Sarah Elizabeth Townsend was 21 and a Murray State University student when she was found dead in a roadside ditch on Fox Road in southern Calloway County. The body was discovered after she failed to show up for work on the afternoon of Friday, March 26, 2021; campus police had conducted a welfare check earlier that day. An autopsy determined she died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators traced Townsend’s Toyota Camry on traffic cameras to central Georgia, a lead that shifted attention to a friend who had ties to that region. Detectives located the man near his home early on March 27 and found Townsend’s stolen Camry nearby. He was arrested and charged with murder, theft by unlawful taking of an automobile, and tampering with physical evidence after admitting to shooting Sarah multiple times.

If anyone knew Sarah, her last movements, or saw her Camry around March 26–27, please come forward with information.