On May 24, 2024, 74-year-old Karen McAndrews was found dead inside a home in the 700 block of Old Highway 36 in Bellville, Texas, from an apparent gunshot wound. Deputies from the Austin County Sheriff’s Office and Bellville Police located her after a 911 call reporting a shooting and detained 17-year-old Kody Lowe in the front yard without incident. Lowe was arrested and charged with murder and booked into the Austin County Jail.

The Austin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division led the probe with assistance from the Texas Rangers and the Austin County District Attorney’s Office. In late August 2024 an Austin County grand jury returned an indictment charging Lowe with McAndrews’s murder, and legal proceedings were ongoing in Austin County as of December 2024.

If anyone knew McAndrews or has information about the shooting on May 24, 2024, please come forward to assist the investigation.