Photo courtesy of Travis County Sheriff’s Department
Austin is a city known for its vibrant music scene and soulful energy, but in December 2014, that harmony was shattered. Kathy Blair wasn’t just another resident; she was a beloved 53-year-old choir director and music teacher who poured her heart into the local community. She was the kind of person who made everyone around her feel seen and heard.
That’s why the news of her death hit the North Austin neighborhood like a freight train. Kathy was found murdered in her own home on Tamarac Trail, a place that should have been her sanctuary. The investigation revealed a brutal scene: she had been both stabbed and strangled. It wasn’t a crime of passion or a deep-seated vendetta, which somehow makes the reality even harder to swallow—it was a burglary gone horribly wrong.
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A Dark Connection and a Sinister Plot
When police started digging, the trail didn’t lead to a career criminal lurking in the shadows, but rather to someone Kathy had actually tried to help. Timothy Parlin entered the picture as a handyman who had done work for Kathy in the past. Instead of gratitude for the employment, Parlin saw an opportunity for a payday.
Parlin didn’t act alone, though. He teamed up with Shawn Gant-Benalcazar, a man with a background in science who seemed like an unlikely candidate for a home invasion. The prosecution’s narrative was chilling: Parlin acted as the driver and the mastermind who knew the layout of the house, while Gant-Benalcazar was the one who went inside.
Justice in the Courtroom
The legal battle that followed was intense. During the trials, a lot of the focus shifted to Gant-Benalcazar’s confession, which he later tried to claim was coerced. He described the struggle inside the house, painting a grim picture of Kathy’s final moments as she fought for her life against a stranger in the dark.
Despite the defense’s attempts to poke holes in the story, the evidence held up. Shawn Gant-Benalcazar was convicted of capital murder, and Timothy Parlin was also found guilty for his role in the orchestration of the crime. Both men were hit with life sentences without the possibility of parole, ensuring they would never step foot on an Austin street again.
Remembering Kathy Blair
While the legal system did its job, the hole left in the Austin music community remains. Kathy’s legacy isn’t the tragedy that happened on Tamarac Trail; it’s the hundreds of students she mentored and the music she brought to life. In the world of true crime, we often get caught up in the “who” and the “how,” but in cases like this, it’s the “who we lost” that truly matters.
Kathy Blair was a light in the lives of many, and while her life was cut short by greed and senseless violence, her song continues through the people who loved her.
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Lisa Crow contributed to this article. She is a true crime junkie and lifestyle blogger based in Waco, Texas. Lisa is the Head of Content at Gigi’s Ramblings and Southern Bred True Crime Junkie. She spends her free time traveling when she can and making memories with her large family which consists of six children and fifteen grandchildren.
