A Texas woman has been found guilty of playing a sinister part in a love-triangle murder arrangement, following a detailed and disturbing federal court case in which her deep entanglement in an ex-girlfriend's killing was laid bare, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Holly Ann Elkins, implicated in the heinous 2020 crime alongside her then-fiancé, who has since been sentenced to 43 years behind bars, now faces life herself after jurors needed just 90 minutes to return a verdict convicting her of multiple charges tied to the stalking and ultimate brutal death of Alyssa Ann Burkett.

Burkett, the 24-year-old victim and a mother who shared a daughter with her murderer Andrew Beard, suffered relentless harassment from Elkins, as revealed in the trial evidence, Elkins was not satisfied with just verbal assaults she took them to a sinister level by indulging in a campaign to undermine Burkett's fitness as a mother, which included planting drugs, faking an assault, and orchestrating a false erratic driving report, the prosecution laid out evidence of a grisly end that involved a shooting and vicious stabbing at Burkett’s workplace; after which Elkins attempted to fabricate an alibi for her partner in crime.

Their cruel obsession with terrorizing Burkett had escalated over months, where jealousy and control had festered into a deadly concoction; U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton was quoted stating, "Holly Elkins and Andrew Beard constructed a campaign of terror aimed at Alyssa Ann Burkett, the mother of Mr. Beard's young daughter," and subsequently hoped "today’s verdict brings the victim’s family the peace they need to move forward."

Throughout the trial, chilling details of premeditated malice unfolded, Elkins hurling degrading insults at the victim and plotting alongside Beard—who disguised himself as a Black man—as they amassed items like shotgun shells and a knife and plotted the murder, further searches for how to remove gunpowder from hands were found on Beard's Google records, this nefarious narrative punctuated by a text exchange in which Elkins pressed Beard to be "ride or die" for her, the case was brought to a grim conclusion by the FBI's Dallas Field Office, joined by local police and ATF investigators, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gary Tromblay, Rick Calvert, and Ryan Niedermair leading the charge in court.

Following the conviction, Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the FBI Dallas Field Office affirmed the collaborative law enforcement efforts to ensure justice, while the impact on Burkett's daughter remains a void that no sentence can fill – the young child left to reconcile the loss of a mother and the incarceration of a father, and now possibly her father's fiancée too. Erin Dooley, Press Officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office, announced the conviction which signifies yet another victory in the ongoing battle against violent crime, as the shadow of a family tragedy continues to loom large.