Hawlett called her mother, Carol Roberts, from a payphone to tell her they were headed home. They never made it.
The next morning Carol called the local police, and a search began.
Early on August 1 law enforcement spotted the Black Mazda on the side of a road. It had traveled less than a mile from the gas station where their phone call was made.
The girls’ purses were intact. No one had taken their cash. Tracie’s keys were still in the car.
When the trunk was opened the girls were found dead, each with gunshot wounds to the head.
DNA
The wheels of justice turned slowly. For years, every lead was investigated. But then the case went cold.
In 2018, Ozark Police Chief Marlos Walker heard about the breakthroughs in forensic genetic genealogy.
Forensic genetic genealogy is a cutting-edge technique that uses an unidentified person’s DNA to trace their identity by exploring a network of relatives.
Ozark police sent a DNA sample found on Beasley to Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia. Five months later, in 2019, Walker received results and noticed a familiar name on the list of possible matches.
