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Brutal Murder or Bizarre Accident: What Happened to Natasha Atchley?
The 19-year-old never made it home after a birthday party.
Natasha Atchley was a vivacious teenager who loved to go out and have a good time. When the 19-year-old went to a birthday party in Shepherd, Texas, on Saturday, May 2, 1992, she was expecting to have a fun night out with friends. Natasha had arrived at the party with one of her male friends, but she left alone around 3:00 am. She never made it home and was never seen alive again.
The first sign that something was wrong came around 10:00 am Sunday, when a man called the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office to report finding a burned-out Chevrolet Camaro on a dirt road about a mile from where the birthday party had been held the previous night. When a deputy arrived at the scene, he assumed that the car was either stolen or had been dumped there as part of an insurance scam. He immediately had the car towed to a nearby impound lot.
Natasha’s mother, Karen Woodard, had expected to see her daughter Sunday morning; it was Mother’s Day and Natasha had promised to stop by. Instead, Karen got a call from the impound lot telling her that Natasha’s car had been found abandoned in rural San Jacinto County. Concerned, she went straight to the impound lot to check out Natasha’s car.