Carrollton Police Department
An alleged murderer is back in jail. Andrew Charles Beard, the 33-year-old Texas man accused of disguising himself in blackface to kill 24-year-old ex-girlfriend Alyssa Burkett, was arrested again. This time it was for allegedly possessing an unlicensed firearm silencer.
“Given the brutality of his alleged crimes, it’s unthinkable that Mr. Beard bonded out of county jail,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, of the Northern District of Texas. “I am proud that our federal law enforcement partners acted quickly so that we could file federal charges. It is our fervent hope that justice will be swift, and that Mr. Beard will be kept behind bars — state or federal — before he can inflict more harm.”
Beard had been out on $1 million bond in the death of his ex-girlfriend.
The federal allegation originated from the investigation into the local murder case. A man shot and stabbed Burkett outside the Greentree Apartment leasing office on October 2, according The Carrollton Leader. The victim’s coworkers tried to treat her at the scene, but she died. Witnesses described the killer as a black man. As you can see from the mugshot above, defendant Beard is a clearly white person, but investigators said that as part of their work, they discovered two bottles of liquid foundation makeup, partially burned wipes with brown residue, and a burned metal cylinder that was consistent with a makeup brush container.
According to the official account, Beard landed on the investigators’ radar early on because the victim’s then-boyfriend and a coworker both said that Burkett was afraid of the defendant, to the point she thought he might kill her. Also, the boyfriend said that she thought Beard was tracking her because the defendant always apparently knew her whereabouts.
Well, detectives said they found a tracking device under Burkett’s vehicle, and the boyfriend also found a similar one under his. Investigators marked out the boyfriend as a suspect, saying they were able to determine where he was during the murder. That left Beard, with whom Burkett was in a contentious custody battle. The victim had won custody of their 1-year-old daughter days before.
Cops found an apparently abandoned black Ford Expedition, which they traced to a September 26 vehicle sale to a what was described as a white man in a mask and baseball cap. That vehicle contained a dark prosthetic beard with apparent makeup on the inside, and a dark colored hair that seemed to have blood on it, authorities said.
An October 3 search of the defendant’s white F-150 allegedly turned up evidence including the aforementioned make up, and black boots, which were cut up and smelled like bleach.
Federal officials said that investigators also discovered a Spy Bot battery and another tracking device at the defendant’s home. The search also allegedly turned up a .22 caliber revolver, and a homemade gun silencer in a toolbox. This silencer lacked the required registration number that should be on the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, authorities said.
Update – November 1, 4:56 p.m.: Law&Crime reached out to Beard’s current attorney in the state case, and the federal public defender’s office that presents him in the silencer-related charge.
[Mugshot via Carrollton Police Department]
