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The way her life ended is completely tragic.
By Nicole Pomarico — Written on Mar 30, 2020
We've heard a lot of truly heartbreaking stories about murder, but it's always especially tragic when we find out about a child who lost their life — and in this case, we're talking about the killing of Kansas cheerleader Alicia DeBolt.
In 2010, 14-year-old DeBolt was killed by a much older man she'd been texting and seeing at parties, Adam Longoria, and fortunately, he's since been brought to justice, although the lives of everyone who loved DeBolt will obviously never be the same.
So what happened to Alicia DeBolt? Here's everything we know about this tragedy.
DeBolt and 36-year-old Adam Longoria began talking after meeting at a party.
As lawyers explained in court documents, Longoria and DeBolt first crossed paths at a birthday party in July 2010, and stayed in contact after he told her to let him know that she'd made it home safely. Though he flirted with her, DeBolt told Longoria she only wanted to be friends, though at the time he told her he was only 25. For the next two months, he would continue texting her, attempting to get her into his car.
Longoria's girlfriend, Eva Brown, told him to end their relationship.
At the time, Longoria was dating a woman named Eva Brown. When she found out that he was talking to a much younger girl, she told him to "take care of the problem." Still, Longoria continued contacting Brown, though DeBolt questioned him when she started getting text messages from Brown herself.
DeBolt went missing on August 21, 2010.
The night of August 21, DeBolt and Longoria exchanged a series of text messages, including one where she gave him her address. Before midnight that night, DeBolt was spotted leaving her house, at which point court documents claimed that Longoria "lured Alicia into his vehicle by telling her there was a party with some of her friends and that alcohol was available." She was never seen alive again.
Her body was found four days later.
Police found DeBolt's body after employees at an asphalt plant noticed what they thought was a burned mannequin surrounded by flies. Later, through an investigation, they were able to determine that Longoria had raped and then killed DeBolt before pouring gas on her body and setting it on fire. At first, Longoria told investigators that he hadn't seen DeBolt since they first met in July and had been at a bar last night, but they were able to determine that he was involved after Longoria was arrested on vehicular burglary charges when he attempted to leave the state.
Longoria did not show up to his own sentencing.
When Longoria was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole in 2012, he waived his right to appear, refusing to face DeBolt's family himself.
“We wouldn’t expect any less from him because he’s not a man,” DeBolt's stepsister, Dawn, said at the time. “He’s not. Anyone who would treat a 14-year-old child the way he did, he’s not a man. There’s no words to describe what he is.”
DeBolt's family has spoken out about the crime.
At Longoria's sentencing, DeBolt's family admitted that she "had a past" and would often go missin but that did not justify what Longoria had done — not by a longshot. Her mother, Tammy Conrad, even shared that she had been told she could never have children but still managed to concieve DeBolt, calling her a "miracle baby."
“So when the monster killed my baby girl, he not only took my miracle baby, he took part of all of our lives away, part of my spirit, zest for life and the happiness my Alicia would have brought to me now and the rest of my life," Conrad said.
Want to know more? DeBolt's story is featured on the Investigation Discovery show Web of Lies In an episode called "Be Right Back."
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.