A truck driver who kidnapped a young Army veteran in Dallas and dumped her body in East Texas has been sentenced to life in federal prison, authorities announced.

Naasson Hazzard, 28, of Austin, was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, a charge that carries a mandatory life sentence. On June 12, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay handed down the sentence following Hazzard’s January conviction.

The victim, 25-year-old Caleigha Zangari, was a U.S. Army veteran from San Diego, California. Her family identified her as a victim of sex trafficking.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, surveillance footage captured Zangari entering Hazzard’s semi-truck near Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas on August 15, 2024. The area is known for sex trafficking, officials noted.

Cell phone and digital records showed that Hazzard stopped in a parking lot for about 17 minutes, then drove over three hours to a wooded area off Texas Highway 11 in Pittsburg, Texas, where he remained for nearly an hour. The next day, he returned to the scene with his wife before going to dinner in Tyler.

Zangari’s decomposing body was discovered on August 23, with a black plastic bag tied around her head. That same day, authorities recovered her shattered cell phone along the same route Hazzard traveled.

Evidence presented at trial revealed disturbing behavior by Hazzard following the murder:

• He deleted location-sharing accounts,

• Switched phones,

• Cleaned his truck with bleach,

• And searched online for murder sentencing guidelines.

Hazzard was arrested following an extensive investigation led by the North Texas Trafficking Task Force, with support from the FBI Dallas Field Office, Texas Rangers, ICE-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and numerous local law enforcement agencies.

“This case demonstrates the power of collaboration in bringing justice,” said Dexter Henson, spokesman for ICE in Dallas. “That task force was the reason we were able to bring justice to this individual.”

HSI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard called the crime “abhorrent” and reaffirmed HSI’s commitment to combating human trafficking.

Zangari, who entered the military right after high school, was remembered with full military honors. Her brother told the court, “Naasson didn’t just take a life. He destroyed futures... She was a daughter. A sister. A mother. A light in the lives of everyone who knew her.”