Mara Nikki Vestal, 29, was last seen in Katy, Texas, but the circumstances of her disappearance and death were not immediately clear. Her husband, Jay Patrick Hammersley, reported her missing on March 19, 2019, telling authorities that she had taken her belongings and left their home in the 20200 block of Golden Mesa in the Sun Down Glen subdivision on or around March 6. However, this initial report proved to be a fabrication.
More than a month later, on April 3, Hammersley was charged with murder and tampering with a corpse in connection with his wife's disappearance. He later confessed to killing Vestal on or around February 16, over two weeks before he claimed she had left.
According to Hammersley's confession, he and Vestal went to a strip club on the night of her death and got into an argument because she believed he was interested in another woman there. He claimed that Vestal became violent and "violently, erratically and continuously" beat him in their car on the way home, and he killed her in self-defense. Hammersley admitted to striking her with an object and strangling her to death. The couple had been married for several years and had a two-year-old daughter, who was out of state with relatives at the time of the murder.
After killing his wife, Hammersley asked a friend for help in disposing of her body. The friend refused and urged Hammersley to contact the police. Instead, Hammersley purchased 100 pounds of charcoal and cremated Vestal's body in a shed in their backyard. He then placed her remains in a trash bag and left it on the curb. When the garbage was not collected, he moved the bag to a dumpster near his workplace. Vestal's body has never been recovered.
Hammersley's adult daughter supported his claim of a toxic relationship, stating that Vestal was often violent towards her husband when she was intoxicated. However, police have stated that there was no history of domestic violence calls to their home. In October 2021, Hammersley accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to first-degree murder. The charge of tampering with a corpse was dropped, and he was sentenced to forty years in prison.Last Seen: Mar 6, 2019
