dave Blanchard, and it turns out he still had the originals. He never deleted them from his camera.

David Begnaud: Why did you save them?

David Blanchard: Because it was evidence. … I don’t know. It stuck out. … Suspicious.

Charles Riddle: He thought that there were some things that weren’t resolved in the investigation.

Blanchard gave the digital images to Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charles Riddle, and Riddle shared them with an insistent Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote: I said … “I’m not leaving without those pictures.”

David Begnaud: Did you go through all the … photos?

Betsy Jeansonne: Yes.

Steve Ducote and his daughter Betsy Jeansonne began studying those 115 photos from the day Megan was shot.

Betsy Jeansonne: And I’ve had a lot of people ask me … how could you look at those crime scene photos of your sister?

David Begnaud:  Yeah.

Betsy Jeansonne:  And I’d say, she’d have done it for me.

Jeansonne says she also spent hours on the internet studying blood spatter patterns, because something about the blood around Megan just didn’t look right to her.

Betsy Jeansonne: You can see the blood spatter where it should have been on the exit wound side.

Steve Ducote: Mm-hmm.

Betsy Jeansonne: It’s actually on the entrance wound side. And there’s no spatter on the exit wound.

Steve Ducote: There’s always more exit wound blood than entry wound blood.

Steve Ducote was beginning to believe that his daughter had been rolled over, after she was shot. Also troubling to him was that seemingly clean gun—Dustin Parra’s gun, which Ducote says should have had blood on it.

To Ducote, it appeared that the gun had been wiped clean. Then there was that picture of Megan’s boys, that Dustin discovered in her pocket. Ducote believes it was Dustin who put it there in the first place.

Steve Ducote: If you gonna make it look like suicide, you’re going to do things like that.

Ducote also thinks Dustin planted the alleged suicide note, and firmly believes it was not even written by his daughter.

Steve Ducote: She never wrote in solid print. She’d write mixed, print, script, print, in the same word.

Some of the photos revealed clues of a struggle says Steve. Like a wine rack found behind a chair, and this guitar lying on the floor.

Steve Ducote: I think they were fighting.

Several months later, Steve Ducote circled back to District Attorney Riddle and showed him some of the photos that concerned him.

Charles Riddle: And as I looked at it, I kept saying … “this can’t be what was found to be a suicide.”

Riddle says he tried to get the sheriff’s office to take another look at the case, but they refused.

Charles Riddle: The local police department really didn’t have the capacity. So, we tried to get state police to look into it and they didn’t seem to be interested.

So, Riddle went to then-Avoyelles Parish coroner Dr. L. J. Mayeux — who had issued Megan’s death certificate. Based on the medical examiner’s report, Mayeux had classified Megan’s death a “suicide.” Riddle tried to get him to change it to “undetermined.”

David Begnaud: Why did you want that?

Charles Riddle: So that we could open up an investigation. … And we started showing him some of the photos … And, uh, he said, “hey, I’m convinced that we — it ought to be reopened.”

Mayeux reviewed Knight’s one-page report.

David Begnaud: What do you know about Chris Knight’s investigation of this death?

L.J. Mayeux: Sloppy and very questionable.

Mayeux says he found out that Knight had not even attended Megan’s autopsy. But the former corner admits that his office also did not conduct much of an investigation.

David Begnaud: Did you ever interview the husband?

L.J. Mayeux: No, sir.

David Begnaud: Why not?

L.J. Mayeux: We couldn’t find him.

David Begnaud: Did you try calling him?

L.J. Mayeux: Yes. No answer.

In 2017, Riddle sent a letter written by Mayeux to the Louisiana State Police, requesting a review of the case. In the letter, Mayeux wrote, “I was informed that there were photographs … which I had not seen …” and “many questions are unanswered.”  The state police did agree to look at the case.

David Begnaud: What came of that?

L.J. Mayeux: The state police found no evidence to overturn the initial findings.

By now, Dustin Parra had moved on. He married his second wife, and they were raising Megan’s sons. But Steve Ducote could not move on, and he called an old high school buddy for help: David Lemoine, a highly respected FBI agent who was now retired and living in Nebraska.

David Begnaud: What’d you tell him?

Steve Ducote: I said I need some help. … I need to find out who did it.

In 2018, more than four years after Megan was shot, David Lemoine flew to Cottonport to spend time with his brother, Peter Lemoine, and to take a meeting with Steve Ducote.

Steve Ducote asked his old friend to review a binder filled with photographs and documents, says Peter Lemoine.

Peter Lemoine: He came to my house that night, spent hours and hours just sifting through the evidence. And by the next morning, he went to Steve’s house and said … “Your daughter was murdered.”

FORMER FBI AGENTS TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE

Peter Lemoine: I’d always tell Steve … “as long as my brother is in this case, you’re going to be OK.”

Peter Lemoine remembers the day in 2019 when his brother, former FBI agent David Lemoine came out of retirement, determined to help Steve Ducote get to the bottom of his daughter Megan’s death.

Peter Lemoine: Once David Lemoine knew that that girl was killed, nothing was going to stop him.

Zack Shelton: He was fired up when he called me.

Zack Shelton got a call from his friend and fellow retired FBI agent asking for help.

Zack Shelton: And when I reviewed the file … there was something there. There was no doubt in my mind that we were headed in the right direction.

Steve Ducote: I had no help. Very little help. … Then, I had the best I could ever get.

But to dig into the case, the former FBI agents needed new badges. So, they turned to one of the only local law enforcement officials willing to help. At the time, Earnest Anderson was Cottonport’s police chief. He agreed to reopen the case, and to deputize David Lemoine and Zack Shelton.

Zack Shelton: And he swore us in as Cottonport … police officers. And that gave us the authority to look into it.

Then-Assistant Police Chief Justin Chenevert asked to be assigned to the case. He strapped on his bodycam, and helped two seasoned investigators interview witnesses.

On Jan. 15, 2019, the original detective on the case agreed to talk. By then a police officer in a neighboring town, Chris Knight said that on the day of the shooting he felt overwhelmed and called for backup. Among others, Chad Jeansonne, a well-known detective and blood spatter expert showed up, and Knight says Chad Jeansonne told him it was clear, Megan had shot herself.

CHRIS KNIGHT (police interview): The way the body was positioned and the blood splatter and the gun that it actually was a suicide.

But on a recorded interview, Chad Jeansonne disputed Knight’s account.

CHAD JEANSONNE: What Detective Knight basically wanted to know was … could I determine if this was a suicide or not? I said, no, it’s not that simple.

Chad Jeansonne says he told Knight that the scene was badly contaminated — and he advised Knight to investigate closely, until he could rule out homicide. But Knight admits he never even sent the gun out for testing:

DAVID LEMOINE: Why not?

CHRIS KNIGHT: I have no idea.

And Knight said he had never fully examined the evidence:

CHRIS KNIGHT: Because I looked at it as a suicide and not homicide. …

CHRIS KNIGHT: If I botched this, you know, then I mean, I’ll take the butt — my fault, you know? But was it done — but was it done on purpose? Absolutely not.

Knight repeatedly refused “48 Hours”‘ requests for an interview, but did send a written statement, which reads in part: “I was a young, inexperienced investigator,” and “Would I do some things differently today? With the training and experience I now have, absolutely.”  Shelton and David Lemoine were now working hard to do better—and did something Knight never had.

JUSTIN CHENEVERT: Go ahead and state your name for me.

DUSTIN PARRA: Dustin Parra.

They questioned Dustin Parra extensively, for more than an hour.

ZACK SHELTON: Was there any arguing going on, any fighting going on?

DUSTIN PARRA: Not in — not anything that a normal married couple would go through.

Dustin said that in the weeks leading up to her death, his wife had seemed depressed, and obsessed with the question of where young children go when they die.

DUSTIN PARRA: In the middle of the night, she’d come wake me up. I can’t stop thinking that my kids wouldn’t go to heaven if something happened to them.

Steve Ducote: Dustin’s the only one who said that. … She never mentioned it to anybody.

Zack Shelton: What never made sense to me is, if he thought she was going to commit suicide … it was no way he would have left his wife alone to go to Walmart.

And what about those rumors of infidelity?

ZACK SHELTON: Did you have affairs?

DUSTIN PARRA: Yes …

ZACK SHELTON: Did she know about it?

DUSTIN PARRA: To my knowledge, no, because she didn’t question me.

Also troubling to David Lemoine and Zack Shelton was the way Steve Ducote described Dustin sliding into Megan’s blood.

Steve Ducote: He came running in from the garage door … he gets in a baseball slide position, and he slides.

DUSTIN PARRA: I slipped in a pool of blood at her — at around her head.

Dustin said it was an accident. But Shelton did not buy that.

Zack Shelton: What better thing to slide in, right in the blood. And disrupt the crime scene.

Dustin was also asked about the alleged suicide note, which Lemoine and Shelton were now convinced had been planted by Dustin himself.

DAVID LEMOINE: Somebody planted this note after she died, who could that have been?

DUSTIN PARRA: I really don’t know.

Dustin repeatedly denied having anything to do with Megan’s death, or any sort of coverup:

DUSTIN PARRA: I feel like y’all trying to incriminate me.

DAVID LEMOINE: You need to come clean, and you need to say, we got in a fight and maybe she grabbed the gun first …

ZACK SHELTON: Maybe she shot herself in front of you. I don’t know, but you were there.

DUSTIN PARRA: When she was shot, I was not there.

David Lemoine pushed so hard that Dustin abruptly ended the interview:

DUSTIN PARRA: All right, I’m done guys.

Zack Shelton: In that moment … I’m thinking he’s definitely involved. … See, this is early on.

Shelton and David Lemoine also interviewed Anne Guillory, the neighbor who thought she may have heard a gunshot early that morning:

ANN GUILLORY: A little after 7 a.m., I heard a boom (claps hands), a loud boom.

DAVID LEMOINE: And you clearly heard it?

ANN GUILLORY: Oh, yes, it was very loud ’cause I said to myself, “Oh my gosh, that was a loud noise.”

Zack Shelton: We also have a guy on the left side that said he had heard a gunshot around 9:20 … but he wasn’t sure if it was a gunshot.

Zack Shelton and David Lemoine were convinced, that Anne Guillory, the neighbor to the right, heard the shot that killed Megan a little after 7 a.m., leaving Dustin plenty of time to shoot his wife and cover up his crime, then drive to Walmart. But their case was purely circumstantial, until a forensic expert hired by Steve Ducote discovered what he believes to be the physical evidence connecting Dustin Parra to the shooting.

Missy Ducote: Puts him there. Puts him there when my daughter was shot.

AN EXPERT DISCOVERS KEY EVIDENCE

It was now 2020, and Zack Shelton and David Lemoine were feeling confident about the case they were building against Dustin Parra. Then, says Peter Lemoine, as COVID-19 hit the U.S., the deadly virus killed his brother David Lemoine on Dec. 28, 2020.

Peter Lemoine: I made up my mind at that very time that, I was going to finish what he started.

Betsy Jeansonne: Mr. Peter just literally picked up where Mr. David left off.

Zack Shelton and Steve Ducote now had a new partner, a highly respected local attorney.

Steve Ducote: Went to work on it as hard as any human could have worked on it, you know.

Peter Lemoine says his main job was to keep their case in front of District Attorney Charles Riddle.

Peter Lemoine: In an effort to make sure that it was aggressively prosecuted. … What he told me was … we need more.

So, Steve Ducote asked the Jefferson Parish Crime Lab to examine the evidence and check for suspicious blood spatter on Dustin’s clothing. The lab found no evidence of murder, or any evidence Dustin was there when the gun went off. But Ducote was still convinced that Dustin had shot Megan and had purposely slid into her blood to cover up any incriminating spatter. So, in April 2021, Ducote hired an independent crime scene analyst named Eric Richardson.

David Begnaud: Can you show me the blood spatter?

Eric Richardson: Yeah. … OK. So, when you look close, you see these very, very small misting pattern right here.

Richardson examined photos of the shorts worn by Dustin Parra—and he homed in on a fine mist of blood right under a pocket flap. It’s a pattern he says can only be caused by high velocity blood spatter from a gunshot wound.

Eric Richardson: It told me that Dustin was there when that gun was discharged into Megan’s head.

David Begnaud: You sure?

Eric Richardson: Positive.

Betsy Jeansonne: It was concrete, concrete evidence.

Peter Lemoine (to Shelton): We proved he was in the room next to her.We know that it was his gun.

Zack Shelton: The only explanation is that he killed her.

Eric Richardson also agreed that the gun looked like it had been wiped clean. On Oct. 13, 2021, Riddle took the case to a grand jury.

David Begnaud: Six minutes after you present it to the grand jury, they come back with a charge of?

Charles Riddle: Second-degree murder.

Dustin was arrested, pleaded not guilty, and was released on bond. Based on the blood spatter that Richardson found on Dustin’s shorts and the charges, the medical examiner revised Megan’s autopsy report, and changed the manner of death from “suicide” to “undetermined.” Riddle prepared for a now nearly nine-year-old case to go to trial.

Charles Riddle: We believe she was shot about 7:30.

David Begnaud: You think he left her there while she was still alive?

Charles Riddle: Oh, I know he did. Yeah.

But it was not an open-and-shut case says Riddle. He says experts from the State Police and the Jefferson Parish crime labs were going to be called by the defense and told him they would be testifying that the blood spatter on Dustin’s shorts did not prove he was present when the gun went off. And then there was Megan’s note to her sons. A handwriting expert hired by Steve Ducote was going to testify that it was most likely written by Megan. But Riddle says he was prepared to argue that it was not a suicide note.

Charles Riddle: I thought that she was just leaving him.

There was also the difficulty of proving what time Megan was shot, where Dustin was when it happened and how long Megan could had been lying on the floor before Steve and Missy Ducote discovered her still alive.

David Begnaud: You know the damage it did to her brain, right?

Charles Riddle: Oh, God, yes. … I’m surprised she was still alive. Yeah.

David Begnaud: What could you see the defense making hay of successfully?

Zack Shelton: They were gonna make hay over the accident the night before. … they were gonna say that she tried to commit suicide the night before.

On Friday, March 24, 2023, just three days before Dustin Parra’s murder trial was set to begin, Riddle says his phone rang.

Charles Riddle: I get a call from the defense attorney. … He said, well, “I want to offer a plea. … Negligent homicide.”

Negligent homicide in the State of Louisiana is not defined as a crime of violence, and only carries a sentence of up to five-years.

Peter Lemoine: David, it was an awful deal. If all you gonna get is negligent homicide, you’re not risking much at all by going to trial.

Steve Ducote: I was concerned that he could … walk away a free man. Never clear her name for those boys … and they never know the truth.

The Ducotes said they would agree to a deal, but only if Dustin answered some very specific questions. On March 26, 2023, Dustin Parra pleaded nolo contendere or no contest to negligent homicide, and Riddle got to question him on the stand. Riddle read to “48 Hours” from the record.

CHARLES RIDDLE (reading): “Your marriage to her was a struggle for the last couple of months of her life, correct?” Answer by Parra, “yes, sir.”  “On the morning of June 28th, 2014, you and her were arguing and she threatened to leave, correct?” Parra, “yes. I’m not contesting this part of the nolo contendere plea.” … “You had a pistol in your hand and in the struggle, the gun went off firing into her head, correct?” Answer, “yes. I’m not contesting this part of the nolo contendere plea.”

Charles Riddle: We wanted to make sure that he admitted that he shot her, and it was not suicide.

Steve Ducote: To us, as a family, him admitting to that, that was huge.

David Begnaud: You all weren’t done. What was the last and next thing you wanted to do?

Missy Ducote: Get those boys.

Dustin had full custody of his and Megan’s sons—and he’d had it for nearly nine years. They lived with him and his new wife.

David Begnaud: You wanted full custody?

Missy Ducote: Full custody.

David Begnaud: Stripping him of his rights?

Missy Ducote: Full custody.

David Begnaud: And you got it.

Missy Ducote: And we got it.

On April 20, 2023, Missy and Steve Ducote were granted full custody. 

Seven days later, “48 Hours” was there when Dustin and his wife arrived at the sheriff’s office so that Dustin could turn himself in.

David Begnaud: Dustin, we tried to reach you. I wanted to get your side. I wanted to hear from you. … People are going to watch this and they see your silence. … Silence is all you’re leaving us with.

Dustin never said a word.

David Begnaud: I do wonder what you think Megan would say to you at the conclusion of all of this if she could.

Steve Ducote (emotional): She’d say, take care of those boys, and probably say thanks for not giving up.

Missy Ducote: God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Am I satisfied? … If I know Meg’s OK up there alongside Jesus and all the angels … But in my heart … she’ll be forever 29.

Megan Parra’s death certificate now lists her manner of death as homicide.

Dustin Parra served nine months of his sentence and was released on parole on Feb. 5, 2024. 

He has since regained custody of his children.

“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST

Hear what “48 Hours” contributor David Begnaud and producer Judy Rybak think about the evidence that left viewers wondering, what really happened to Megan Parra?  

Produced by Judy Rybak. Emily Wichick Hourihane is the field producer. Anthony Venditti is the content research manager. Shaheen Tokhi is the associate producer. Jud Johnson and Grayce Arlotta-Berner are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

• 48 Hours
• Homicide
• Louisiana

David Begnaud

David Begnaud is a CBS News contributor and previously served as the lead national correspondent for “CBS Mornings,” based in New York City.

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