Austin truck driver convicted of kidnapping, murdering woman near Dallas
A truck driver faces a mandatory life sentence after being convicted of murdering a 25-year-old sex worker and dumping her body in a wooded area near Dallas.
On Tuesday, a jury found Naasson Hazzard, 28, from Austin, guilty of kidnapping resulting in death, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.
During the nine-day trial, evidence showed the victim entered Hazzard's truck in Dallas at 9:27 p.m. on Aug. 15. Cellphone records indicated that Hazzard remained in a nearby parking lot for 17 minutes after picking her up before driving for over three hours to a wooded area off Highway 11 in Pittsburg, the news release states.
He sent a message to his boss saying he would be out sick the next day and remained at the location for almost an hour before completing a workload, authorities said. Hazzard later visited the scene with his wife before switching cellphones, deleting Google and Life360 location-sharing accounts and cleaning the truck with bleach.
He also searched online "how many years for first second and third degree murders," while his wife searched for "Pittsburg Texas news," according to prosecutors.
On Aug. 23, agents found the victim's body with a plastic bag around her head and her shattered cellphone on the side of the road.
Hazzard was charged via criminal complaint in August and indicted in October, the news release stated.
"A young woman's life was cut tragically short, her last moments likely spent in terror," said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. "But those final moments do not define her life. She mattered, her life had worth, and we are proud to put her kidnapper behind bars."