Quemado, Texas – Three years after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, some of the same defendants who were arrested and convicted for their role in the violent insurrection were embraced by an emboldened fringe movement at the nation’s southern border.
The Take Our Border Back rally last weekend brought anti-immigration hardliners, MAGA conservatives, and other fringe elements to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies, in what the website said was a “call on our government to take action… and secure our southern border.” It was also, to a certain extent, a rebirth for some Jan 6 defendants who took the stage to galvanize supporters.
Attendees listen to a worship service at the “Take Our Border Back Convoy” rally on February 3, 2024 in Quemado, Texas.
Michael Gonzalez / Getty Images
In speeches and private conversations, some of the Jan. 6 defendants told CBS News the border rally emboldened them to resume in-person protests and rallies.
“A lot of people were fearful to come to this rally because of Jan. 6,” said 42-year-old Christina Holbrook, who traveled from Cincinnati to attend the rally. “That’s what the government wants us to do — be afraid. But now we know we can raise our voices.”
In her view, the 1,300 Jan. 6 prosecutions may briefly have served as a deterrent, but now they’ve become a powerful organizing tool.
“It’s the same idea as politically prosecuting Donald Trump. It absolutely has backfired,” she said. “But the government’s prosecutions have actually brought people together.”
The plan for deterrence
The Jan. 6 insurrection turned a group of right-leaning supporters of former President Trump from online agitators into a violent mob intent on disrupting the congressional process to affirm the 2020 election results.
People from all over the United States are led in prayer as they gather for a multi city rally to voice their concerns about immigration and border security as part of the Take Our Border back Convoy on February 3, 2024 in Quemado, Texas.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
After the assault, federal prosecutors mounted one of the largest and most complex investigations in the nation’s history, leading to 1,313 arrests and 900 convictions and guilty pleas. At least 124 defendants have been charged with causing serious injuries to officers. The Justice Department found that approximately 140 police officers were assaulted on Jan. 6, including 80 Capitol Police officers and 60 Metropolitan Police officers.
“The best way to prevent another Jan. 6 is to ensure accountability for Jan. 6,” Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said at the conclusion of a House select committee investigation that recommended Trump be criminally prosecuted. “Accountability at all levels.”
Judges overseeing Jan. 6-related cases at times said openly they expected prison time to serve as a deterrent against future insurrections.
“It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment,” said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, during a Jan. 6 sentencing hearing in 2021.
Earlier this year, federal judge Ana Reyes admonished Jan. 6 defendant Karol Chwiesiuk, a former Chicago police officer, and his sister Agnieszka, for their actions that day.
“What happened on Jan. 6 was — I have no words for that I can adequately convey how alarming it was and how destructive it was and how un-American it was. And every single person who rioted at the Capitol and who invaded the Capitol was part of an insurrection, end stop,” Judge Reyes told the defendants at their sentencing. “You might not have thought that was what you were doing going in, but that is what it was.”
Hailed as heroes
But in Texas last weekend, an emboldened posture that has been percolating in right-wing online forums burst into public view.
Nearly 400 people showed up to Saturday’s rally to hear people like Ryan Zink speak. On Jan. 6, Zink, according to the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office, shot video of the rioting and proclaimed in one clip, “We knocked down the gates! We’re storming the Capitol! You can’t stop us!”
“I’m just a country boy who had his entire life kicked out from underneath him,” he said. Zink said he nearly died during the weeks he spent at the D.C. jail.
Almost two years to the date after he was arrested in Texas, Zink described his experience as a Jan. 6 defendant to the crowd.
“If you get me to Washington, D.C., I will do everything I can to stop what happened to me from happening to you and your children,” he said, a call to action that was met with overwhelming applause.
Treniss Evans, who pleaded guilty to illegally entering the Capitol complex on Jan. 6 and served 20 days behind bars, spoke at One Shot Distillery and Brewery in Dripping Springs two days before the rally.
“We stand here at a moment where people are actually starting to gather again,” said Evans, who is both a defendant himself and does legal advocacy for other Jan. 6ers through his organization, Condemned USA.
Overcoming fears of gathering IRL
Last week’s rally provided early evidence that efforts to try and discourage anti-government activists from leaving their computer keyboards and rallying in person may have fallen short.
In the days leading up to the convoy, organizing channels on Telegram were riddled with rumors and paranoia suggesting the event was going to lead to Jan. 6 -style arrests. Users went back and forth about whether or not organizing in-person was worth the risk.
People embrace in an emotional moment during a praise and worship song at the Take Back Our Border Convoy rally at Cornerstone Children’s Ranch on February 3, 2024 near Quemado, Texas.
SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images
“I heard on the news that this was actually being organized by the Feds to entrap us,” said one user. Another countered, “Stop letting them scare you out of protesting using January 6th. That’s the goal and it’s working.”
But the rally revealed that the misinformation and fervor behind the Jan. 6 insurrection may be more durable than federal authorities had hoped. In a speech, Evans appeared newly emboldened with familiar election propaganda.
“They are going to steal your election again. We all know what’s coming,” he said.
To Evans and others, the Take Our Border Back rally opened a new chapter for a “patriot” movement ready to organize in person again.
“It absolutely shows proof of concept,” Holbrook said, adding that attendees are already talking about the next gathering. “What can we do now? What comes next?”
President-elect Donald Trump walked out to a roaring standing ovation just ahead of the start of the UFC pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, combining two things close to his heart: fierce battles inside the octagon and New York City.
Trump was accompanied by UFC President Dana White and the pair headed to their cageside seats to Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass.”
A return to Madison Square Garden meant revisiting the place where a comedian caused an uproar at a Trump rally last month by likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” Yet Trump continues to relish visits to New York, where he lived for decades, before moving to his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
UFC aired a video package of Trump’s road to reclaiming the White House, calling it, “The great comeback in American History,” while fans stood and applauded. Trump, wearing a red tie, pumped his fist toward the crowd when the video ended.
The president-elect also had his clenched fists pumping back and forth and briefly danced to the Village People’s “YMCA” just outside the cage. He later again thrust his fist skyward as “Takin’ Care of Business” played.
President-elect Donald Trump, singer Kid Rock and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pose for a photo as they attend UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Nov. 16, 2024.
KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk, picked by Trump to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, joined the president-elect and White at the Garden, as did Robert Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in his incoming administration.
Trump shook hands with the UFC broadcast team that included Joe Rogan. Rogan hosted Trump on his podcast for hours in the final stages of the campaign ahead of his election win last week. The announcers for the pay-per-view audience later declared, “Festive doesn’t even begin to describe” the scene before later proclaiming, “47’s in the building. Let’s go.”
The MSG crowd chanted “USA! USA!” right before the main card was about to start and then again throughout the action. After a year delay, Stipe Miocic is getting his shot at a third heavyweight championship reign when he battles current champion Jon Jones in the main event at UFC 309.
Trump is a longtime UFC enthusiast and frequent attendee of major fights. He made promoting hypermasculine tones a signature of his campaign — as he looked to further widen the gap among male voters between himself and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump and his top supporters embraced alpha-male terms and often accentuated them with vulgar and demeaning language.
While campaigning, Trump appeared frequently on podcasts, gaming platforms, and with key supporters who described a vote for Trump as a way to demonstrate true manliness. While Trump taped a podcast with Rogan, who himself has spoken about hypermasculinity, Harris failed to do a similar appearance, citing scheduling conflicts.
Trump’s son, Don Jr., also attended the fight.
Except for a day trip to Washington this week to meet for nearly two hours with President Biden and separately address House Republicans, Trump has been spending his time since his Election Day victory at Mar-a-Lago. The club has hosted galas and conservative events throughout the week.
Trump has been close to White for more than two decades.
White hosted a 2001 UFC battle at Trump Taj Mahal, a former casino-hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Trump has frequently attended UFC matches since — including during his 2024 campaign. Trump has turned up at fights recently with famous entourages, including White, musician Kid Rock and former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and White starred in a UFC video where the then-president was called the “Combatant In Chief.”
As Trump has strengthened his grip on the national Republican Party over the last near-decade, White’s personal political profile has grown exponentially. White spoke at the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions, and when the party gathered in Milwaukee this past July. He also addressed the crowd at Trump’s Florida victory party in the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.
“This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White said then. “What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like: couldn’t stop him. He keeps going forward. He doesn’t quit.”
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.
On the morning of Oct. 2, 2020, Alyssa Burkett parked outside the Greentree Apartments leasing office when a man in a black Ford Expedition pulled into the spot next to her. He got out of his SUV and shot Burkett through the driver’s side window. She walked from the car to get help and the assailant then stabbed her 44 times. “It was one of the most brutal scenes that I’ve been to in 32 years law enforcement. You can see the rage,” said Det. Jeremy Chevallier of the Carrollton Police Department.
Carrollton Police Department
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).
Alyssa Burkett was in the middle of a bitter custody dispute with Andrew Beard, the father of their 1-year-old daughter Willow, when she was killed in broad daylight.
Alyssa Burkett
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.
Andrew Beard and daughter Willow.
Lizette Bowers
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 …“
Andrew Beard, Holly Elkins and Willow.
Lizette Bowers
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
Madison Grimes
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.
Andrew Beard, center, is seen with officers in a resized still from police bodycam video during a stop for an alleged traffic violation. Holly Elkins and Willow were also in the vehicle. The stop came hours after Alyssa Burkett’s killing.
Carrollton Police Department
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.
Alyssa’s Burkett’s license plate number, the color and model of her vehicle, and other incriminating information was written on the back of an envelope addressed to Andrew Beard. The envelope was found in a backpack in Beard’s living room by police during a search of his home.
Carrollton Police Department
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.
Two dark colored makeup vials were recovered from Andrew Beard’s truck.
Carrollton Police Department
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.
Holly Elkins was interviewed by Carrollton Police detectives Jeremy Chevallier, left, and Michael Harding.
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.
After Andrew Beard confessed to killing Alyssa Burkett, Holly Elkins left Texas to start a new life.
Holly Elkins/Stephen Green
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.
Andrew Beard and Holly Elkins with Willow, the daughter Beard shared with Alyssa Burkett.
Lizette Bowers
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.
Holly Elkins was arrested by federal agents almost three years after Alyssa Burkett’s death.
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
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.
One year and nine months after Alyssa Burkett was killed, Andrew Beard spoke to the FBI as part of a plea deal.
FBI
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?
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.
“Every Mother’s Day we visit the grave,” said Teresa Collard, pictured at center, with Willow and Madison Grimes, of keeping Alyssa’s memory alive for her daughter. (We) take flowers, we take cards. … you know we talk about her all the time.”
CBS News
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.
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.”
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The U.S. Justice Department is demanding records related to the July shooting death of Sonya Massey — an Illinois woman who was killed in her home by a sheriff’s deputy — as it investigates how local authorities treat Black residents and people with behavioral disabilities.
The government made a list of demands in dozens of categories in a letter to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, dated Thursday.
“The Sheriff’s Office, along with involved county agencies, has engaged in discussions and pledged full cooperation with the Department of Justice in its review,” Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch said Friday.
Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was killed July 6 when deputies responded to a call about a possible prowler at her home in Springfield, Illinois. She was shot three times during a confrontation with an officer.
“The Justice Department, among other requests, wants to know if the sheriff’s office has strategies for responding to people in “behavioral health crises,” the government’s letter read. “…The incident raises serious concerns about…interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities.”
Andy Van Meter, chairman of the Sangamon County Board, said the Justice Department’s review is an important step in strengthening the public’s trust in the sheriff’s office.
At the time of the fatal shooting, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office was led by then-Sheriff Jack Campbell, who retired in August and was replaced by Crouch.
Deputy Sean Grayson’s history of misconduct
Grayson has worked for six different law enforcement agencies in Illinois since 2020, CBS News learned. He was also discharged from the Army in February 2016 after serving for about 19 months. He was hired by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in May 2023.
In an interview with CBS News in early August, Campbell said that Grayson “had all the training he needed. He just didn’t use it.”
In a recording released by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, where Grayson worked from May 2022 to April 2023, a supervising officer is heard warning Grayson for what the senior officer said was his lack of integrity, for lying in his reports, and for what he called “official misconduct.”
Girard Police Chief Wayman Meredith recalled an alleged incident in 2023 when he said an enraged Grayson was pressuring him to call child protective services on a woman outside of Grayson’s mother’s home. He said Grayson was “acting like a bully.”
The recording and Meredith’s description of Grayson’s conduct showed how he quickly became angry and, according to documents, willing to abuse his power as an officer.
Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office history of accusations
According to a review of court records in 2007, Massey’s killing was the only criminal case in recent history against a Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office deputy for actions on duty. Local officials characterized her shooting as an aberration.
However, CBS News obtained thousands of pages of law enforcement files, medical and court records, as well as photo and video evidence that indicated the office had a history of misconduct allegations and accountability failures before Grayson. The records challenged the claim that Massey’s death was, as said by the then-sheriff, an isolated incident by one “rogue individual.”
Local families were confident that Massey’s death was the latest in a pattern of brazen abuse that has gone unchecked for years.
Attorneys for Massey’s family recommended an updated SAFE-T Act that would expand an existing database used to track officer misconduct to include infractions like DUIs and speeding during police chases.
