 It was a cool October evening in 2015. Zoe Hastings was just 18 years old and had left her home to head to her church to start preparing for a mission trip that she'd be attending the following month. Investigators say she never made it to her church that night. In fact, she didn't make it further than a quarter mile from her home before she became embroiled in a tragic series of events would never make it back. See, on her way to church, Zoe stopped by local Walgreens to visit a Red Box movie kiosk. Sooner than she got out of her car to rent a movie, a man sneakily approached her from behind. He made a very simple command, shut your mouth and get in. Zoe Hastings lived alongside her family in Dallas, Texas and was deeply devoted to her faith, being a very active member of her local church, a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. When Zoe wasn't at school or hanging out with her friends or family, chances are she could be found doing something for her church. Her dedication was unlike anything most people would imagine, and she made every effort to put her religion before everything else in her life. Outside of her religion and her family, Zoe had just recently graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts, which is also located in Dallas. But it's never been mentioned what Zoe planned on doing after school was over, outside of the obvious activities that she had planned with her church. She was also a very well-respected swimming instructor at the White Rock YMCA. So it's pretty clear Zoe had her hands in a lot of different things. She was a genuinely talented young woman with so much promise. Zoe's father, Jim, was actually a bishop for the family's church, and he helped out with the church's finances, but he also taught some of the services there as well. He even spent one night per week helping members of the church with any issues they may have been dealing with, be it family problems, spiritual issues, or otherwise. He was a great example for Zoe, so it's easy to see how she became so deeply involved in her faith. Zoe's mother, on the other hand, was also a shining example and an amazing woman. Cheryl Hastings, more than anything else, loved being a mother, so much so that she actually put her entire career on hold when the family welcomed her third child into the world. After things settled down a little bit, Cheryl eventually decided to go back to work after finishing her education to become a nurse. She was actually attending schooling to get her master's degree when this case unfolded. The Hastings were all part of a relatively large family, but Zoe being one of five children. Considering Zoe was the oldest, it's safe to say that her siblings most likely looked up to her quite a bit, and Zoe seems to have taken pride in being a great example for them. Cheryl's mother actually recalled one particular moment that is a perfect example of the type of person that Zoe was, saying that on the Friday before she vanished, Zoe wrote a note to their mailman and put it in their mailbox, asking what his favorite drink was, what his favorite candy bar was, and several other things to get to know him better. She wasn't just doing this to be nice and show interest, she actually planned to go out and buy the man some of his favorite things so that she could show her appreciation for his hard work. But unfortunately, that mailman would never get to know the true extent of Zoe's kindness. That's because before she could show it, Zoe vanished. It was Sunday, October 11th, 2015. Zoe was heading to a meeting at her church where she would be discussing an upcoming mission trip that she'd been looking forward to for weeks. She left her home at about 4.40pm and planned on stopping by a local Walgreens on her way to church. This Walgreens was actually within view of her home less than a quarter mile away and you could see the big Walgreens sign from the front lawn. Court records show that Zoe made it to the Walgreens by about 4.42pm that evening where she approached the Redbox kiosk located just outside the front door of the building. Now for those of you that may not be located in the United States or maybe you've just never seen a Redbox kiosk, it's basically a movie rental kiosk where you just walk up, touch a screen to select a movie you want to rent, and then out pops the DVD or Blu-ray of that movie. When you're done, you just bring the movie back and pay a daily fee for however long you had the movie. On this particular night, Zoe stopped by the Walgreens to return a movie that she'd previously rented. She drove up near the kiosk in her family's minivan and popped out of the car. She wasn't outside of the car for more than a few seconds when a witness spotted a strange-looking man approaching Zoe's vehicle. This witness worked at a tattoo parlor that was located in the same intersection as the Walgreens. He said that as he looked across the street, he noticed Zoe getting out of her van, returning the movie, and then turning back to get into her van. No sooner than she arrived at the driver's side of the van, a short, heavy-set man rapidly approached the door, grabbing it and preventing Zoe from closing it. The witness says that he couldn't make out what the two were saying, but he mentioned that the man was overly animated and said their conversation lasted no more than five seconds before Zoe scooted over into the passenger seat, allowing the man to drive the van. The witness says that at this point, he believed the two must have known each other, considering how little resistance Zoe put up against him. He also added that he saw this same man later on that day around dusk. But a separate witness report tells a slightly different story. This report comes from a homeless man who was sitting across the street from the Walgreens when the scene unfolded. He says that the heavy-set man approached Zoe rapidly and aggressively while doing his best to sneak up on her from behind. The homeless man mentioned that the suspect was walking incredibly strangely but was trying not to gather too much attention. He says that as soon as the man approached the side of the car, it was clear Zoe was uncomfortable. He said the man put his arms around the doorway of the vehicle so Zoe couldn't get away, all the while reaching into his pocket for something. The witness says he immediately noticed this encounter was not friendly, so he did his best to try to run across the street to confront them, but there was so much traffic that he couldn't make it across in time. By the time he got there, the man had already sped away with Zoe in the passenger seat, so he did the only thing he needed to do, and he ran to the closest convenience store to call 911. But interestingly, police say that they have no record of this 911 call taking place, so it's entirely possible the man made this part of the story up. When digging a bit deeper into this witness's history, he also had a warrant out for his arrest, so I would tend to say this 911 call probably never happened. But either way, the remainder of his statement does appear to be true as we'll see in just a moment. On the evening that Zoe vanished, she was expected to be at her church for the aforementioned mission trip prep class at about 5pm. Unfortunately, she never made it to the church that evening. She was expected to return home around 6.30pm for family dinner. She never made it home either. When Zoe missed out on dinner, her parents began calling and texting her phone over and over again, but she never picked up. When all else failed, her family resorted to calling several of her friends and church members, but friends hadn't seen her, and church members said she never showed up for the prep class that evening. It would be around 10pm when Zoe's parents had finally had enough, and that's when they decided to call in the help of the local police, and officially report Zoe Hastings as missing. After Zoe's parents reported her missing, it didn't take long before one of her family members found out that they could use the Find My iPhone app on their phone to track down Zoe's last known location. This would take place early the following morning on October 12th. I'm not sure how they managed to do this without Zoe's password, but it didn't take them long to pull up the info, and rather strangely, find out that Zoe was just 5 minutes away from home. Without hesitation, the family loaded into the car and headed off in the direction of Zoe's phone. But that's when they were met with a sight they wished they could erase from their memory. As the family drew closer to the location that had been pinned on the map, they noticed flashing lights just in the distance. As they pulled up to the area, they realized these lights were encompassing the exact spot where Zoe's phone had last paid. When Zoe's family pulled over and exited the car, they were approached by several police officers who shared news that no parent wants to hear. Unfortunately, by the time first responders made it to the scene, there was nothing they could do, and Zoe had lost her life. But what happened? To her parents, this whole situation just seemed so sudden, so completely out of left field. Well, according to detectives, earlier that morning, a man named Kurt was out walking his dog when he noticed another man running in his direction, frantically trying to get his attention. As the man approached, it was obvious that he was upset and visibly shaken. He called out to Kurt and shouted something along the lines of, there's a car and a girl down in this creek, pointing to a large ditch or a culvert area that was nearby. The unidentified man then led Kurt over to where the car was located, nearby Easton Road and Lipid Avenue. When the two arrived, there was an incredibly dense brush that filled the area, but a white van could clearly be seen from the roadside, poking out from the brush. The unidentified man then descended down the steep embankment to check out the van. When he approached, he found Zoe nearby completely unresponsive. The man then made his way back to the street, informed Kurt of what was going on, then ran away before police could arrive, leaving Kurt to call 911 on his own. Police arrived at the scene of the crime in record time, but unfortunately there was just nothing they could do. They found Zoe lying face down, about 20 feet from the driver's side door of her minivan. The van had been driven down the embankment and crashed into the bottom of the creek, meaning the van was merely vertical when police found it. When detectives began collecting evidence and photos from the scene of the crime, it was very clear what had taken place here. Zoe had been abducted, taken advantage of, and then dumped here with no regard. As investigators combed through the thick foliage, they managed to find a knife covered in red stains that had been tossed near the top of the embankment. Before long, detectives also found Zoe's phone, and when looking at location data, they found that she'd arrived at this creek at exactly 5.01 pm the night before, meaning she likely lost her life just 15 minutes after leaving her home that night. Police made a comment about the state of the crime scene, stating that Zoe had been subjected to what they called, quote, obvious homicidal violence, but they refused to describe much else other than this. Thankfully, Zoe's family were prevented from getting too close to the crime scene, with one police officer stepping in and telling the family they weren't allowed to get any closer because they'd not be able to forget what they saw that day. Zoe's parents have said that since that moment, they've made every effort to never see a single photo from the scene of the crime from that awful evening, choosing to remember their daughter for who she was rather than what she eventually became at the hands of some cruel, heartless monster. After police spent several hours scouring every square inch of the crime scene, they were left with a considerable amount of evidence stored away. Typically, in cases like this, it can take detectives and forensic experts quite a long time to come up with a list of suspects. But thankfully, in this case, that wasn't true. In fact, the person who did this to Zoe left behind every last shred of evidence that prosecutors would need to find him. Not only was this guy a cold-blooded waste of breath, but the man was also a world-class idiot. It's like he left a road map for investigators to follow in a typical X marks the spot fashion. When police looked over the evidence they'd collected from the scene of the crime, they realized they'd collected several hairs left behind by the assailant, as well as copious amounts of DNA that were found both on Zoe's body and the knife that had been found near the top of the embankment. Not only this, but they didn't even have to try hard to track down who the DNA belonged to. The man's DNA was already entered into the police database multiple times in the past. By October 24, 2015, about two weeks after the crime unfolded, police announced they'd found their man, Antonio Cochran. Antonio Cochran was quickly identified as the man who witnesses had spotted stalking Zoe in the Walgreens parking lot that fateful evening. His DNA was littered across the entire crime scene and his DNA was in the police database from various accusations and crimes that he'd committed over the years. When police reviewed his record, they noticed that his crimes were all incredibly violent and most of them were boiled down to sexual urges. When police spoke with those who knew Antonio growing up, nearly everyone who knew him had nothing good to say about him. He had a handful of people in his life who cared about him, but for the most part he disgusted nearly everyone he met. Some of his former classmates from high school spoke about how he'd always look at female classmates as though they were a freshly cut piece of steak. He had no regard for them as people. He saw them as nothing more than objects for his own pleasure, making awful faces and gestures at them every chance he got, just a nasty person. To top this off, Antonio was 37 years old when he was picked up by police and his record indicated that he'd been accused of having a sexual relationship with his ex-cruel friend's 17-year-old daughter just a few years prior. Though admittedly these allegations never led to a conviction, though there were numerous first-hand accounts from people who claimed to have known about this relationship, insinuating it had been taking place for at least a few months, but again these are purely allegations that Antonio was never convicted for this. Even though police had more than enough evidence to convict Antonio in Zoe's case, they decided to continue digging into his past to try to piece together why he would have done such a thing. This is when they managed to get a hold of his cell phone history. On the day that he claimed Zoe's life and tossed her out like an empty soda can, Antonio had been frantically texting several of his friends. Now, I've got to admit, many of these texts that he sent don't seem to make any sense whatsoever. I'm not sure if this is because he was abbreviating every word to the point that it was simply unreadable, or if this is because he was in such a frazzled state of mind that he couldn't concoct thought. But from what I can make out from his texts, Antonio had first texted his roommate and claimed he was going to be moving out. This appears to have been completely unexpected, and he was basically leaving his roommate high and dry. But there does appear to be more to this story than the texts bleed on, because he signed off this announcement by saying, this will be the last you ever hear from me, suggesting there was definitely some bad blood between the two. He then texted an ex-girlfriend and said that a woman named Reina, who'd supposedly been like a mother to Antonio, had passed away unexpectedly, quote, right in front of me. He then continued texting various people, telling someone known as Mimi that he'd been drinking, driving, and sobbing for hours after hearing the news about Reina, with this text coming through just about an hour before his encounter with Zoe. It's very clear to see that when Antonio abducted Zoe, he was in a very difficult state of mind. The next text Antonio sent would be to someone known as Selena, with him simply saying, my life is over, you'll find out soon enough. This text was sent about four hours after the crimes against Zoe were carried out. Interestingly, the internet history from Antonio's phone showed that he'd made more than 1100 search requests, but police haven't been clear if all these search requests were done the same day of the crime, or if these were spread out over a certain period of time. But either way, at least 32 of these searches were Antonio checking the local news to see if Zoe's body had been located, as well as checking in to see what police suspected could have happened to her. This information made it painfully clear, Antonio was terrified. But where does all this leave us? Well, if the text messages sent from Antonio's phone are to be believed, it sounds like he was most likely incredibly intoxicated at the time that he abducted Zoe. And this probably explained why he was so overly animated in his actions, and probably explains the weird way that he was walking, as described by the two eyewitnesses. But still, why did he target Zoe of all people? She never said a word to him, never even looked in his direction. So why grab this innocent girl just because you're drunk and clearly distressed because someone close to you passed away? Truthfully, we don't know. But if you ask me, I don't think it's too much of a long shot to assume it was purely a crime of opportunity. After all, Antonio has an incredibly colorful history with women, particularly involving violent or sexual encounters with women, even his close friends admitted to this. Honestly, I think this crime was just an example of the kind of person Antonio is. There was no motive. There was no reasoning. He did it because he could, because he wanted to. In court, one of his close friends asked the jury to be lenient on him, saying that he was nothing more than a victim of a bad upbringing. But the jury wasn't going to hear it. Needless to say, when Antonio was sent to trial, he was quickly found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, having to serve a minimum of 30 years before he'll have any chance at parole. But realistically, I don't see a man this violent and with this dark of a history ever seeing the light of day again. When speaking about the trial, the terrible, cruel treatment his daughter was subjected to in the future, Zoe's father explained how he and his remaining family members are doing their best to make something good from a bad situation. He admitted that one of the hardest parts of this is trying to teach their remaining children that they are still safe even though their oldest sister was abducted with an eyesight of their home. He says that it's shaken the very foundations of their family, and he and Cheryl just don't know how to make their children feel comfortable again. After Zoe lost her life, Jim dedicated himself even more to the church that he was already doing so much to serve. But he realized that he couldn't help others if he couldn't first help himself. This is when he decided to take time out of every day to deal with his emotions by sketching his family members, a different family member each day. He's created more than 900 drawings of his family members, which he shares on his Instagram account, detailing the incredible range of emotion that he's experienced over these last few years, as well as the freedom that comes from getting these emotions out of his own mind and into the real world. Jim says that he continues to do this every single day, even after all this time. He even used this drawing method to cope with the loss of his mother, who passed away from cancer, drawing a sketch of her every day for the final six weeks of her life. Jim says that drawing has helped him to realize just how much he has left to live for, and it's inspired him to make sure he uses his time productively, rather than only focusing on the negative. Cheryl, Zoe's mother, has also taken great strides to turn this tragedy into something positive. Cheryl has been a nurse for several years, but around the time that Zoe lost her life, she noticed an advertisement that was recruiting nurses to become specialists who focus on women who'd been assaulted. At first, Cheryl thought this was a terrible idea, but the more she let it sink in, she says that a voice in her head kept urging her to join the program. So she did. No one knows the pain of something like this better than someone who's been affected by it directly, and Cheryl definitely fit that bill. You've got to admit, becoming a nurse for a program such as this, it's not a job anybody wants to do. But the brave, noble, and honorable women who do take on this role, well, they're a breed of their own. Cheryl is very grateful to be able to be part of such a sensitive program, helping these women to cope from the immeasurable pain that they've been put through, and in some small way make a positive difference in the lives of those who need it more than anyone else. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you enjoyed this video, check out this other interesting case I covered, and don't forget to subscribe. It's totally free and keeps you up to date with all of my future videos. You can also click that join button below to show your support for the channel and see new videos long before everyone else does. But my name is Ty Nott, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.