Details

**The naked body of 25-year-old Kristin Laurite was found on August 26, 2000 by a truck driver on the edge of a pond in Morrilton, Arkansas. Laurite had been stabbed to death in the throat.**

Laurite had stopped at the location the day before to cool off her Volkswagen Bus and two dogs during her cross-country journey from New Jersey to California.

The last time Kristin was heard from was at around 2:00pm when she pulled into the rest stop. After calling her mother to let her know of her arrival at the rest stop (and planned departure within two hours), Kristin fed her two dogs some water from a nearby fountain.

Laurite was 5`2" tall (155cm), weighing less than 100 pounds (45kg), with long brown dread locks, and was driving a 1971 gold and white Volkswagen Bus with a pop-up top and New Jersey license plates. She was last seen wearing a lavender and white sundress.

Laurite`s two dogs, a border collie and a tan German shepherd mix, accompanied her on her journey and helped lead the trucker to Laurite`s body. Laurite was known to her friends and family as a devoted Grateful Dead fan, or "Deadhead" and travelled to many shows when the Grateful Dead was still together.

Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division and Conway County Sheriff`s Deputies are asking for the help of anyone who may have been in the vicinity of a rest stop near Morrilton along Interstate 40 on Friday, August 25, 2000.

It seems increasingly likely, said Investigator Cleve Keeling of the Conway County Sheriff`s Department, that Laurite`s death was not the isolated act of a random killer but an opportunistic attack by a dangerous predator, possibly a serial killer.

"To be that brutal," Keeling said, "I think this guy has to have done this before."

And, authorities fear, he may have done it again.

Among other cases, Keeling and his investigators are looking at a similar incident that occurred earlier this month, not far from a highway rest stop in Everett, Wash. In that case, a 14-year-old girl walking near the rest stop on her way to school narrowly escaped death when she was attacked and stabbed six times.

Like Laurite, her attacker was a stranger with a penknife and a penchant for extreme violence, investigators say. And like Laurite`s killer, the young girl`s attacker -- an unshaven, middle-age white man with shaggy hair -- remains at large, possibly drifting along the nation`s web of interstate highways, Keeling says.

A new piece of evidence released by the police reveals Laurite was wearing a small "Fairy" ring at the time of her murder. The ring is still missing.

SGT Jeffrey L. Drew from the Arkansas State Police told CrimeNet: "Our concern at this time is receiving information on the ring. We are hoping with the unique appearance of the ring, that there should be some leads to come from it."

Kristin`s mother,Lynn McCue, said: "I am totally devastated by the loss of my daughter. I will have to live the rest of my life without seeing her beautiful smile or hearing her say, ‘I love you, Mom.’

"I would never want anyone to suffer the pain and anguish my family is suffering. Hopefully this monster will be caught so he cannot hurt another person. So many lives have been changed forever by this savage act. My family and I appreciate any assistance in helping our cause."

Reward information

A reward of $10,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person/persons responsible for the murder.