In the months after Alyssa Burkett was murdered, she appeared to her mother, Teresa Collard, in a dream. Teresa Collard : I see her across the room and in my dream — I knew she was gone but I was hysterically happy that I was seeing her and I was thinking "you're back.
Teresa Collard : She came to me and said, no, I'm not back. And I don't want to come back and I never want to be there again.
I was puzzled why don't you want to come back and she said, because I was always afraid there. Although year-old Alyssa Burkett had been afraid for months, the attack at the apartment complex where she worked in Carrollton, Texas, north of Dallas, came as a surprise.
According to Sgt. Michael Harding, one of the lead detectives, Alyssa pulled into her usual parking space at around 9 a. Michael Harding in the parking lot : Alyssa's car was actually parked right here Michael Harding in the apartment complex parking lot : She had the window up and he shot right through the wind — right through the window. Maintenance supervisor Darin Ickeler, who was about 15 feet away — " it was horrible " — heard the gun blast and turned around.
Investigators believe the shooter thought Alyssa was dead. The blast had destroyed her left eye and part of her face. But Alyssa Burkett was still alive. Michael Harding in the parking lot : She gets out of her car. She walks up to this landing to try to get help because she knows her — her coworkers are here. The shooter, described by some as a Black man, got out of the vehicle and began sprinting toward Alyssa. This time with a new weapon in his hand — something more personal: a large hunting knife.
