April Dawn Lacy
Jul. 2, 1982~Oct. 3, 1996
14 yrs. old
On Oct. 8, 1996, the rancher was out that morning checking on his cattle when buzzards caught his attention. Thinking one of his cows had died, the rancher followed the birds to a pile of brush, and that's where he found the body. April Dawn Lacy, 14, lay face down. She looked like she had tripped and fallen, except she was naked, tangled in dead branches and miles from the nearest paved road. Her purple face told the young deputy assigned to the case that someone had strangled her. Her right arm, stretched out like a swimmer taking a stroke, told him that someone dragged her into the brush.