STAFFORD, Mo. – Amanda Morton called her sister and the Missouri Highway Patrol after being rear-ended at around 1:00 am on July 12, 2001. She was reported missing after a police officer found her car abandoned on the shoulder of Interstate 44 near exit 125.

A manager for a Camdenton motel saw a picture of Morton on TV and told police that a woman matching her description checked into his motel with a man around 5:30 AM. The hotel registration had the information police needed to identify the man and his license plate. His name is David Zink.

Investigators found Zink at his parents’ house near Appleton City. He was asked to come in for questioning and come in of his own free will. He confessed matter-of-factly and even laughed on videotape that he tied her to a tree, told her to look up, and then snapped her neck.

Zink revealed he was released from a 20-year prison sentence for rape, abduction, and escape charges a few months before to rear-ending Morton. Afraid that his drunken collision would violate his parole and send him back to prison, Zink abducted her.

Morton’s death was the driving force that brought the AMBER Alert Program to the Ozarks.

On July 15, 2015, David Zink was executed by lethal injection. His death came 14 years and two days after Morton’s.

“If I think you’re going to pose a threat to my freedom, it’s set in my mind that I’m going to eliminate you.”

— David Zink