FBI still searching for Hazel Head
In August 1998, a woman calling herself “DeAnna Wray” placed an advertisement in the personal sections of several Louisiana newspapers. The ad described the woman as a green-eyed blonde. The text labeled her honest and hard-working. From the perspective of other con artists, “hard-working” could apply, but her subsequent actions proved she was far from truthful.
In reality, “DeAnna” was a grifter who hitchhiked around the state looking for new marks—lonely men with bank accounts she could drain.
In 1998, that mark was a retired trucker named Charlie Barker.
Charlie had just lost his wife of eleven years to a drunk driver’s recklessness. As a result, he received a large insurance settlement. Lonely and depressed, Charlie spent weekends in riverboat casinos up and down the state.
Flaunting his insurance payoff, he drew Head’s attention in the summer of 1998, and one week later, she moved into his home in Bossier City.
At first, Charlie’s daughters celebrated, happy their dad found comfort away from gambling and drinking. Later, daughter Jennifer Spoonts traveled from Texas to visit her father. She found “DeAnna” unimpressive and suspected her of being a golddigger.
A few weeks later, Charlie told Jennifer’s sister, Cindy Jefferson, he had reached a similar conclusion. He described “having problems” with his new live-in girlfriend but offered no details. Charlie promised to call Cindy the following week, but neither daughter heard from or saw the father again.
Jennifer planned to visit the couple over Labor Day weekend, but no one returned her calls. She telephoned a nearby aunt, June Steinger, and asked her to check on Charlie.
On September 2, 1998, escorted by her husband, June found her brother’s house door open. Inside, they found Charlie’s lifeless body slumped over the kitchen bar.
According to the Bossier Parish coroner, Charlie died five days earlier from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Detectives from the Bossier City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division found no signs of struggle. They discovered the murder weapon, Charlie’s .25 caliber handgun, on a table in the primary bedroom, wiped clean of fingerprints.
Once holding the $50,000 dollars from Charlie’s insurance settlement, a bedroom safe sat open and empty. Charlie’s Lincoln Town Car and his new girlfriend had also vanished. Twenty-four hours later, the Bossier Police Department found the car outside the Shreveport Regional Airport.
The Bossier CSI unit extracted DNA from a pair of women’s panties inside the car. Tracing the DNA, investigators identified “DeAnna” as notorious con artist Hazel Head.
Hazel Leota Head, police discovered, married over one dozen times and adopted multiple aliases, including Hazel Morgan, Willow Shields, Hazel Woodman, Hazel Foley, Kelly Morgan, Hazel Spurbeck, Willow Spurbeck, Hazel Haynes, Hazel Vincent, Hazel Fatuch, Treasa Jean Coyle, Treasa Tess Venable, and DeAnna Wray.
Hazel, warrants revealed, fled Nebraska for Louisiana in 1991 after allegedly burning down her ex-boyfriend’s mobile home with him inside.
On the run again in 1998, police wanted for the first-degree murder of Charles Barker, theft of his Lincoln Town Car, arson, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Hazel’s last confirmed sighting was in December of that year at a truck stop near Wheat Ridge, Colorado, where she applied for work as a waitress.
Hazel Leota Head was born on December 10, 1949, and would today be 74 years old. In 1998, she had blonde hair and green eyes, stood 5’2”, and weighed 120-150 pounds. She had a scar near her right eye and a gap between her front teeth. She frequented truck stops, hitching rides from town to town.
Wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hazel Head has been featured on both the Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted television programs.