When Alyssa Burkett was murdered outside her workplace in Texas, authorities quickly zeroed in on her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Beard. But nearly three years after the murder, the FBI arrested another unlikely suspect. 48 Hours Correspondent Peter Van Sant is joined by Producers Liza Finley and Gabby Demirdjian to break down the evidence against Andrew’s former fiancée, Holly. They discuss the damning text messages between them and an unusual expert the defense called at her trial: a make-up artist. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to Alyssa Burkett?
She was masterful in that, I thought. The acting performance. Right? She could be nominated for an Oscar. Absolutely convincing.
One thing the cops told us, that she always thought she was the smartest person in the room. She thought she could outsmart everybody.
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I only told Mom and Dad.
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Yes, yes, also yes.
Welcome back, everyone. So Elkins was actually arrested nearly three years after Alyssa's murder. What was she doing during that time?
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Chapter 2: Who are the key suspects in Alyssa's murder?
That's just a theory. I have no idea, but that's a theory.
And also what's so weird is that if it was so obvious that Andrew did this and he was going to get caught for doing it, she would never get Willow, and she knew that. So really, what was the game? What was it?
So the 48 Hours team was actually in the courtroom for Elkin's trial. This was April of 2024. What was it like in the courtroom?
So it was very sad. Andrew had pled, so he never got to go to trial. So this is the first and only trial that Alyssa's family was ever going to attend. And it was almost four years later after the murder. So they have to relive this whole thing with the anticipation leading up to it. The prosecution played Holly's interview in court as well.
And, you know, it's very evident in some places where she's just overacting and lying. And, you know, knowing what we knew sitting in the courtroom, it was very intense being in there.
So you're in the courtroom and you're hearing all this evidence, crazy evidence about the makeup. What did you learn?
So her defense put on a makeup artist as their expert, and they used the same bottle of makeup That was found in Andrew Beard's car that investigators say he used to cover his face the morning of the murder. They took that bottle of makeup and they essentially did a makeover on Holly Elkins in front of the jury, a demonstration to show that this makeup could be used to contour her face.
It took about 20 minutes. The jury is looking at each other like, what is going on? Right. Everybody in the room is like, are they really just like giving Holly Elkins a makeover at her own trial? And the judge says something to the effect of like, I've been a judge for a very long time. This is definitely a first. What was her demeanor like in the courtroom?
She very rarely throughout this seven day trial looked back into the gallery to see everybody. Do you know if there was anyone there on her behalf? There was a couple there. I didn't know if they were related to her, but, um, like we said, she lost her mother and her dad did show up the very last day, I believe. Wow. Yeah. Um, Andrew's mom also attended Holly's trial.
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