A Rowlett woman who helped her fiancé orchestrate the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend was sentenced today to two consecutive life sentences, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Holly Ann Elkins was indicted in June 2023. A jury convicted her in April 2024 of conspiracy to stalk, stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death, and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle.
Elkins’ former fiancé, Andrew Beard, previously pleaded guilty to stalking using a dangerous weapon, resulting in death and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison.
“Month after month, Holly Elkins and Andrew Beard relentlessly harassed Alyssa Ann Burkett. They called her despicable names. They filed false police reports. They placed illegal contraband in her vehicle. And when all that failed, they plotted a particularly painful and bloody death,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton.
According to evidence presented at trial, Elkins helped plot the October 2, 2020, murder of 24-year-old Alyssa Ann Burkett, Beard’s ex-girlfriend, with whom he shared a young daughter.
The government argued that Elkins – who apparently dreamt of a life with Beard and a mother-child relationship with his daughter – repeatedly attempted to call into question Burkett’s fitness as a parent. When that failed, Elkins goaded Beard into taking Burkett’s life, labelling the victim a “c**t” and a “dumb b**ch” and a “garbage s**t mom.”
The perpetrators’ relationship began in early April 2020. Later that month, Elkins spent her first weekend with Beard and his daughter. By May, the couple were shopping for engagement rings. In June, however, Elkins grew frustrated at Beard’s continuing association with Burkett, writing, “your BM [baby mamma] owns you,” “you continue to put BM first,” “you choose to be idk for lack of a better term submissive to her,” and “I don’t have want or need any bullshit from anyone.”
Elkins began a campaign to harass Burkett in summer 2020, shortly after Elkins moved into Beard’s home. In June, Elkins and Beard conspired to place a GPS tracker on Burkett’s vehicle. A month later, Elkins placed a call to 911 under a fake name, ‘Amber’, falsely claiming that Burkett’s car was driving erratically on the interstate.
In August 2020, Elkins falsely reported to police that Burkett’s mother had attacked her, creating scratches on her own chest to support the lie. Five days later, Elkins and Beard paid a private investigator to dig up dirt on Burkett and her new boyfriend. (The investigator, who testified at trial, found nothing incriminating.)
In September, Elkins helped Beard plant drugs and a gun in Burkett’s vehicle; Beard then placed a call to the police under a fake name, claiming Burkett was selling drugs to black men out of her car.
Then, on September 10, just three weeks before the murder, Elkins accompanied Beard to a sporting goods store, where he purchased a black rain suit in cash. On September 14, two and a half weeks before the murder, Elkins purchased dark makeup from a drugstore. On September 19, she accompanied Beard to a big box store, where they purchased .410 shotgun shells and a Camillus knife.
One week prior to the murder, Elkins texted Beard and said, “I hope you handle it.”
She requested that he be “ride or die” for her and said if he was not, she was not sure the relationship can continue. Shortly after that text exchange, Google records reflect that Andrew Beard began conducting searches for how to remove gunpowder from his hands.
On October 2, 2020, Beard, dressed in a black rain suit and disguised as a Black man, shot Burkett in the head with a shotgun while she sat behind the wheel of her car in her work parking lot. As she staggered out of the car, Beard grabbed her and stabbed and slashed her 44 times.
Her coworkers testified at trial that they found Burkett covered in blood and gasping for air in front of her office front door. She died as her coworkers tried to render aid to her.
During the murder, Elkins stayed at Beard’s home in Rockwall with Burkett’s daughter. In an attempt to create an alibi, she later claimed Beard had been home with her during the crime.
At the trial, Burkett’s new boyfriend testified that he believed Elkins was the “puppet master” behind the murder.
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