Murder in the Heartland on ID: How did Betsy Ball die?

Betsy Ball, a Gallia County mother, went missing from her Morgan Township home on February 29, 2012. When her husband David returned home, shortly after midnight, he discovered certain disturbances in their garage. He conducted a brief search of the property and upon not finding his wife, he filed a missing person's report with police in Gallia County, Ohio, at around 2 am.

Just hours later, on March 1, 2012, 67-year-old Betsy's partially naked and brutalized dead body was found in a nearby cornfield. She had been r*ped, strangled, run over by a vehicle, and doused in gasoline.

Tire tracks found near the crime scene and DNA evidence was used to trace the perpetrator, a man named Lee Hawkins, who was familiar with the Ball family. Hawkins was later convicted of the killing.

Murder in the Heartland on ID is slated to revisit Betsy Ball's brutal murder in an episode titled Field of Bad Dreams. The synopsis for the episode states:

"The grotesque murder of a beloved citizen, Betsy Ball, shatters the quiet farm community of Vinton, Ohio."

The all-new episode airs on the channel this Wednesday, April 19, at 9 pm ET.

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Betsy Ball was r*ped, strangled, and run over by a pick-up truck and her body was found dumped in a field

Sometime between the late afternoon and late night hours of February 29, 2012, Betsy Ball was taken from her home in Morgan Township, Gallia County, Ohio. Her husband returned home shortly after midnight to find unusual occurrences inside the house and certain signs of a disturbance in the garage.

David Ball noticed that in the car, the objects had been moved, there was a strange piece of cloth on his wife's Subaru a shoe under it, and scratches on the hood. However, what struck him as very off was that his wife's glasses and cell phone were on the passenger seat floorboard of the car. He searched the house and their property, which also had a beef cattle farm, and noticed that Betsy was nowhere to be found. David immediately filed a missing persons report.

Around noon on March 1, 2012, Betsy Ball's body was found in a secluded field off an unpaved road, approximately a six-minute drive from their residence. The way her body was posed gave investigators a hint that Betsy may have been s*xually assaulted. There were bruises and scratches on her face and arms, ligature marks on her neck and wrists, with her right wrist nearly severed.

There were visible tire tracks on Betsy's face and upper body, indicating that she was run over by a car and her whole body was doused in gasoline. An autopsy confirmed that she was r*ped and ruled the cause of death to be strangulation and the manner to be homicide.

Along with tire tracks from and near the victim's body, authorities also found a partial hand towel consisting of bodily fluids from which they were able to extract the killer's DNA. Upon examining the tire tracks, investigators learned that the vehicle had two all-terrain tires on the front of the vehicle, and two mudder tires on the back. Later, this particular piece of information proved to be crucial.

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Who murdered Betsy Ball? Details from the investigation on how tire tracks and DNA helped solve the case

A man named Lee Hawkins, who occasionally worked as a farmhand for the Ball family, was found guilty in Betsy's killing (Image via Ohio Department of Corrections)

While searching for the vehicle in question, investigators learned that Lee A. Hawkins, of Bidwell, owned a pickup truck with similar tires. According to reports, Lee had known Betsy's family for about two decades and occasionally worked for them as a farmhand. The findings led authorities to believe that Hawkins knew Betsy Ball was home alone that night.

Hawkins was interrogated and while he denied involvement in the killing, he made several contradictory and incriminating statements later. He eventually told authorities that he was a witness to the crime but denied any direct involvement, alleging that a third individual was responsible for the murder.

Forensic experts then confirmed that Hawkins' fingerprints were present on Betsy’s Subaru and that the hand towel found at the crime scene consisted of his semen along with the victim's blood. He was charged with aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and murder not long after.

Reports state that a jury found Lee Hawkins guilty in Betsy Ball's murder case. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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ID's Murder in the Heartland will further delve into the gruesome murder case on Wednesday, April 19, at 9:00 pm ET.