Eric Ashly Stansbury, a 61-year-old pipefitter from Vidor, Texas, was found dead on October 25, 2016, in Abbeville, Louisiana. His body was discovered inside his blue Ford F-250 in a vacant lot; an autopsy showed he had been shot multiple times. Stansbury had left for a job in Beaumont early that morning but never arrived.

Investigators say the events began in Texas when Stansbury encountered at least two people who had run out of gas along Interstate 10 in Vidor. One of his work boots and his cowboy hat were found at that scene, and authorities believe he was taken against his will in his own truck. A gray 2016 Dodge pickup was seen following his vehicle.

Three people from Abbeville were identified as persons of interest: brothers Robert Crooms Jr. and Kenton Crooms, and 19-year-old Amber L. Lee. Robert Crooms Jr. was arrested in January 2017 on unrelated charges, and both brothers were later indicted in Louisiana for the killing. In March 2022 a judge granted a defense motion to quash the Louisiana indictment, and an appellate court upheld that ruling after finding the fatal shots likely were fired in Texas, removing Louisiana’s jurisdiction.

Did anyone in Vidor or along Interstate 10 that morning see the blue Ford F-250 or the gray Dodge pickup?