DNA under woman’s fingernail links Plano man to her killing in Grand Prairie: warrant
On the night of May 6, Christian Overton drove a Dodge Caravan into a Motel 6 parking lot in Grand Prairie.
He admitted it to detectives, according to a warrant.
But Overton, 26, denied having any involvement with 51-year-old Tracey Hey, the owner of the Dodge Caravan whose body was found in the back of the minivan on the morning of May 7.
Hey was found with facial trauma, and Grand Prairie police believe she was the victim of an assault.
After Hey’s body was found, Grand Prairie detectives tracked Overton to Arlington and arrested him earlier this month. Initially, authorities said Overton lived in Arlington, but a warrant identified him as living in Plano.
Overton has been charged with murder in the case and he was in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $150,000 on that charge. He also is being held on $54,000 bond on three other charges.
Search and arrest warrants written by Grand Prairie Detective B. Olson provided this brief account of the case:
Hey’s body was found at about 11:45 a.m. on May 7 in the motel parking lot, 1108 N. Texas 360, in Grand Prairie.
An autopsy by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that Hey suffered a fractured neck, fractures of her nose and lacerations to her face and arms.
The ruling on a cause of death was listed as undetermined, according to the medical examiner’s office website on Tuesday.
Detectives believe Hey was assaulted in the 2400 block of Ascension Boulevard in Arlington, and then her body was taken to Grand Prairie.
Surveillance video at the Motel 6 in Grand Prairie showed Hey’s Dodge Caravan arriving there, driven by a man. He abandoned the vehicle and left the area on foot.
Grand Prairie police released images and a video of the driver, who was later identified as Overton.
In June, male DNA obtained from under one of Hey’s fingernails on her left hand was entered into an FBI DNA database, and it matched with Overton.
Earlier this month, Overton’s DNA profile was linked to Hey’s body in several places, according to the warrant.
The warrant did not provide a motive for the killing.
