The woman in the white pickup was feeling increasingly uneasy about the driver, whom she knew only as "David." Two fellow sex workers in Laredo, Texas, had been recently killed, and one of them was her friend Melissa.
The man and the woman had already been at his house, where she had discussed Melissa. He had reacted strangely, she later told authorities, and the situation had grown so tense that she vomited in the front yard before they left for a gas station. The woman's mind lingered on Melissa. She wanted to keep talking about her.
He produced a gun in response and grabbed hold of her shirt.