True Crime Chronicles: The heinous killing of a Leflore County mother of four sent the murderer to prison for life
- Dennis McCaslin
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The humid July air hung heavy over the rolling hills and backroads of LeFlore County, Oklahoma, when a Fort Smith, Arkansas, mother of three vanished without a trace. Tara Strozier, 40 years old, had crossed into the neighboring state on July 17, 2021, for reasons that would later unravel into one of the most disturbing cases in recent memory for the rural border region.
What began as a missing persons report quickly escalated into a multi-agency hunt marked by brutality, calculated concealment, and the eventual reckoning of those responsible for her torture and murder.
Strozier was last seen and heard from in the community of Camero. When family members could no longer reach her, they contacted Fort Smith police on July 19. Her black Volkswagen Jetta with Florida tags soon drew law enforcement attention. The LeFlore County Sheriff's Office located the vehicle abandoned in a private drive in Cameron just days later, with no sign of the missing woman.
The search intensified. On July 29, recovery teams made the devastating find. Stroziers' body surfaced in a pond near Rock Island. Investigators determined she had been weighed down and submerged after being murdered. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, working with the LeFlore County Sheriff's Office, pieced together a chilling sequence.
Strozier had been kidnapped and tortured at an unoccupied mobile home off Neblett Ridge Road in Cameron before she was killed near the pond.
Three men were arrested on July 30 and booked into the LeFlore County Detention Center. Alex Nathaniel Davis, then 30, of Poteau, faced the most serious accusations. Austin James Johnson, then 23, of Cameron, and Kaelin Hutchinson, then 24, rounded out the group.
Davis admitted to killing Strozier while Johnson was present. The charges included first-degree murder, kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors described a crime of profound cruelty. Strozier endured torture in the isolated mobile home before her death. Her body was then disposed of in the pond in an attempt to erase evidence.
LeFlore County District Attorney Kevin Merritt would later call the actions evil and sickening, highlighting their especially heinous and grotesque nature.
The investigation showcased strong interagency cooperation. The LeFlore County Sheriffs Office, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Choctaw Nation Lighthorse, Poteau Police Department, and the District 16 Drugs and Violent Crime Task Force collaborated to build the case.
Merritt praised their thorough work in uncovering what happened to Strozier.
In July 2025, Davis, then 35, stood before LeFlore County Associate District Judge Marion Fry in the second-floor courtroom of the LeFlore County Courthouse in Poteau. He pled guilty to all charges on July 10. At formal sentencing, the court-imposed life without parole for first-degree murder, 20 years for kidnapping, and one year for obstruction.
He will die in prison.
Merritt spoke powerfully after the hearing. Alex Davis will spend every day for the rest of his life in prison for the evil and sickening murder of Tara Strozier. His grotesque and horrifying actions toward the victim during her last moments on earth were especially heinous and cruel.
The district attorney expressed hope that the sentence brought some relief and justice to Strozier's family, noting that one of the men responsible would never walk free again.
Austin Johnson later took a plea deal in December 2025, pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter and injuring someone with a motor vehicle. His sentencing was set for January 2026. The third defendant, Hutchinson, faced obstruction charges tied to the cover up.
Tara Strozier left behind three children who must now navigate life without their mother.
Her case served as a stark reminder of the dangers that can lurk in quiet rural communities and the persistent efforts required to deliver justice across state lines.
Through the dedicated work of law enforcement and prosecutors, accountability was achieved.
The pond that once hid evidence had given up its secret, allowing the truth to emerge and ensuring that those responsible faced the full weight of the law.
