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Sarah DeLeon, Carolyn Heckert: ‘Dateline’ — Suburban Mom Had Two Killer Secrets

By Traciy Reyes
Published on: 09:17 PST, Feb 10, 2017

Dateline NBC is on the trail of a realtor who wasn’t only jealous of her romantic rivals, she killed them. Authorities say that Carolyn Coon Heckert is suspected of killing two women almost three decades ago. The episode tonight on Dateline is titled “Fury.” Authorities say that Carolyn Coon Heckert, aka Carolyn Heckert, killed 18-year-old Sarah DeLeon and is suspected in the death of Diana Ault, a young mother who was gunned down in her home while her children were there. Sarah DeLeon was found brutally stabbed with her body dumped at the site of an old railroad track. On Dateline tonight, you’ll hear from Jeff Cheek, the officer who first found the body, along with Jamie Locke, and Gail, the mother of Sarah DeLeon.

Body At The Tracks

In December, 1989, just a few days after Christmas, the body of Sarah DeLeon was found behind a pillar along some abandoned railroad tracks in Kansas City, Kansas. The woman had been stabbed multiple times all over her body and dumped at the scene. The New York Daily News reported the following circumstances.

“DeLeon, a recent high school graduate attending Kansas City Kansas Community College. Her body had been dumped along railroad tracks near I-435 and Wolcott Drive on the western outskirts of the city. Investigators found her black Ford Mustang a day earlier beneath an I-70 overhang about 10 miles away.”

Sarah DeLeon’s murder baffled investigators since they didn’t have many clues.

Investigators learned that the spot where the body was dumped was an old hangout for teens. The way the victim was killed was particularly vicious and heinous. Whoever had done it was driven by pure hatred. Sarah DeLeon’s mother couldn’t think of a single person who hated her daughter so much.

Sarah Deleon was considered a fun person who was outgoing and athletic. At some time before her death, she was dating Matt Utland.

Cold Case Heats Up, Exposes Secret Of Suburban Mom

With no leads in the case, the murder went cold for many years.

However, in 2016, almost 30 years after the murder of Sarah DeLeon, police finally made an arrest. Forty-eight-year-old Carolyn Heckert, a successful realtor and suburban mother, killed Sarah DeLeon because she was jealous that Sarah was dating Matt Utland, Carolyn’s ex-boyfriend.

Police also connected her to another killing that happened in 1994. In that case, police say that 26-year-old Diana Ault was savagely shot while her infant and another child were inside their Independence, Missouri, home. The killer shoved Diana Ault’s child inside of a closet.

Investigators say that in 1994, Carolyn, who was having an affair with Diana Ault’s husband, was jealous when the man decided to go back to her. The Daily Mail states the following.

“Ault was looking after her two children: her son Josh, then four, and her six-month-old baby daughter Katie when she was shot dead. The young mother had been watching the Super Bowl with relatives on the night she was killed and had returned home early to put her children to bed. When her husband Timothy, now 49, let himself into the house later that night, it was to discover a scene of chaos – his wife lying dead from gunshot wounds on the floor and his son locked in a closet. Heckert was having an affair with Timothy before the killing. Days after Timothy left Heckert to return to his wife, Ault was dead.”

Carolyn Heckert is only under arrest for the murder of Sarah DeLeon. DNA evidence and a tip led police to Carolyn Heckert. Authorities say that Carolyn was living a lie for almost three decades. She was a suburban mom who lived in a beautiful home and had a nice-looking husband, along with two beautiful children. People who knew Carolyn say that she often boasted about her life and children.

As Carolyn Heckert was carving out a wonderful life for herself and for her family, she kept a big secret about her deadly past.

Watch Dateline NBC tonight to see where Carolyn Joann Heckert is today. It airs at 10/9 p.m. Central.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRbYDZX8NoU

[Featured Image by Wyandotte County Detention Center]

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