On the night of April 15–16, 2023, Tiera Strand, 25, went out with friends to Austin's 6th Street. She was beaten at a bar, left without her phone or wallet, and encountered an unknown man. She was never seen alive again. Five days later her body was found in a ditch 75 miles away.
Tiera Strand, 25, goes out with a group of friends to Austin's 6th Street entertainment district. A photograph taken this night is the last known image of Tiera alive.
She is described by her family as full of life — bubbly, sassy, expressive. She had plans to finish school and join the Navy. She was a mother to a 6-year-old daughter.
Footage screened at APD's press conference shows an officer's Axon body camera capturing a man on the 300 block of E 6th Street performing what's described as a military-style facing movement.
This is the first documented appearance of the Person of Interest (POI) on 6th Street — approximately 45 minutes before he will approach Tiera. The exact venue doorway is unconfirmed; APD has not released the source footage.
Approximately 40 seconds after the Shakespeare's footage, a second Axon clip captures the POI walking alone past The Blind Pig bar on 6th Street.
The POI continues moving through the 6th Street corridor. He has not yet made contact with Tiera at this point.
The POI is observed on Trinity Street between 6th and 7th Streets. Investigators, including Sgt. Powell, place him in this mid-block location heading north — toward 7th Street — before returning south to the 6th Street corridor.
Surveillance footage from POD146 (6th and Trinity — Old School Bar) shows the POI walking with a group of people. A woman in the group lunges at him; she is pulled back by friends.
Two unidentified women near a rickshaw also speak with the POI around this time. It appears that the POI hands his phone to one of the women, perhaps so she can give him her phone number.
POD102, a camera mounted on the 600 block of IH-35 captures the POI walking east under the Interstate 35 overpass at 2:09 AM — moving away from the 6th Street corridor.
He will reappear at Mooseknuckle Pub approximately 20 minutes later. What he did in that interval, and how he returned, is not explained by any currently available footage.
Inside Mooseknuckle Pub at 406 E. 6th Street, a group of girls begin beating Tiera. She is kicked out of the bar. The fight continues outside.
The friends who came with her are present but do not intervene. A witness records the tail end of the fight on a cell phone.
After the incident, Tiera angrily storms off — leaving behind her cell phone, purse, and car keys. She has no way to call for help and no way to pay for transportation.
Now alone and without her belongings, Tiera is approached by the POI on 6th Street near San Jacinto. This is the first documented contact between them. They appear crossing the intersections with Tiera walking behind the POI away from I-35 and toward San Jacinto.
At this point, investigators note the POI begins chain-smoking — a behavior that was not observed during his 45 minutes on 6th Street before meeting Tiera.
The POI had been on 6th Street for approximately 45 minutes before this approach. It remains unknown if he was present during the Mooseknuckle altercation or if he only made contact after Tiera was isolated and vulnerable.
Near San Jacinto Boulevard, the pair stops and reverses direction — now heading back east toward IH-35. The direction change is captured by surveillance cameras in the corridor.
The pair reverses direction, now walking back toward I-35. Horse camera footage (Bijou Lounge to their left) records them moving northeast.
The pair continues east along 6th Street, passing the Chevron station near the IH-35 service road before crossing under the overpass.
POD145 footage (6th and Brushy) captures the pair crossing under I-35 and walking into a Wendy's parking lot north of downtown Austin at 2:40 AM. This is the last recovered footage of Tiera alive.
The Wendy's drive-through camera did not capture activity in the parking lot. No witnesses from Wendy's staff or customers came forward. No video or physical evidence of what occurred next has been recovered.
The friends who left Tiera on 6th Street finally contact her family the following day. When the family tried to reach Tiera, the friends answered her phone and said they had her belongings — which the family says is completely out of character for Tiera.
Tiera's family immediately reports her missing to the Austin Police Department. But by this point, Tiera has been missing for approximately 14 hours.
"She would not have gone to that area without someone that knows and loves her," said Tiera's aunt, Jordaya Dorris.
Heavy rain on Thursday night (April 20) washes roadside grass flat. A citizen driving to work the next morning discovers Tiera's body in a ditch at the 1300 block of Berger Road, just north of Temple — approximately 75 miles from where she was last seen in Austin.
Tiera's family has confirmed she had no known connection to Bell County. There is no reason she would have traveled there voluntarily — without her belongings, without someone she knew.
"She would not have gone to that area without someone that knows and loves her." — Jordaya Dorris, aunt
An autopsy performed by the Dallas County Medical Examiner rules the cause of death as "undetermined." The report notes no visible trauma to the body, but acknowledges that the level of decomposition may have obscured fatal injuries.
"The events that occurred between the time the decedent was last known alive and the time her remains were discovered are currently unknown. Furthermore, the level of decomposition may have obscured an injury or injuries that caused or contributed to her death." — Autopsy report
The investigation continues to be treated as a homicide by the Bell County Sheriff's Department and the Austin Police Department Homicide Unit.
The Bell County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division and the Austin Police Department Homicide Unit are jointly investigating Tiera's death. The case is classified as a homicide.
A partial DNA profile was recovered from evidence but does not meet the threshold for CODIS database matching. Investigators are exploring whether the profile qualifies for Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) — the same technique used to identify the Golden State Killer.
The Person of Interest captured on multiple surveillance cameras on the night of April 15–16 has never been publicly identified. Investigators believe someone in the public knows who he is.
If you were on Austin's 6th Street in the early hours of April 16, 2023 — near Shakespeare's Pub, The Blind Pig, the Old School Bar, or Mooseknuckle Pub — you may have seen something that could break this case open.
Investigators are specifically looking for anyone who saw the altercation at Mooseknuckle Pub around 2:30 AM, witnessed Tiera after she was separated from her group, or recognized the Person of Interest.
Tiera's daughter is growing up without her mother. Her family deserves answers. No detail is too small.