Murder Mystery

Catching Kristy’s Killer(s)

– By Sarah Russell

Kristy Leigh Yates had just nudged past her 15th birthday.

It would be her last.

Yates had a pattern of skipping school and sneaking out. On the morning of April 24, 1997 — a Thursday, a school day — she headed out and into trouble. Her father, Gordon Yates, had called to make sure she and younger sister, Deanna, were leaving. Deanna left first, walking in the opposite direction from

Kristy, who for now was not allowed back at the Hot Springs

Middle School, a consequence of her absenteeism. Gordon was concerned about Summit, the alternative school Kristy had been assigned to. As he said, “It was more for troubled kids.” Skipping school had to have consequences, he agreed, but Kristy hadn't committed a crime, wasn’t having substance abuse issues and wasn’t an angry or violent person.

No, she was the girl who liked to make friends –– maybe too much so. She was, as her sister said, “a follower.” That might have been a fatal flaw. Kristy was at checkmate with her father. Gordon, who had full custody of her and Deanna, had become a widowed father of four when the children's stepmother drowned the summer before.

Working full time and with his two youngest not yet in preschool,

Gordon’s life now was busy, often difficult. He could be forgiven if he had done less. But any man who has held his baby girl in his arms can understand Gordon’s unrelenting focus to do whatever it took to get the best side of his Kristy back. For three months in the fall, Kristy had been sent by the court system to a residential counseling center in north Arkansas.

Gordon had made that happen, motivated by the rape of one of

Kristy’s friends who too had run in the night. When Kristy came home after those three months, it seemed like things might now be for the positive. But once she began the new school, the old patterns returned.

Summit didn’t notify Gordon that Kristy cut class that day, but he knew when he got home from work that there was a problem. He started making calls, including one to Kristy’s caseworker in the court system. She suggested knocking on the doors of anyone Kristy might think she could hide out with. Kristy, she reassured him, would turn up soon. This was, after all, a frequent pattern with her. The night came, but Kristy did not.

“When she would run away, she used to call my grandmother from Wendy’s on Grand Avenue just to let her know she was safe,” Deanna said. Kristy’s estranged mother, Dana Conyers, would later tell the media that Kristy had called her, asking her if she could stay over. No, she was told. If she called Dana, that would have been the only call publicly disclosed. By Friday night, there was still no word from Kristy, not even a call to her grandmother.

A hard rain came on Saturday. Inside, watching TV, Gordon heard the news. The Garland County Sheriff’s De-

Kristy Leigh Yates

partment had found a woman’s body in the 1300 block of Sleepy Valley Road. Gordon quickly picked up the phone. Kristy was the kid already being mistaken as much older. Despite the best efforts of Kristy’s own community — teachers, caseworkers, counselors, family and, most of all, her father — the “woman” in the pictures that the sheriffs brought to Gordon was indeed that good, sweet kid. The kid who had simply hit her teens and had gone wild. And no matter how cared for she was by those around her, their race against time was now lost. But the race to find Kristy’s killer(s) had just started.

Those responsible left a calling card of sorts, the location where Kristy was found speaking for itself. “It’s not too far off the road, maybe 200 feet. You can drive down Sleepy Valley, and you can drive in there. That’s probably where people have partied or parked before,” Gordon explains. That and the fact that the assault on Kristy was physical, not sexual, tends to indicate that this might not have been a random sexual predator passing through, but someone she knew that had been to this out-of-the-way location before.

The belief is that this was not where her assault had taken place; it was where she had been placed afterward. “She had on,” Deanna says, “the same jewelry, same jeans, same shoes” that she had dressed in Thursday morning. She was not hidden or covered, simply placed behind a small building, found by a stranger. Kristy’s assault was brutal and extremely violent, a fact still emphasized by the media and law enforcement.

There is, of course, much more to this story than we can tell you. To protect the integrity of this investigation for the future prosecution of Kristy’s killer(s), law enforcement needs to keep the details within its ranks. But make no mistake: This is an active, not cold, case. Even in the last few months, law enforcement has met with Gordon and Deanna, interviewed others and analyzed information. Initially, Gordon provided to law enforcement a list of those people he had concerns about.

That list is now in new hands. To its credit, the Sheriff’s Department invited the FBI in on the case. It’s up to the FBI’s discretion whether to put their agents and substantial resources behind a case. As Gordon explains, this case was a go for the FBI for several reasons: It involves the murder of a child, it was extreme violence, and it is a case that can be solved.

“We’re still working on it jointly, but the FBI is pushing out the reward and bringing some seriously experienced investigators to work this case,” explains Connor Hagan of the FBI’s Little Rock office.

Yes, the FBI is putting their money on it — literally. The $25,000 they are offering for the arrest and conviction of Kristy’s killer(s) has been brought up to a total of $35,000 by the Yates family. The fact that this case is active means that an extremely violent killer(s) is quite possibly still among us — a killer(s) perhaps in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools or churches, around our children now. And you might not realize you do know something, have seen or heard something, that could help put a stop to this danger. The questions are there for us: Who was she hanging out with? Who was driving her around? What was the talk in the school halls? Were there other kids who cut that day as well? Was someone seen with bruises or scratches in that timeframe? And most importantly, did anyone see or hear from Kristy on Thursday or Friday? If you do know something and are afraid, you are truly at your safest when law enforcement is provided with what they need to put this killer(s) away. The information is most secure when given, even anonymously, to the

KRISTY LEIGH YATES FBI Little Rock at 501-221-9100. Who might know something? Murder Victim April 26, 1997 Her peers — students who knew Hot Springs, Arkansas Kristy from Summit, Hot Springs Middle School or Cutter Morning Start — would now be around 40 years old. The parents or grandparents of her peers might even have a helpful clue, as well as her teachers or counselors. Her REWARD The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the death of Kristy Leigh Yates. mother and stepfather, Harold DETAILS Dean Conyers, of Hot Springs, The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Little Rock, Arkansas, is seeking information regarding the death of Kristy Leigh Yates. On April 26, 1997, 15-year-old Kristy was brutally murdered, and her body was discovered in northern Garland County, Arkansas. Kristy was last seen at the Hot Springs Mall on April 25, 1997. Investigators believe the individual(s) responsible for Kristy’s death may reside in Arkansas. are both deceased, but perhaps If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Little Rock Office of the FBI at (501) 221-9100, your Embassy or Consulate. local FBI office, or the nearest American someone who knew them reField Office: Little Rock members something. Jackie Dorrell, a Hot Springs private investigator, has posted Kristy’s story on the Facebook page, “Dorrell Investigations.” The huge response — views, messages, phone calls — has surprised Dorrell, as well as “how emotional people are when talking about Kristy. People that were her friends, her neighbors, a babysitter and a counselor.” These people have also told Jackie that Kristy “was a friendly, fun, sweet girl who people adored.” Based on information received, Dorrell says, “I do believe the suspects are still living in Arkansas. I also believe Kristy either knew the suspect or was acquainted with the suspect in some form. This was not a random act.” Gordon adds, “I think that she was set up, that she went somewhere with their intentions to do what they were going to do and that she wasn’t expecting it.” You can help: Copy the link to this story, share it on your social media, and ask others to do the same. Another good link to share is the YouTube video, “Cold Case: FBI Takes Over Investigation of Kristy Yates’ Murder” recently produced by Andrew Mobley of the (Hot Springs) Sentinel Record. Talk about it as well — to everyone. Together, as part of Kristy’s community, let’s take this case all the way to the courtroom. A proud GRITS (Girl Raised In The South), Sarah Russell has also lived in NYC, Miami, San Francisco, Denver and Tucson working in journalism, public relations, finance and education. Now at home, she is happiest when hovering over a keyboard, weaving words together.