Natasha Atchley
On May 3rd, 1992, at around 10AM, 19-year-old Natasha Atchley's burned out car was found on a rural dirt road in Shepard, Texas, a town in San Jacinto County. She had attended a birthday party about a mile away the late night/early morning before her car had been discovered.
Atchley was a "wild" teenager, according to friends and family, and loved to party. Although she grew up in Livingston, Texas, she graduated from Odessa High School in Odessa, Texas in 1990 after being sent to live with her grandparents. She then moved to College Station, Texas, where she lived with a few roommates and attended Blinn College. Her 20th birthday would take place 8 days after she was last seen.
When Atchley didn't show up to a Mother's Day family gathering, her mother, Karen, went looking for her. She was told that her car has been towed to an impound lot, but Atchley wasn't with it. Karen went to the impound lot, where she found the burned car, as well as what would turn out to be Atchley's charred remains in the trunk.
"“It just broke her. From that moment on, she changed. Her mind was always concentrating on Natasha, it shook the family up,” said Chad Woodard, Atchley’s half-brother, who was 12 years old at the time of Atchley's death.
Because the car was towed, that meant the crime scene where the car was found was no longer intact. Police did comb the area, but no definitive evidence was found. When the car was searched and tested, it was discovered that an accelerant was used to start the fire in the front passenger seat, called drip gas. Drip gas is a byproduct of a natural gas extraction, found near oil and gas wells. It is also often called "condensate", "natural gasoline", or "white gas".
The cause of Atchley's death is not officially determined. Some believe it was homicide, while others, like former Harris County Prosecutor, Kelly Siegler, believe it was a horrible accident. Siegler believes that Atchley left the party, high and drunk, and her car got stuck on that dirt road about a mile away. No one knows how the fire was started, and it should be noted that the lab that initially did the testing that found the accelerant has since gone out of business, so that theory cannot be corroborated. Siegler stands by her suspicion that Atchley panicked after the fire started, and perhaps tried to get away by climbing into the back of the car through the back seat.
Atchley's family and friends seem to believe more in homicide as the reason for Atchley's death. Several of the party-goers were questioned, though no one was arrested or convicted.
Some also believe that the fire was started in the car and Atchley's body burned as a result of a cover-up. A book by Dr. Alan Ashworth and relatives of Atchley called "Hiding in Plain Sight II: Who Killed Natasha Atchley" claims that Natasha was sexually assaulted, killed, dismembered and then burned in her car by fellow party-goers. This suggestion of a cover-up comes from the fact that many of the guests at the party were related to elected officials and "others" in Polk County, Texas.
To this day, 33 years later, no conclusion to Atchley's story has been confirmed. Family members and friends run a Facebook page called "Justice for Natasha", and still hold fast to the belief that she was murdered.
If you, or someone you know, have any information about the death of Natasha Atchley, contact the Texas Crime Stoppers at 1(800) 252-TIPS (8477).
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