A 19 year old woman's body is found in a Texas creek In the spring of 1975, Sandra Kay Beddow was a 19-year-old woman building a life for herself. Born in Dallas, Texas, on September 22, 1955, to her parents Ollie and Wanda Beddow, Sandra had lived in the nearby community of Allen for 15 years. She had a younger sister, Kimberly, and a network of grandparents and great-grandparents in the Allen, Richardson, and Plano areas. Sandra worked as a proofreader at the Exchange Bank and Trust in Dallas, commuting from her family's home in Allen.
The last normal day of her life was Friday, April 25, 1975, when she went to her job in Dallas. She was last seen leaving a residence in North Richardson in the early hours of Saturday, April 26. Later that morning, around 8:30 a.m., a patrol officer discovered Sandra’s dark brown Pinto station wagon abandoned on a service road alongside U.S. Highway 75. The car’s emergency flashers were on, but there was no sign of Sandra, and the vehicle appeared to be in proper working order.
At that point, she had not yet been reported missing.
The following afternoon, on Sunday, April 27, two boys who were fishing in a remote area of Plano made a devastating discovery. In the shallow waters of Rowlett Creek, they found the body of a young woman. Authorities were called to the scene, and the victim was soon identified as Sandra Beddow. She was found nude and lying face-down in the creek. An examination by the Dallas Medical Examiner would later determine that she had been assaulted and that her cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation. Investigators believed she was killed between 2:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Saturday, not long after she was last seen.
The Plano Police Department, assisted by the Allen Police Department and the Texas Rangers, launched a major homicide investigation involving nearly 30 officers. They scoured the area for clues and appealed to the public for help in finding Sandra’s clothing—a shirt, jeans, undergarments, and loafer shoes—which were missing from the scene and have never been recovered. Despite an intensive search for evidence and witnesses, the investigation failed to produce any suspects, and the trail of Sandra’s killer went cold.
In the months that followed, Sandra's murder was publicly linked by law enforcement to the slayings of at least three other young women in Collin County that same year. The body of 14-year-old Carol Marie Anderson was found in a creek bed near Melissa on May 9. In late November and early December, the remains of 17-year-old Sherry Joyce Smith and 20-year-old Alvalda Joy Gann were discovered near Lake Lavon. All four murders, which occurred between April and May of 1975, terrified the community but remained unsolved.
Family and friends mourned the profound loss of a young woman just starting her adult life. Funeral services for Sandra were held at the First Baptist Church in Allen, and she was laid to rest at Ridgeview Memorial Park. Her parents have since passed away without ever knowing who was responsible for their daughter's death, but her surviving sister continues to seek answers and justice.
Decades have passed, but the murder of Sandra Kay Beddow remains an open and active cold case with the Plano Police Department. Investigators hope that with the passage of time, someone with direct knowledge of the crime may finally come forward. Advances in forensic technology could also potentially shed new light on evidence collected in 1975. As of May 2026, no arrests have been made, and the case continues to be a painful reminder of a violent spring in Collin County and a family’s unending search for closure. 
