Those who knew Gabrielle “Britney” Ujlaky said she was an upbeat teen who loved horses and dreamed of one day becoming Rodeo Queen. Growing up in a town in the rural Nevada town of Spring Creek, the 16-year-old had learned how to drive cattle on horseback at the age of 9.
During her time at the local rodeo circuit, she met someone who would become a close friend, Alisha Tolhurst, and one of her best friends, Cheyenne Fry, told PEOPLE.
But the friendship would eventually have tragic consequences.
This case is featured in a new episode of People Magazine Investigates titled “Final Rodeo,” airing on Investigation Discovery at 9/8c on July 31 and streaming on Max beginning then. (An exclusive clip is shown below.)
Britney vanished on March 8, 2020 and her bloodied, partially clothed body was found five days later in a remote area. However, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance were unclear for a few days as investigators were given different stories on what could’ve happened to her.
Britney had been raped, strangled and had her throat slashed so deeply that it cut her carotid artery in half.
At the crime scene in Burner Basin, about 15 miles northwest of Spring Creek, investigators allegedly found a used condom with DNA from both Britney and a male.
Police also investigated a claim that Britney was on her way to a friend’s house the day she vanished and had been seen getting into a green Ford F-150 pickup truck with a tall man wearing a cowboy hat. However, the man and the truck were never found.
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But as it turned out, Britney’s death was caused by someone she had once trusted.
During his daughter’s killer’s trial, Ujlaky’s father, James Ujlaky, testified that the last time he saw Britney was when she accompanied him to a band rehearsal. He claimed she had left early that day and that he couldn’t reach her for hours.
“I was repeatedly calling her all the way home and I sent a text, ‘Why aren’t you answering my calls?’” he said, PEOPLE reported at the time.
Saquarra Ashby, Britney’s childhood friend, told PEOPLE, Britney had big plans for the future, noting how she also wanted to join the Navy “to travel,” and explore her love of makeup by becoming a special effects makeup artist.
“She would have made an amazing Rodeo Queen,” she said. “But she never got the chance.”
People Magazine Investigates: Final Rodeo airs on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max on July 31 at 9/8c.
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Source: HIS Education