A Texas truck driver has been found guilty of kidnapping and killing a young woman whose body was discovered in a wooded area last summer.

On Tuesday, February 4, a jury took just one hour to convict 28-year-old truck driver Naasson Hazzard, based in Austin, on charges of kidnapping resulting in death.

The case began on August 23, 2024, when the body of a 25-year-old sex worker was found in a wooded area off Highway 11 in Pittsburg, Texas. Authorities reported that a plastic bag was tied around her head, sparking an immediate investigation.

Timeline of Events

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, surveillance footage from August 15, 2024, at 9:30 p.m., captured the victim entering Hazzard’s semi-truck in Dallas, Texas.

Investigators used cell phone records to track Hazzard’s movements:

• After picking up the victim, he stopped at a nearby parking lot for 17 minutes.
• He then drove over three hours to a secluded wooded area off Highway 11, where he texted his employer that he would be out sick the following day.
• Hazzard remained at the scene for nearly an hour before completing a trucking job.
• The following day, he and his wife returned to the location before going out for dinner in Tyler, Texas.
• In the days that followed, he switched cell phones, deleted his Google and Life360 location-sharing accounts, cleaned his truck with bleach, and researched sentencing guidelines for murder. Meanwhile, his wife searched for Pittsburg, Texas, news reports.
• On August 23, the same day the victim’s body was found, agents located her shattered cell phone along the route Hazzard had taken the night of her death.

Legal Action and Sentencing

Hazzard was arrested in August 2024 and indicted in October 2024. His conviction carries an automatic life sentence.

“A young woman’s life was cut tragically short, her last moments likely spent in terror,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. “But those final moments do not define her life. She mattered, her life had worth, and we are proud to put her kidnapper behind bars.”

Travis Pickard, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Dallas, emphasized the agency’s commitment to justice: “This violent criminal not only kidnapped an unsuspecting victim but also took her life. With this guilty verdict, we are one step closer to achieving justice.”

The investigation was conducted by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, the Dallas Police Department, the Midlothian Police Department, the Texas Rangers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office, the Titus County Sheriff’s Office, the Buda Police Department, the Austin Police Department, the Hayes County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Homeland Security Investigations’ Dallas Field Office.

Hazzard now awaits sentencing, with life in prison as the expected outcome.