Missing Mom's Body Found Weighed Down At The Bottom Of Pond, Police Believe She Was Tortured Before Death
Ten days after a mother-of-three was reported missing, authorities found her body weighed down in an Oklahoma pond.
The police believe the victim, 40-year-old Tara Strozier from Arkansas, was tortured before she was murdered. Her body was "found in a pond near Rock Island, in LeFlore County," a news release from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirmed.
According to the report, Strozier was listed as a missing person on Monday, July 19, by police across state lines in Fort Smith, Ark. She was reportedly last seen driving a black Volkswagen Jetta that had Florida license plates.
The Fort Smith police requested the help of the LeFlore County Sheriff's Office after they received a tip that the mother-of-three "was possibly last seen in the Cameron, Okla., area," per the report.
A few days after the victim was declared missing, the black Volkswagen was found abandoned in Cameron on Friday, July 24. The sheriff's department suspected "foul play" after the car was discovered without any sign of the missing woman.
Working with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, agents from the Sheriff's office began a probe into Strozier's disappearance, discovering that she may have been kidnapped and tortured before she took her last breath.
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"Authorities believe Strozier was tortured at an unoccupied mobile home off Neblett Ridge Road in Cameron before being murdered by the pond near Rock Island," the report stated following the joint investigation.
The authorities have since identified and arrested three suspects — Alex Nathaniel Davis, 30; Austin Johnson, 23; Kaelin Hutchinson, 24 — in connection to Strozier's disappearance and murder.
Strozier's body was recovered on Thursday, July 29 — the same day Davis admitted to killing the woman while Johnson was present. After the two murdered Strozier, they "weighed her body down and threw her into the pond," per the report.
All three suspects were booked into the LeFlore County Detention Center. Davis and Johnson were both charged with Murder in the First Degree. Davis is also facing a charge of kidnapping.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson was charged with Obstruction of an Officer. The suspect — whose bond was set Friday, July 30, at $250,000, per PEOPLE — was also charged with accessory after the fact and conspiracy. All three men have yet to enter a plea.
