Sarah Jane Willard, 29, left her Coral Springs apartment on October 28, 2019, reportedly to meet friends she had met online. Family members lost contact after six weeks and reported her missing in December 2019. Her last known financial activity was a Pizza Hut purchase on November 1, 2019; the transaction location is not specified.

Investigators traced her online contact to Phillip Allen York of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. On February 14, 2020, buried human remains found in the backyard of York’s Sweetbriar Street home were identified as Willard. An autopsy determined she died from a single gunshot wound to the head. York, 54 at arrest, was charged with murder and with being a felon in possession of a firearm related to a prior conviction for malicious wounding.

The case was handled by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department alongside the FBI Safe Streets Task Force. Anyone with information about Willard’s movements after October 28, 2019, or her contacts in Mississippi is asked to come forward.