The Murder of Heather Leann Pope

Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

Vincent Strange

True Crime

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In July 2010, twenty-nine-year-old Heather Leann Pope left her mother’s home in Royse City, Texas, telling her she was going to visit a friend. She never returned. Days passed without a call or message, something that immediately alarmed her family, who knew Heather always checked in.

Nearly two weeks later, while searching the Quinlan area of southern Hunt County, Heather’s father and a family friend made a devastating discovery behind a convenience store off Cedar Hill Road near Lake Tawakoni. Heather’s body had been left under a tarp beside a vacant house. The extreme summer heat had taken a toll, and investigators later confirmed she had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head.

More than a decade later, Heather’s murder remains unsolved. Her family continues to seek justice, contributing thousands of dollars of their own money to increase the Crime Stoppers reward to $10,000. The case remains open, and investigators say they are still willing to review new information.

Someone knows what happened to Heather Pope. And her family is still waiting for answers.

If you have information about the murder of Heather Leann Pope, please contact the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office at (903) 453-6800. You can also contact Hunt County Crime Stoppers at (903) 457-2929.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Gone Cold Podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
0:05.4	Listener discretion is advised.
0:08.7	The last days of July in Hunt County, Texas, press down on you.
0:14.5	The air is thick.
0:16.2	The heat lingers long after the sun goes down.
0:20.1	In places like Royce City and Quinlan, summer isn't
0:24.2	merciful, but instead heavy and unrelenting, stretching days into weeks that seem to all
0:30.8	blur together. In July of 2010, Heather Pope disappeared into that heat.
0:38.4	She was 29 years old, a daughter, a sister, a woman known for her kindness, her laughter,
0:45.9	and her habit of talking to strangers like they were old friends.
0:50.4	When she left her mother's house one summer afternoon, she had no way of knowing it would be the last ordinary moment of her life.
1:10.0	Heather Leanne Pope was born January 31, 1981, in Dallas, Texas.
1:17.2	She grew up in Royce City, where she attended church, went to school, and built the kind of
1:23.6	reputation that doesn't come from trying. It comes from simply being yourself.
1:29.7	As a child, Heather was bubbly and outgoing, though her family eventually realized something
1:36.3	was different. She was hearing impaired, something that wasn't discovered until she reached
1:42.0	junior high. For years, she spoke louder than others and sometimes responded in ways that didn't quite fit
1:49.5	the conversation, not because she didn't care, but because she couldn't fully hear what was
1:55.4	being said.
1:56.9	When Heather finally received hearing aids as a teenager, it changed everything.
2:02.9	Her mother, Carla Pope, later recalled riding in the car with her daughter as rain hit the windshield.
2:09.4	Heather asked her,
	...

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