In 1992, Natasha Atchley was the type of girl we'd call a "baddie" in 2024.

That is to say, she was beautiful and confident, the type of girl you either loved or hated passionately.

A popular cheerleader who, "was wild and she loved to have a good time," according to her best friend Keisha Myers during Grace White's 2017 Missing Pieces report.

Texas DPS/ Canva
Texas DPS/ Canva
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Many of us did have a wild streak, and some wild times, during our youth. Sadly, Natasha was never given the chance to outgrow it.

The Facts

According to Texas DPS, on the morning of May 3rd, 1992, a burnt vehicle was found on a rural dirt road in Shepard, Texas, about 1 mile away from the location of a party that Natasha attended the night before.

According to Oxygen, the car was taken to a local tow yard. Natasha's mother received a call that a vehicle belonging to her daughter was there.

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When she opened the trunk, she discovered her daughter's body, "burned down to bones."

Fire destroys evidence, but it creates it as well. The accelerant was found to be "drip gas" which is an unrefined byproduct of fuel drilling.

Not only did the fire destroy a tremendous amount of evidence- but so did towing the car, which disrupted the original crime scene.

The Theories

Much of the speculation as to what happened to Natasha revolves around people who attended the party, of course, as that was the last place she was seen alive. Natasha had left the party alone at 3 a.m.

Rumors went around that Natasha had gotten into some sort of argument with one or more of the partygoers.

There were also rumors she was pregnant, was somehow involved with organized crime, or that "well-connected" fellow partygoers conspired to cover up the crime.

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One author claims in his book Hiding in Plain Sight II that:

While attending an alcohol and drug-infested party, nineteen-year-old Natasha Atchley was gang-raped stomped, and shot to death. Her body was dismembered, stuffed in an oil drum, submerged in drip gas and burned. What was left of her was thrown into the back of her 89 Camaro and burned again.

However, no interviews with any of the party-goers point to anything like this, and a jail-house informant (notoriously unreliable sources to begin with) recanted everything he claimed to know about the crime as well.

One theory even suggests that no crime was committed at all, that a drunk and high Natasha had a breakdown, got into her own trunk, and died when the vehicle caught on fire due to a mechanical failure and a coincidental nearby drip gas spill.

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We may not ever truly know what happened to Natasha- who murdered her or if she was murdered at all.

However, if anyone knows anything, there is a $3000 reward to the person who supplies the information needed to arrest the person(s) involved, if anyone but Natasha led to her untimely demise.

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