Who killed Carrie Olson and why?

September 16, 2024

Carrie Olson's ex-boyfriend Tim McVay was found guilty of murdering her in 2013. An Iowa judge declared him guilty of first-degree murder and concealment of the same. He was sentenced to over 40 years in prison for murdering the 29-year-old woman.

Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will narrate the shocking murder story of Carrie Olson in its episode titled Without a Trace, scheduled to air on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 8 PM ET.

The episode's synopsis reads:

"Carrie Olson has a heart of gold and a new man in her life, then she goes missing; loved ones launch a desperate search for answers, but investigators wonder if one of them is hiding a dark secret."

Olson's family reportedly last saw her on December 28, 2013, two days after which they filed a missing persons report. A few months later, in April 2014, the naked dead body of a woman was discovered in the remote woods of Southern Minnesota. Authorities later confirmed that it belonged to Olson.

Carrie Olson's ex-boyfriend and murderer Tim McVay was caught due to forensic evidence

Tim McVay, Carrie Olson's ex-boyfriend, was first linked to the murder when he called up the Dakota County Sheriff’s Department claiming to know the identity of Jane Doe, two days after the discovery of the body on April 5, 2014. As per the voicemail played in court, he stated that the description from the press release matched that of the "girl missing from the Quad-Cities."

Authorities who found his behavior strange were later assured of his involvement in the murder when forensic reports linked him directly to the crime. According to reports, fibers found in Olson's hair matched those found in McVay's Rock Island home. A Berber carpeting sample taken from the accused's house confirmed the theory.

Furthermore, prosecutors stated that Tim McVay made two unsuccessful attempts at using the victim's debit card during the murder trial. McVay ultimately used it as a credit card at a 7-Eleven on 38th Street to pay for gas. They also showed security footage of McVay using Olson's car on Brady Street in Davenport.

Exploring his motive

During the trial, prosecutors reportedly produced dozens of text messages between Tim McVay and Carrie Olson, spanning from September through December 28, 2013, the last day the latter was seen alive. The messages showed that McVay, who was unemployed at that point, had borrowed money from his ex-girlfriend but failed to return the amount.

Olson's then-live-in-boyfriend Justin Mueller stated that she left the house upset and never returned home after that. However, McVay told police that his ex-girlfriend had stayed over at his house that night and that he dropped her home the next morning in the car that he had borrowed from her.

The victim's family testified that they could not get in touch with her after December 28, 2014, and failed to get straight answers from McVay. As per reports and forensics, the accused himself stopped messaging Olson the day after she was last seen alive. However, he texted her on January 5 of the following year in an attempt to mislead authorities. He said that he hoped she was "hiding out n working thru all the things u have been pissed about."

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will revisit Carrie Olson's murder and Tim McVay's trial, in which he was found guilty, on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.

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