A Rowlett man accused of shooting and stabbing his girlfriend pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges on Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham announced that Andrew Charles Beard was accused of cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend and then shooting and stabbing her in the middle of a custody dispute. Beard was charged with “cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death” and with “discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.”
According to plea papers, Beard, 35, admitted that he murdered Alyssa Ann Burkett, 24, in a Carrollton parking lot on October 2, 2020. He admittedly murdered the woman so that he could gain custody of their young daughter.
Beard said before U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle that he placed a GPS tracking device on Burkett’s car and followed her in a black SUV to the apartment complex where she worked. Donning a disguise, he exited his vehicle, approached Burkett, who was behind the wheel of her car, and shot her in the head with a shotgun.
Beard went back to his vehicle and was going to drive away but stopped when he realized that Burkett was still alive. She had been severely injured but was trying to enter a nearby building to get help. However, Beard grabbed her from behind and stabbed her 13 times through the upper body with a sharp object, according to court documents. He then fled the scene as she died in the parking lot.
Three hours after the incident, police stopped Beard as he was driving away from his home in a white pickup truck. Three phones, including a prepaid burner phone, were seized from him. On one of the phones, officers found an internet search for “what is the best way to remove gunpowder residue from hands.”
A search of his vehicle yielded a pair of men’s hiking boots cut into pieces and soaking in bleach. In his home, officers found a written script Beard had used to call in a false drug tip against Burkett a month earlier. He admitted to calling in the fake information after planting drugs and a gun in her car.
Officers also found a battery in his home that matched the one in the GPS tracker attached to her vehicle.
According to the Department of Justice, Burkett’s mother told police that her daughter was afraid of Beard and feared he was tracking her and would kill her. Her boyfriend told police that Beard had seemed “overly obsessed” with Burkett and her daughter.
A day after the killing, officers found the black SUV Beard drove to and from the murder scene in a residential neighborhood close to his home. DNA in dried blood recovered from the abandoned vehicle matched Burkett’s. A fake beard was also recovered from the car, containing DNA that matched Beard’s.
“This was a brutal, bloody crime,” Meacham said of Beard’s actions.
The D.A. also sympathized with Beard and Burkett’s daughter. “Her mother is deceased, and her father is an admitted murderer. We pray for strength for this child and the rest of her family in the days, weeks, and years to come,” he said.
“If you looked up ‘evil’ in the dictionary, you would see Mr. Beard stabbing [Ms. Burkett] in a parking lot. His crimes are gut-wrenching and shock the conscience,” ATF Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey C. Boshek said.
Boshek urged anyone suffering from the fear of gun-wielding domestic partners — and anyone who knows someone in such a situation — to notify law enforcement immediately.
Beard will face up to two life terms in federal prison at his sentencing, set for October 6.
