Texas woman convicted in ex-boyfriend’s murder plot to win custody fight

What looked at first like a street-level killing in Carrollton became, in the hands of federal investigators, a case about stalking, custody warfare and a planned ambush. Prosecutors said 24-year-old Alyssa Ann Burkett was attacked outside the apartment complex where she worked on Oct. 2, 2020, after Andrew Charles Beard and Holly Ann Elkins spent months harassing her amid a fight over Beard’s young daughter.

Investigators said Beard shot and stabbed Burkett while disguising himself in blackface and dark makeup, an effort that underscored how carefully the attack had been planned. Prosecutors also said Beard and Elkins used a GPS tracker on Burkett’s car and filed false police reports as part of a campaign to monitor and pressure her before the killing. The government has described the case as a coordinated effort to secure sole custody of Beard’s child by eliminating Burkett.

Beard later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May 2023 to 43 years in federal prison. Elkins, who prosecutors said helped plot the murder, was indicted in June 2023 and arrested in Miami on July 6, 2023. The case moved to trial in the Northern District of Texas, where a jury convicted her in April 2024 after seven days of testimony and about 90 minutes of deliberation.

On Aug. 15, 2024, Elkins was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton said in announcing the sentence that Beard and Elkins would “never terrorize their family again.” Federal prosecutors said the punishment reflected the calculated nature of the plot and the violence that followed, turning a domestic dispute into a federal murder case.

Burkett’s death drew attention because it exposed how quickly custody conflicts can be weaponized when stalking, deception and violence converge. What began as harassment and surveillance ended in a fatal attack outside a workplace, leaving investigators to piece together a plan that was far more deliberate than the first scene suggested.