Fiancée convicted in Carrollton murder plot after custody dispute turned deadly

Alyssa Burkett was 24 when she was shot in broad daylight outside the Greentree Apartments leasing office in Carrollton, Texas, where she worked. What first looked like the work of a jealous father in a bitter custody fight over young Willow turned out to be a far more elaborate murder plot, one that federal prosecutors said was orchestrated by Andrew Beard’s fiancée, Holly Elkins.

Beard later admitted his role and pleaded guilty in June 2022 to cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. He was sentenced on May 24, 2023, to 43 years in federal prison. Prosecutors said Beard placed a GPS tracker on Burkett’s car, followed her to work in a black SUV he had purchased for the occasion, wore a disguise, shot her in the head, and then stabbed her 13 times when he realized she was still alive.

The case turned on more than eyewitness suspicion. Investigators found a phone search for how to remove gunpowder residue from hands, along with boots that had been cut up and soaked in bleach. They also recovered a battery that matched the GPS trackers attached to Burkett’s vehicle. Those details helped move the investigation beyond the obvious suspect narrative and into the mechanics of a planned ambush built on stalking, surveillance, and concealment.

Elkins was indicted in June 2023 and convicted by a federal jury in April 2024 after seven days of trial and about 90 minutes of deliberation. She was sentenced on Aug. 15, 2024, to two consecutive life terms for conspiracy to stalk, stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death, and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Prosecutors said Elkins helped plan the killing, joined in the harassment campaign against Burkett, and took part in the attempted cover-up.

The Department of Justice said Beard and Elkins began their relationship in early April 2020, were shopping for engagement rings by May, and had escalated their harassment by summer 2020. In remarks after the conviction and sentencing, U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton said the case reflected brutal domestic violence and that Burkett’s family could never be made whole, even as the verdicts and sentences delivered a measure of justice.

CBS News later reported that Elkins initially met with detectives and insisted Beard was home with her the morning of the killing before investigators concluded Beard was only half of the story. For Burkett’s family, the case laid bare how coercive control, custody conflict, and intimate-partner violence can converge into premeditated murder.