The true story behind the Samantha Dean murder case ahead of Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins season 4

On a chilly February night in 2015, Samantha Dean, 29, was discovered shot dead in her car in the Texas town of Bastrop. She was seven months pregnant with her unborn daughter, Madeline. She was a cancer survivor and a victims' advocate for the Kyle Police Department.

The inquiry uncovered a devastating betrayal: Austin police officer VonTrey Clark, the father of her unborn child, had planned a murder-for-hire scheme to kill her and stop the pregnancy that endangered his double life. When Clark, who had a family and another partner, tried to get Dean to have an abortion, she refused and demanded child support.

He staged the murder as a robbery and paid two men from Houston $5,000 to do it, as reported by KVUE.

The case is explored in Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins, season 4, episode 1, titled, The Ultimate Betrayal. The episode is set to premiere on Oxygen True Crime tonight, November 9, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

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Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins, season 4: Samantha Dean's life

Killer Relationship With Faith Jenkins (Image via Unsplash/@ Scott Rodgerson)

Samantha Dean and her parents, Kelvin and Kimberly, relocated to Texas from Ohio in the late 1990s in search of better opportunities. Her mother progressed her career in banking, and her father obtained advanced degrees.

After graduating from John Jay College with a master's degree in forensic psychology, Dean demonstrated early compassion and academic excellence, as per the Austin American-Statesman.

During her first year at the University of Texas at San Antonio, she fought sarcoma cancer at the age of 18. She nevertheless graduated on schedule. Her 2014 pregnancy announcement was a happy surprise because doctors had warned that her treatments might prevent pregnancy, as per the Statesman.

Before becoming a full-time crime victims counselor at the Kyle Police Department, Dean volunteered with the Austin Police Department. Her coworkers recalled her as a Samaritan, always willing to help victims of assault and domestic abuse. Her department later honored her posthumously for her dream of becoming a sworn officer, according to KVUE.

While working in San Antonio in 2008, Samantha Dean met VonTrey Clark, who was 25 at the time and not yet a police officer. They had an intermittent relationship that lasted six years. Since joining the Austin Police Department in 2011, Clark kept Laura Tuten, his live-in girlfriend, in the dark about Dean and later about her pregnancy, according to KXAN News.

In August 2014, Dean broke the news to Clark, who texted that an abortion would ruin her life. With the help of her family, Samantha Dean decided to keep the child and set up a nursery complete with clothing and diapers, naming the child Madeline, as reported by the Statesman.

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The murder and the immediate aftermath

Samantha Dean was shot to death (Image via Unsplash/@Tsvetoslav Hristov)

On February 4, 2015, Clark texted Samantha Dean about needing a ride to meet a friend, and lured her to a vacant shopping center at 118 Stephen F. Austin Boulevard in Bastrop, about 30 miles east of Austin. Dean, exhausted from work, agreed, hoping to discuss baby items. There, Clark's hired accomplices, Kevin Leo Watson and Freddie Lee Smith, both from the Houston area, waited.

Watson drove Smith to the site. As Samantha Dean sat in her driver's seat, Smith fired twice into her head. Clark then shot her once more in the body to mimic a drug deal gone wrong, despite Dean having no drug history. The men fled, leaving her body behind a dumpster. A Bastrop County sheriff's deputy found her the next morning amid freezing temperatures, according to the Statesman.

The scene initially baffled investigators, with no signs of robbery beyond the staging. Samantha Dean's phone records showed the burner number Clark used, but leads were scarce. Her family, having last heard from her the evening before, grew worried when she missed their calls. Police notified them that afternoon.

Taylor Dean, Samantha's sister and a pharmacy student at the University of Texas, received the news from the campus police. Clark returned to work but was placed on restricted duty the next day as internal probes began.

The Kyle Police Department publicly mourned Samantha Dean, highlighting her compassion. Her unborn daughter, 26 weeks along, died with her, amplifying the tragedy. Friends revealed Clark's abortion pressures, shifting suspicion, as per the Statesman.

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The investigation and arrests

Samantha Dean was pregnant when she was killed (Image via Unsplash/@ Markus Winkler)

Bastrop County detectives pored over the scene, collecting shell casings and Samantha Dean's journal, which detailed her fears of Clark. Cellphone data became key: records from 50 seized devices, including burner phones and PlayStations used for planning, placed Watson and Smith near the site, as per the Statesman.

Geolocation showed a burner phone purchased in Houston that morning pinging at the murder spot; Dean had texted it, according to the outlet. A tip from Aaron Williams, Watson's friend, cracked the case in June 2015. Williams reported Watson's confession about the $5,000 hit. Watson and Smith were arrested that month for capital murder.

Kyla Fisk, Watson's girlfriend, faced tampering charges for discarding his bloodied clothes, as reported by KXAN. Searches of Clark's home yielded DNA-linked shoes and electronics. As evidence mounted, Clark went AWOL in July 2015, fleeing to Bali, Indonesia, claiming medical needs. The FBI coordinated a global manhunt; Indonesian police detained him on visa issues at a resort.

Extradited in September, he was indicted on capital murder and booked into Bastrop County Jail on $2 million bond. The Austin Police Department fired him in 2016 amid the investigation, according to the Statesman. Investigators uncovered the full scheme: Clark had recruited Watson via gaming consoles, who enlisted Smith as a shooter.

Over five terabytes of data, including 68,000 documents, confirmed communications between them, according to the Statesman. By late 2015, Watson pleaded not guilty; however, the web of evidence tightened, leading to indictments and a gag order to ensure a fair trial, as reported by KVUE.

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Trials, convictions, and the family's enduring grief

Clark's March 2020 trial was averted when he pleaded guilty to capital murder on December 16, 2019, confessing that Smith fired first after a misfire, then he staged the scene. He was sentenced to life without parole; he waived appeals. In court, Taylor Dean told him, "You stole my favorite person," lamenting the loss of memories with her sister, as reported by KVUE.

Watson had already amended his plea to guilty for murder in September 2019, receiving 35 years in July 2022 after testifying. Smith's June 2022 trial, delayed by COVID, ended in conviction after six hours of jury deliberation. Ballistics, phone records, and Williams' testimony sealed it; he got life without parole. Special prosecutors from the Texas Attorney General's Office aided Bastrop County.

Kimberly confronted Clark in prison for eight hours, seeking answers. He apologized, but she questioned the depth of his remorse, according to the Statesman. Samantha Dean's family now advocates for victims, attending retreats and speaking on domestic violence, using her story as a cautionary tale despite her expertise, as per the Statesman.

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Watch Killer Relationship with Faith Jenkins, season 4, episode 1, releasing on November 9, 2025, on Oxygen True Crime.

Edited by Riya Peter