The Murder of Alisson Alvarez
For this case I watched an episode of Fog of Murder. It’s season 1 episode 5, titled ‘Tracking A Killer.’
A teenager disappears at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information out there on this case. I also couldn’t find any pictures of any of the people involved in this case.
Background
Alisson Alvarez was 19 years old, and a native of Bogota, Colombia. She had only in the country for about four years.
Alisson was engaged to a 22 year old named Joshua Samples, and his friends said that they were attached at the hip. Everyone described Alisson as beautiful, gentle and reserved, which was the complete opposite of Josh. However, they seemed very in love, and were excited about their future together.
The Disappearance
Joshua was in a car club called the Who Then Now club. He went with a group of about 10 people, including Alisson, to a car event at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The first day of the event was on September 21, 2002. The group arrived around 10am, when the gates opened. They checked in, and it was already very humid by the time the events rolled on. Alisson wore jeans, a tank top, and boots, and told Joshua that she wasn’t feeling well. She got up to find the bathroom, and Joshua asked her if she wanted him to go with her. She said no, and left her phone and purse behind. This was around 2pm, and the last time anyone saw her alive.
By 3pm, Joshua and his friends went around asking vendors if they had seen Alisson. No one had seen her, which wasn’t unusual considering there were 100,000+ people at the event.
Joshua also reported it to the sheriff’s in charge of the event, but they told him he needed to wait 24 hours to file a missing persons report.
The Late Night Search
Around 11pm, the events had shut down at the arena. Josh, and the rest of the group members decided to sneak back into the arena to try to find Alisson. They had been staying at the motel right next door.
During their search, they didn’t find anything, but they did see a man jump over the fence. He was a white male, but it was dark, so they didn’t see anything else.
The next day, September 22, Josh called the police to report Alisson missing.
The Investigation
The Henry County police department arrived at the motel that the car club was staying at. The room was very dirty, there were clothes and food containers everywhere.
The police asked Josh about his relationship with Alisson. Josh was very distraught, but he said they had a good relationship. Josh said he felt guilty because he didn’t go with her to the bathrooms. Josh’s mom Margaret said that Josh blamed himself for a long time. Josh was eventually ruled out, and so were the other club members.
The police spoke to the sheriffs that were in charge of the event. They told the Henry County PD that they had searched the inside of the arena from top to bottom, and didn’t find anything.
On September 23, helicopters and tracking dogs searched the areas near the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Alisson’s close friends and family put up missing persons flyers at local businesses, and her case was picked up by the local media. At this point, the police believed that Alisson had been abducted or killed by a stranger.
A Tip
On September 25, 2002, a 911 call came into the police, from a man named Brandon Dudley. He said he had information about Alisson and that she had been murdered. He said the killer was the brother of his friend, and that her body was in the suites at the speedway.
The police were stunned because they were told that the suites were locked, and that no one had access to them during the offseason. They had also been told that the sheriff’s had searched the place top to bottom, and didn’t find anything.
Around noon on September 25, the police went up to the suites. Outside suite 34, they found a sock. They walked inside, the suite in disarray, and a ceiling tile was crooked. In the ceiling, they found Alisson’s clothes neatly folded, and her shoes nearby.
They still didn’t find her body, so they walked outside where there was a balcony and stairs leading to the bleachers. In the bleachers, a program was found next to some drag marks.
The drag marks led to a horrific discovery. Alisson was found dead, already in a stage of decomposition. She was found under the bleachers, in a shaded area, wearing only a sock. She had been hit in the face with an unknown object, but her cause of death was strangulation. The killer had also dumped a cleaning chemical on Alisson’s body to get rid of evidence.
Alisson’s family was notified, but they were told that she would be unrecognizable. Her good friend Tatiana said that she could tell it was Alisson, only by her hair and teeth.
The Last Moments
The police wanted to speak to Brandon Dudley about what else he knew about the case. Brandon had a note from the killer as well. The note read:
“Want to see somethin’ funny? Go to the cigarette room, and look on the door facing me.”
On the door of the room was a flyer of Alisson, and it led to a door of a restaurant where a man named Toby Dearing worked as a contract food worker at the speedway, and had access to the suites. The police checked Toby’s time card, and saw that he had been at work from 8am to almost 8pm on Saturday, September 21.
Toby was arrested on the day that Alisson’s body was found.
Arrests and Convictions
On the night of September 21, Toby had confessed to his wife Stephanie, and told her that they needed to go back because he left behind evidence. Stephanie was afraid, so she drove him to the speedway. She waited in the car, while he cleaned up.
Toby returned a second time that night, this time with his brother Josh Dearing (a different Josh, not her fiance).
Toby was confronted when he was arrested, and he confessed. He told the police that Alisson propositioned him for sex, he refused because he didn’t want to cheat on his wife, blacked out, and when he came to she was dead. The police didn’t believe him because her murder was so brutal.
Toby Dearing pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated battery. Toby was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
On November 1, 2004, Toby’s brother Josh, and wife Stephanie, were charged with tampering with evidence. They each entered a plea deal of 5 years probation, and a $1,000 fees.
Alisson’s family was heartbroken about Toby’s claims that she propositioned herself. Josh’s mom Margaret said:
““We’ll never see Alisson again. She’ll never have a baby, never get to marry Josh like they planned.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s so sad when monsters like Toby blame other people for what they did. Alisson believed that Toby was being nice, she wasn’t feeling well, and he said he could help her find a place to lay down. She trusted a complete stranger, and she lost her life for no reason.
I feel so bad for Josh, her finace. He shouldn’t blame himself. He had no idea that on her way to finding a bathroom she’d run into someone pure evil.
I don’t feel bad for Stephanie or Josh, the brother. They made their decisions to help Toby cover up this crime. In some cases, people that help someone cover something up don’t get charged, and I’m happy they at least had some punishment.
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