Corinth Police Stymied After UNT Student Found Murdered in Her Car

Amanda Clairmont was a makeup artist. She created a new Instagram account to showcase her work two weeks before she was found murdered in a vacant parking lot in Corinth, a suburb of 21,000 people about 30 miles north of Dallas.

“Follow my new makeup Instagram account and support [my] work please,” she posted on Twitter.

Corinth police discovered the 21-year-old University of North Texas student at 6 a.m. Sunday during a routine patrol near Church Drive and the Interstate 35E service road. Her car headlights were on and her passenger side door was open, according to police. She’d been shot to death.

It was the first murder to hit the small community in 17 years. Her killer remains at large.

Corinth police told the Dallas Observer on Friday that there was no update. Police officials told KDFW-TV (Fox 4) on Monday that detectives were working “around the clock” to find out who killed Clairmont.

“Everybody’s going in different directions, trying to locate any possible lead that we can come up with,” said Debra Walthall, Corinth police chief.

The Denton County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers are helping detectives with the investigation.

Clairmont’s half-brother, Mike Gawlik, told the Denton Record-Chronicle that Clairmont, who lived in Corinth, had been drinking Saturday night in the Fry Street area near UNT, where she was listed as a business major, according to the university.

The Record-Chronicle reported that Clairmont was raised in Sandwich, Illinois, and moved to Texas about 10 years ago after her mother died of cancer. She attended high school in Frisco, and one of her former classmates told the Dallas Observer that Clairmont was fairly popular during her junior and senior years.

“She was definitely known for her hair and makeup,” the classmate said. “Her look was very unique.”

Clairmont was a senior at UNT.

“Our hearts are heavy with the news of the tragic loss of her life,” UNT President Neal Smatresk said in a statement last week.

Clairmont’s brother David turned to Twitter late Sunday evening and posted, “‘If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them.’ I love you Amanda.”

If you have any information about what happened to Clairmont, call Corinth police at 940-498-2017.