Crystal Booker

UNSOLVED: Woman's Body Found in Field Behind Buckle's Lounge in 2008

Crystal Booker was found dead in a vacant field near an Amarillo motel and nightclub on January 18, 2008. Eighteen years later, police are using modern forensic technology in their continuing effort to identify her killer.

A man walking his dog discovered Booker shortly before noon in an overgrown area behind Buckles Lounge at 6800 E. Interstate 40. The site was approximately 100 yards south of the business and sat between the lounge and the Budget Inn, where witnesses said Booker had been staying. She was reportedly last seen alive on January 12, six days before her body was found.^[1]

Booker was partially unclothed from the waist down and had injuries consistent with an assault involving a sharp object—most likely stab wounds, according to Amarillo police. Early reports described her death as an attack with a sharp object, while one subsequent report said she had been strangled. More recent statements from the Amarillo Police Department again identify probable stab wounds as the apparent cause.^[2]

Investigators found less blood than Booker's injuries would ordinarily have produced. That discrepancy led them to conclude she was likely killed somewhere else and then transported to the field. Despite years of investigation, police have never located the original crime scene.^[3]

Detectives recovered tire impressions near her body, but the location complicated the investigation. The field was beside Interstate 40 in an area frequented by hotel guests, nightclub patrons, travelers and commercial truck drivers, making it difficult to determine whether any particular tire tracks or vehicles were connected to the murder.

Booker’s case was Amarillo’s first reported homicide of 2008. Investigators pursued numerous leads and considered possible connections to other unsolved murders, including those of Gloria Covington and Linda Jackson. Although police noted similarities in how the victims were found, they have not established a connection between the cases.

Reports have provided conflicting information about Booker’s age. Some earlier coverage identified her as 19, while the Amarillo Police Department’s 2026 case update described her as 21 when she died.

The investigation remains open. Detectives are reviewing the surviving evidence for new DNA-testing opportunities and exploring whether investigative genetic genealogy could identify Booker’s killer through a relative’s DNA.

Police are particularly interested in hearing from anyone who saw Booker during the week before her death or remembers whom she was with, whom she spoke to or what vehicles were in the area.

Anyone with information may contact Amarillo Crime Stoppers anonymously at 806-374-4400 or email the Amarillo Police Department’s Cold Case Unit at coldcaseunit@amarillo.gov.

Police said a man walking his dog found Booker's body shortly before noon in a weed-covered area of a parking lot about 100 yards south of Buckle's Lounge.

Police did not know how long the body had been in that location. Witnesses told police the woman stayed at a nearby hotel, and she was last seen alive January 12.

Early autopsy results show Booker died after being assaulted with a sharp object.