In August 1998 a woman calling herself "Deianna Ray" placed an ad in "personals" section of a Louisiana newspaper. Her flattering self-description said she was a green-eyed blonde, honest and hard-working, but "Deianna Ray" was hardly being "honest." According to authorities, "Deianna" was actually a drifter who hitchhiked around the country looking for her next mark - a lonely man to latch onto until she drained his bank account dry. She also neglected to mention that she was a wanted felon with a long list of aliases. In fact, her real name wasn't Deianna at all; it was Hazel Leota Head. A man named Charles Barker would have been interested in any one of these details, if he had only known.

Charles Barker had recently suffered the devastating loss of his wife of 10 years. She had been killed by a drunk driver, and Barker had settled with the insurance company for a considerable amount of money. Lonely and depressed, he began frequenting the riverboat casinos operating on the Red River, carrying large amounts of cash and spending freely at the gaming tables. It was there he caught the attention of Hazel Head in the summer of 1998. Hazel worked quickly, and within days of their initial meeting she had moved into Barker's home.

Barker's adult children were happy he had found someone to share his life with, but when daughter, Jennifer Spoonts, traveled from Texas to meet her father's new love, she was unimpressed. Spoonts says she felt Head was only interested her father's money, and apparently Barker soon became disillusioned with Hazel as well. A few weeks later during a telephone conversation with his other daughter, Cindy Jefferson, he confided that he was having some problems. However, Barker was non-specific as to the nature of his troubles and promised to fill her in when they next spoke. They never did.

Spoonts tried to arrange to visit her father over Labor Day weekend. After she was unable to reach him by telephone for an entire week, she called an aunt who lived nearby and asked her to check on Barker. When June Stringer and her husband arrived at Barker's residence they found the door open and Barker slumped over the bar in his kitchen, dead from a single gunshot to the back of his head. Investigators estimated he had been dead for five days.

Detectives found no sign of a struggle, and the murder weapon, Barker's own .25 caliber handgun, was found on the bureau in the master bedroom, wiped clean of prints. A safe in the bedroom was open and empty. Barker's family says he kept substantial amounts of cash in the safe, and that it may have contained as much as $45,000 dollars at the time. Also missing was Barker's Lincoln Town Car, and his girlfriend.

The vehicle was located the next day near the Shreveport, Louisiana airport. Inside police found pieces of clothing belonging to Hazel Head and DNA evidence linking her to the car. Louisiana authorities subsequently discovered she had placed "personals" ads in several newspapers shortly before Barker's murder. A background check revealed she had been married as many as ten times and was known to use more than a dozen aliases. There was also an outstanding warrant for her arrest in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she had allegedly burned down a former boyfriend's mobile home.

Hazel Leota Head is wanted in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, for the murder of Charles Barker and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Characteristics: Hazel Leota Head was born on Dec. 10, 1949. She has blonde hair, green eyes, stands 5'2" and weighs 120-150 pounds. She has a scar near her right eye and a gap between her front teeth. Head is known to frequent truck stops, often hitching rides from town to town. She was last sighted in Dec. 1998, in a truck stop near Wheat Ridge, Colorado, where she had applied for a job as a waitress.

Known Aliases: Hazel Morgan, Hazel L. Morgan, Willow Shield, Willow L. Shields, Hazel Woodman, Hazel Leota Woodman, Hazel Foley, Hazel Leota Foley, Kelly Morgan, Hazel Spurbeck, Willow Spurbeck, hazel Haynes, Hazel Leota Haynes, Hazel Vincent, Deianna Ray, Hazel Fatuch, Hazel Leota Fatuch, Treasa Tess Jean Coyle, Treasa Tess Venable, Tess Venable, Tess Coyle, Treasa Venable, Treasa Coyle, Hazel Leota Sperbeck, Willow Sperbeck, Deianna Wray.

If you have any information about the whereabouts of Hazel Leota Head, please contact the Bossier Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's Department or call the Unsolved Mysteries hotline, 1-800-876-5353.