Pregnant Belynda Tillery murdered by ex Troy Armstrong

This episode afforded me the opportunity to introduce a new forensic "Tool" to the collection: Two-dimensional facial reconstruction. Having watched endless true crime content, the concept was not foreign to me. Of course, one of my clearest recollections of this technique's use was from Forensic Files itself – a popular season one episode: The List Murders (s01e12).

The forensic artistry used by expert Frank Bender in this early episode wasn't two-dimensional. Instead, the series America's Most Wanted asked Bender to create a bust of murderer John List and to age him appropriately. The images police had of list were nearly 20 years old, and the John List they now sought in 1989 would look quite different. But in describing Bender's techniques, it's learned that his specialty is three-dimensional facial reconstruction. This art attempts to approximate a person's appearance using their skull and very little else. The mix of talent, science, and intuition can spark renewed awareness of what's often become a cold case.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Our episode began with a skull found in Yellow House Canyon, and authorities' need to match it to a victim. Other bones told investigators that the deceased had been a young female, and a single hair provided additional clues. When dozens of missing women's dental records failed to match the skull, police believed facial reconstruction might allow someone to identify the victim. Forensic artist Karen Taylor recreated the steps she took to develop a face for Belynda's skull.

Unlike Bender's sculpting, Taylor reworked Belynda's likeness in two dimensions. Our episode claimed that Karen Taylor pioneered some of the techniques used in this practice – I wonder if Frank Bender also worked in two-dimensional reconstruction. The picture developed by Taylor was distributed by the media, and it didn't take long for Belynda's mother to zero in on the likeness of her missing daughter.

Belynda, Troy, Angela, and Lubbock

It was stated that Belynda Tillery worked at a "local night club" as a dancer. This is a gentle turn of phrase to describe what was more likely a gentleman's club owned by the outlaw biker gang, the Bandidos. How long Belynda worked there was not shared, but she was under the age of 18 at the time of her disappearance. Basically, her family condoned their underage daughter dancing in a sleazy bar owned by career criminals. One would think that Belynda would be in more danger at such a place, but on the night of her disappearance, her brother Walter had given her a ride home.

It was after her shift that Belynda accompanied Troy Armstrong on a camping trip to Yellow House Canyon, about a half hour drive from Lubbock. Their trip was ostensibly so the ex-partners could discuss Belynda's recent pregnancy. It was unknown if the child belonged to Armstrong or a more recent partner of Belynda's. Either way, it was felt the situation led to Angela Allen ending her relationship with Troy – or at least this might've been how Troy felt. Allen used a poorer choice of words when she called Belynda's pregnancy "the problem that he was involved in."

Never go camping with your ex

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

If Forensic Files has taught me one thing, it's to never go camping with your partner – current or prior. No good has come from one of these camping trips in the few episodes this occurs.

Start with Muddy Waters (s09e20) which sees Bruce Dodson go camping with new wife Janice in western Colorado. After only three months of marriage, Janice Dodson shoots and kills her husband Bruce and attempts to make it look like a hunting accident. She also has Bruce's dog put to sleep and may have attempted to frame her ex-husband, JC Lee.

Head Games (s09e10) finds Candra Torres celebrating her first wedding anniversary to husband Julio with a camping trip to Mount Hood. They meet fellow camper Tom Brown who murders Julio and repeatedly assaults Candra. The episode Crime Seen (s03e10) starts off with a young couple camping in rural Virginia. They're awoken by a stranger pretending to be a policeman. The stranger then pulls a gun and orders the man to run into the woods. He assaults the 22-year-old female, but fortunately he lets both victims survive. Poor policework leads to the wrong man, Edward Honaker being convicted.

Troy Armstrong on the run

Once the skull found in Yellow House Canyon was identified as Belynda's in 1996, Angela Allen had no doubts Troy Armstrong had killed his ex. Despite Troy's threats to harm her family, Allen told police about Armstrong's trucker friend living out in California. Little was understood about global positioning satellite technology in the mid-90s, but GPS was used to locate Armstrong's friend in Nebraska.

Once the warrant for Troy Armstrong's arrest had been issued, he knew he needed to hide out. Armstrong probably believed Angela Allen either wouldn't think of his trucker friend, or would be scared to share her knowledge with police. If I was hiding out, I'd likely choose a person or location less known to anyone. And how long did Troy hope his friend would let him stay in his truck's sleeper compartment? The trucker's vocation (and even his freedom) was already at risk by harboring the fugitive. Did Troy's friend receive any punishment for aiding and abetting the murderer? How much about Troy's crime was his friend aware of?

A fitting end for Troy Armstrong

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The technology used to share photographs over phone lines was still lacking in 1996. This is evident by the version of Karen Taylor's drawing that's shown in a newspaper at the beginning of the show's second segment. The reenactment has Belynda's mother Beverly skimming the newspaper before work and seeing the artist's rendition. When compared to the high-quality version developed by Taylor, it's somewhat surprising that Beverly recognized the image potentially resembling her missing daughter.

The best physical evidence against Troy Armstrong was the collection of Belynda's personal items recovered from his storage locker. This was said to include her license, and "items she would have had with her after leaving her job at the nightclub." But the sequence of events doesn't align with this. It was stated her brother had given her a ride home on the evening in question – so she should've been able to drop off her things before camping. Adding more confusion to this, multiple articles found on the internet indicated Belynda had supposedly gone camping with white high-heeled shoes.

Before Karen Taylor's talents were recruited for a two-dimensional facial reconstruction, the skull was matched against the dental records of 64 missing women of a similar age range. If these potential victims were also organized in respect to how long they'd been missing, why didn't this pool include Belynda? Lubbock was only 30 minutes from Yellow House Canyon – it seems Belynda should've been among the first missing persons to be considered.

Where is Troy Armstrong now in 2024?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

After a four-day trial, a jury deliberated for just two hours before finding Troy Armstrong guilty of the first-degree murder of Belynda Tillery in December 1996. He was sentenced to life in prison, and according to Rebecca at Forensic Files Now, Armstrong resides in the Alfred Hughes facility in Gatesville, Texas. A 1997 appeal by Armstrong's defense was overruled by the Court of Appeals of Texas.  Decades later, a parole board also elected to not grant Armstrong's release in 2021.