Carrie Olson was killed by her ex-boyfriend, Timothy McVay, in his Rock Island, Illinois, home in the early morning hours of December 29, 2013. A judge convicted McVay of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death in July 2015 and sentenced him to 45 years in prison.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
Who Timothy McVay Was to Carrie Olson
Olson was 29 and living in Davenport, Iowa, with her boyfriend, Justin Mueller. McVay was an ex-boyfriend she had previously lived with, and by late 2013 he had begun dating a new woman, Tammy Hegi, who lived in Hastings, Minnesota. According to Olson’s friend Diana Gross, McVay still owed Olson money, and Olson planned to see him on December 28 because he told her he “had a surprise for her.” Gross testified Olson hoped the surprise was repayment.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
The trial judge later concluded the motive was simple: McVay killed Olson to take her car and whatever cash she had. At sentencing, Judge Michael Meersman said no one deserves to die for a car and some money.2WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. McVay Sentenced
Her Last Known Hours
On December 28, 2013, Olson made breakfast with Mueller and left home around noon. Through the afternoon she used her debit card at a nail salon, pulled $200 from a Davenport ATM, and bought cigarettes and gas at a 7-Eleven in Rock Island. McVay later told a detective that Olson came to his house around 3 p.m., left, returned around 5 or 6 p.m., left again, and came back around midnight.
Mueller received a text from Olson at 9:20 p.m., the last he ever heard from her. At 9:31 p.m., she texted her best friend, Amanda Smith, saying she was on her way home from Dubuque. She never arrived. The trial court found that McVay murdered Olson in his home sometime between 4:00 and 6:15 a.m. on December 29, 2013.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
Olson did not show up for work on December 30. Mueller and her parents reported her missing that day.
How Her Body Was Found
The search lasted more than three months. On April 5, 2014, a landowner in rural Dakota County, Minnesota, found the body of an adult woman under a pine tree about 40 to 50 feet from a roadway, in an area known as Presley Circle. It was Carrie Olson.3WQAD. Body Found in Minnesota Confirmed to Be Carrie Olson She was roughly 300 miles from home and less than five miles from Tammy Hegi’s residence in Hastings.
The condition of her remains prevented a definitive cause of death. Prosecutors presented three possibilities consistent with the medical examiner’s findings: compression asphyxia, smothering, or a chokehold. The autopsy also recovered fibers from her hair and a small piece of a necklace.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
The Evidence That Pointed to McVay
No single item proved the killing. Instead, several independent threads converged on the same person.
Olson’s Debit Card
Olson used her card normally throughout December 28, entering the correct PIN. Starting at 6:17 a.m. on December 29, someone began entering the wrong PIN at a Rock Island gas station. Five minutes later the card was declined at a 7-Eleven, though a $20 in-store purchase went through at 6:23 a.m. because it did not require a PIN. Surveillance video showed McVay using the card. Olson was not visible in the car. At 6:33 a.m., three attempts to withdraw $400 from a credit union ATM failed on the wrong PIN, and the card was blocked.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
Cell Tower Records
Analysts mapped McVay’s phone using Sprint tower data. At 3:58 a.m. on December 29, he called Olson’s phone from a tower near his Rock Island home. His next logged call, at 12:14 p.m., pinged a tower in Minnesota between La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Rochester. Subsequent calls traced a path northeast of Rochester into the area where Olson’s body was later found, and then to a tower in Hastings near Hegi’s residence. Analysts estimated McVay reached the vicinity of the body site around 1:44 p.m. and Hegi’s home by 1:57 p.m.
On January 2, 2014, the route ran in reverse. Ten calls hit the Hastings tower between 1:24 and 3:02 p.m., two more came from a tower south of where Olson lay, and his phone then traced the Mississippi River back through Winona and Rochester to the Quad Cities by 11:45 p.m. The return again passed through the area holding Olson’s remains.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
A Shovel Tag and Carpet Fibers
An orange price tag reading “shovel” and $4 was found near Olson’s body. Investigators traced the barcode to a Big Lots in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where a matching shovel had been sold in cash around 11:30 a.m. on December 29, along with a Desage brand travel bag. A bag found in McVay’s possession matched a photo of the Big Lots bag.
A forensic scientist matched a Berber carpet fiber from Olson’s hair to a roll of carpeting in McVay’s home. Because the carpet was mass-manufactured, the analyst called it consistent with McVay’s carpet rather than a unique match.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
The Karaoke Video
Shortly after Olson disappeared, McVay performed the Guns N’ Roses song “I Used to Love Her” at a local bar. The lyrics include “I used to love her, but I had to kill her” and “I put her six feet under.” A woman who knew McVay was a suspect recorded the performance and gave it to investigators.
Conviction and Sentence
McVay was arrested on July 18, 2014, and charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicidal death. He was held on a $1.5 million bond in Rock Island County Jail.
He chose a bench trial, leaving the verdict to Judge Meersman rather than a jury. Testimony ran through June 2015. On July 17, 2015, Meersman read through the evidence aloud and found McVay guilty on both counts.4WQAD. Tim McVay Found Guilty of Murdering Carrie Olson At sentencing on October 9, 2015, McVay read a letter insisting, “I did not kill Carrie Olson.” Meersman gave him 40 years for the murder and five consecutive years for concealing her death, a total of 45 out of a possible 60.2WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. McVay Sentenced
McVay appealed to the Illinois Third District Appellate Court. On August 30, 2019, the court affirmed both the conviction and the sentence, agreeing that the only reasonable reading of the evidence was that McVay killed Olson in his home and transported her body to Minnesota.1FindLaw. People v McVay (2019)
Where Timothy McVay Is Today
McVay (IDOC number M55606) is held at Menard Correctional Center’s Medium Security Unit in southern Illinois. His projected parole date is May 9, 2056, and his projected discharge date is May 9, 2059. If he serves the full sentence, he will be in his early 90s.5State of Illinois | Department of Corrections. Inmate Search Results