Latest / History Dark / Gold Digger - Lesbian Friend of Celeste Beard Arrested _ True Crime Documentary

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Gold Digger - Lesbian Friend of Celeste Beard Arrested _ True Crime Documentary · History Dark

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: A waitress marries a millionaire for his money.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Now, all of a sudden, she's got a guy that's
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: got $ 10 million, and she couldn't wait to spend every
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: dime of it.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But even money can't satisfy her appetite for danger.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: This is a case of fatal attraction.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: It's a case of obsession.
• 0:22
  Speaker 5: This is the first murder case I've ever written about
• 0:24
  Speaker 5: where I have been afraid of the killer I was
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: writing about.
• 0:28
  Speaker 6: A twisted Texas tale. of greed, betrayal, and murder. Tonight,
• 0:35
  Speaker 6: on Power, Privilege, and Justice.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Steve Beard was a living example of the American dream.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: He had sold a TV station for millions, invested his
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: money in a shopping center, and built himself a sprawling
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: mansion in one of Austin's fanciest communities. The 75-year-old self-made
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: millionaire was living the high life in retirement with a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: beautiful young wife and loving children. But one night in
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: October 1999, Steve Beard awoke bleeding and in horrible pain.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: At 3.13 a.m., Steve called the police.
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: Steve's wife, Celeste, was asleep in another room.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, sir, how did.
• 1:47
  Speaker 7: How did this happen?
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: Okay, are you there by yourself?
• 2:12
  Speaker 8: I was the first officer to arrive on the scene.
• 2:14
  Speaker 8: I went up to the front door of the house,
• 2:15
  Speaker 8: began knocking, banging on the door. Received no response from
• 2:18
  Speaker 8: the house at all. Walked around through a small patio
• 2:20
  Speaker 8: area and could see a large sliding glass door and
• 2:23
  Speaker 8: there was a light on inside.
• 2:25
  Speaker 9: No noise.
• 2:26
  Speaker 10: I mean, I didn't hear any noise. I just remember
• 2:29
  Speaker 10: lights flashing outside and I have no clue what's going on.
• 2:34
  Speaker 8: Through that sliding glass door, I could see Steven Beard
• 2:37
  Speaker 8: laying in bed. It looked extremely bad.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: I broke the door.
• 2:42
  Speaker 8: With my baton.
• 2:45
  Speaker 10: We get into the back room, the master bedroom where
• 2:47
  Speaker 10: my dad was, and there's already people in there working
• 2:50
  Speaker 10: on him.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Beard's wife, Celeste, was in the main hallway. Her cries
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: filled the house.
• 2:56
  Speaker 8: Celeste was screaming things like, don't let him die, what's
• 2:59
  Speaker 8: going on, you know, what happened, don't let him die.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: A helicopter flew Steve to a nearby hospital. He was
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: in critical condition.
• 3:09
  Speaker 8: After about a minute or two in the room, Myself
• 3:12
  Speaker 8: and another officer discovered a shotgun shell. And at that time,
• 3:16
  Speaker 8: everything changed. I declared the house a crime scene.
• 3:21
  Speaker 10: One of the police officers was asking me if my
• 3:25
  Speaker 10: dad was suicidal.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: And I said, no, why?
• 3:28
  Speaker 10: Did somebody shoot him? And they said, yes, don't tell
• 3:31
  Speaker 10: your mother.
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: As the police tried to solve who shot Stephen Beard,
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: his family rushed to the hospital. One thing was clear.
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: Beard's rags-to-riches story wasn't going to have a happy ending.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Steve Beard was born into a poor Dallas family. Always ambitious,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: he dreamed of becoming a doctor. Then World War II
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: intervened and Steve joined the Navy. When he returned home,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: he took a job at a local department store. While
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: working there, he met Elise Adams... Steve's job didn't pay much,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: but he was in love. In 1951, he and Elise married.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: They would raise three children together.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: My mother grew up with my dad when he was
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: working for $ 15 a week. She went through those bad
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: years when he was cutting his teeth and paying his dues.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Steve moved the family to Austin, where he got a
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: low-level job in advertising. Smart and hardworking, he rose fast.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: By 1978, he was a top executive. But Steve was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: even more ambitious. He co-founded Austin's first independent television station.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: Steve was a very, very hard worker. When he was
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: getting the TV station off the ground, he was also
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: still working his job in Fort Worth with Blair Advertising.
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: He did this for years. He was very demanding.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: KBVO was a big success, and Steve became a local
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: media mogul. But in 1993, tragedy struck. His wife of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: 42 years, Elise, died of cancer. Steve decided to sell
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the station for $ 54 million. He was now a very
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: rich and very single man.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: We went on a trip to Europe. And some of
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the single women were just like vultures circling around a
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: dead cow in the desert. And he said, God, I
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: just wish I could just have some peace.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Steve began spending more time at the very exclusive Austin
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Country Club. There, a 32-year-old waitress, Celeste Martinez, caught his eye.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: He says he hired a housekeeper, and that was Celeste.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: And then the next thing we know, his companion for
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl trip was his housekeeper. And I went,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: oh boy, I said, obviously she's not a housekeeper anymore.
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: My gosh, you have this attractive young 30-something girl coming
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: after you. He's living in a huge house by himself.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: He's terribly lonely.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: He's retired.
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: And now he has this beautiful young companion to travel
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: with him, to enjoy good food and wine.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Why not?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: But Steve's new traveling companion brought along a lot of baggage.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: She'd been divorced three times and had a history of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: using drugs. Moving from town to town, Celeste had put
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: her twin daughters into foster care many times. Now, she
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: was ready to settle down with a man, a rich man.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: My dad was his own man, and he was going
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: to do what he wanted to do. He had always
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: been in that director's role. I could have jumped off
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: the University of Texas tower with a banner that said,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: don't do it, and it wouldn't have made any difference.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: On February 18, 1995, Steve Beard married Celeste Martinez. She
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: was 32. He was 70. Under terms of their prenuptial agreement,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Steve gave Celeste a cash gift of $ 500, 000. She'd receive
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: an additional $ 500, 000 if they stayed married for three years.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Celeste immediately went on a shopping spree. spending her half
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: million dollars in six months. Steve also adopted Celeste's twin daughters.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: The girls, Jennifer and Christina, moved to a new neighborhood
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: in the hills and to a new high school. They
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: bought new clothes and made new friends. For the first time,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: they were living with their mother in a stable home.
• 7:56
  Speaker 10: We rarely lived with her at a young age. Christina
• 7:58
  Speaker 10: and I lived in a foster home for a good
• 8:01
  Speaker 10: chunk of time. Thank God for Steve, and, you know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 10: I considered him my second natural father.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: He was loyal. He loved to hug you. He had
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: a great sense of humor. Really good wit, very generous,
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: the perfect host.
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: Celeste probably thought she had won the lottery. A beautiful house,
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: the country club, plenty of spending money. For some women,
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: that would have been enough, not Celeste.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: After three years of marriage, Celeste's wild side reemerges. She
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: begins leading a secret life, partying with many different men,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: including her ex-husband, Jimmy Martinez. Together, they host an 18th
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: birthday party for her twin daughters. Steve is not even invited.
• 8:53
  Speaker 11: She knew how to throw a party, you know, like
• 8:55
  Speaker 11: for the girls' 18th birthday party, for example. It cost
• 8:58
  Speaker 11: close to $ 10, 000, you know, with the male strippers, an
• 9:03
  Speaker 11: open bar.
• 9:04
  Speaker 12: She was wild and loved to party and unpredictable.
• 9:11
  Speaker 11: We'd never met an adult who was so open.
• 9:16
  Speaker 12: She would talk about how Steve was very old and
• 9:18
  Speaker 12: he could not satisfy her sexually. And she would express
• 9:22
  Speaker 12: how Jimmy did that very well.
• 9:26
  Speaker 10: Celeste is an inappropriate person. 100% everything she does is inappropriate.
• 9:31
  Speaker 10: The way she raised Jen and I was inappropriate.
• 9:37
  Speaker 9: And the names she called Steve were just abominable. Big
• 9:40
  Speaker 9: Daddy Warbucks, Fat Ass.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: And that's what he was to her.
• 9:46
  Speaker 9: But he loved her so much, he put up with
• 9:52
  Speaker 9: all of her crap.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Soon, Celeste began to spike Steve's drinks with Everclear, powerful
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: grain alcohol. She also put sleeping pills in his food
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: so she could go out at night and party.
• 10:05
  Speaker 10: It was very difficult to see what Celeste was doing
• 10:07
  Speaker 10: to him. I just wish I would have stood up
• 10:09
  Speaker 10: a lot sooner.
• 10:11
  Speaker 13: Finally.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: After learning that Celeste had run up $ 300, 000 in entertainment
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: and shopping expenses, Steve kicked her out of his house
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: and threatened to divorce her.
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: He'd already given her everything he'd promised, so she would
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: get zero when they divorced. Yeah, they'd have to sell
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: the houses. She'd get that. But she wanted to be
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: a multimillionaire, not a millionaire.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Celeste sees her chance at a fortune going up in smoke,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: and she isn't going to let that happen. She writes
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Steve a letter using all her charm.
• 10:46
  Speaker 14: When you called this morning asking if we should just
• 10:48
  Speaker 14: get divorced, it completely took me by surprise. I value
• 10:54
  Speaker 14: everything that you've done for all of us. I love
• 10:57
  Speaker 14: you with all of my heart.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: The letter doesn't work. As Steve makes preparations for divorce,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Celeste raises the stakes. She threatens to kill herself, holding
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a gun to her head in front of her daughter Christina,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: But the gun is not loaded.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: I mean, oh, gee, I get in trouble. Oh, gee,
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: I'm going to slit my wrist. Oh, gee, I'm going
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: to put a gun to my head. But, ooh, I
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: don't know how to load the gun. Give me a break.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: You know, but yet this would work on Steve.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: The people of that generation are still of the one
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: wife type thing, not the throwaway marriage concept. And I
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: think that might have had some bearing on him.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: In the early spring of 1999, Steve checks Celeste into
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a psychiatric hospital. Timberlawn is exclusive. At $ 1, 200 a day,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: only the very rich can afford it. Within a few
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: days of arriving, Celeste meets a woman who will change
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: her life forever, Tracy Tarleton.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: Tracy Tarleton is bipolar and has been in and out
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: of psychiatric wards for years. Tracy was severely abused by
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: her mother, grew up in basically sort of an alcoholic, dysfunctional,
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: very successful society, Texas family.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Tracy had gone to the University of Texas and managed
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a bookstore in Austin. Tracy and Celeste seemed to have
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: little in common, but Tracy is immediately taken with Celeste.
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: Tracy has been desperately seeking love probably since she was
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: about 10 years old. and she finally found someone she
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: thought loved her.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: A bond begins to grow between the two troubled women.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: After a month at Timberlawn, they're released but go on
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: seeing each other. Celeste returns to the Beard Mansion in
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Toro Canyon. At first, Steve accepts Tracy as his wife's
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: new companion, but it's obvious to the twins and their
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: friends that Tracy and Celeste are having an affair.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: We knew that they were more than friends.
• 13:09
  Speaker 9: But you've got to remember that Celeste was having affairs
• 13:12
  Speaker 9: with lots of people.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: I mean, every couple weeks it'd be someone new.
• 13:18
  Speaker 11: It was obvious when they were together, by the way
• 13:21
  Speaker 11: they would touch each other and smile, that it wasn't
• 13:26
  Speaker 11: purely platonic.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: The two women spend every day together. Tracy's obsession with
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Celeste seems to be growing.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: We can see Tracy's behavior changing for Celeste just in
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: the way she dressed. Wearing the pink shirts, getting manicures,
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: getting her hair colored. Tracy has always been a little tomboy.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: Always.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: The atmosphere at Toro Canyon is turning poisonous. To strengthen
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the bond between them, Celeste tells Tracy that Steve is
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: abusing her. Meanwhile, Steve is increasingly concerned about the relationship
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and tries to discourage it, but Celeste ignores him. When
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: the twins graduate high school, Celeste invites Tracy to the ceremony.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Later that night, there's a graduation party at Jimmy Martinez's house.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Once again, Steve is not invited. Tracy gets drunk, and
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Jimmy and Celeste have to send her home when she
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: starts getting too friendly with Celeste.
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: The story of Celeste, Tracy, and Steve was a train
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: wreck waiting to happen. It seemed that everyone was, as
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: they say, in denial. It was just a matter of time.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Five weeks later, that time arrives. Hoping to separate the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: two women, Steve has decided to take Celeste away on
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: a European vacation. He, Celeste, and Christina are home packing.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Jennifer is out with her friends.
• 15:19
  Speaker 11: Celeste seemed especially odd that night.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: Every few minutes she would call us.
• 15:24
  Speaker 11: Christopher and Jen and I were all discussing it and
• 15:27
  Speaker 11: we knew something wasn't right that night and that something
• 15:31
  Speaker 11: was going to happen. We didn't know what it was.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: At 3 o'clock in the morning, an intruder enters through
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the garden of 3900 Toro Canyon Road and continues past
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the pool area and toward the house. The intruder crosses
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the patio, opens the sliding glass door, and enters Steve's bedroom. Then,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the intruder points a shotgun at Steve and fires.
• 16:01
  Speaker 13: Fire!
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Steve Beard is rushed to the hospital. Christina stays behind
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: to break the news to her sister.
• 16:23
  Speaker 9: That was a tough phone call. I can remember Jen
• 16:29
  Speaker 9: just immediately started crying. And There was lots of panic,
• 16:35
  Speaker 9: lots of confusion, because we didn't have the whole story.
• 16:39
  Speaker 10: There was a good 20 minutes that all I knew
• 16:41
  Speaker 10: was Steve was taken to the hospital and there was
• 16:43
  Speaker 10: a lot of blood.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: The intruder is long gone. Whoever has shot Steve Beard
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: has made a mistake, as the police will soon discover
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a crucial piece of evidence has been left behind. After
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a life of hard work that had finally paid off
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: in his golden years, Texas TV tycoon Steve Beard lay
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: in the hospital. He had been shot in the stomach
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: with a shotgun. At the hospital, Celeste and her children
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: are tested for gunpowder on their hands and questioned by detectives.
• 17:26
  Speaker 11: The policeman just asked us, you know, do you know
• 17:28
  Speaker 11: anybody who had anything against Steve? You know, maybe a
• 17:32
  Speaker 11: business partner? just someone who didn't like Steve. And we
• 17:36
  Speaker 11: all knew, and I just said, Tracy Tarleton.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: She was, I believe, obsessed with Celeste. You could tell.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: She wanted Steve gone.
• 17:47
  Speaker 15: During conversations with several of the individuals at the hospital,
• 17:51
  Speaker 15: the name of Tracy Tarleton had come out. But they
• 17:55
  Speaker 15: didn't want Miss Beard to know that they had told.
• 17:58
  Speaker 10: This is the new addition.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: While the family works on helping Steve recover, the police
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: have Celeste's lover, Tracy Tarleton, in their sights. They go
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: to Tracy's house to question her.
• 18:12
  Speaker 16: Ms.
• 18:12
  Speaker 15: Tarleton was asked if she owned a shotgun. She said, yes.
• 18:16
  Speaker 15: I asked if I could see it. She thought for
• 18:19
  Speaker 15: a few minutes and she said, okay, you can see it.
• 18:22
  Speaker 15: She gave us a Franchi 20 gauge shotgun, had her
• 18:25
  Speaker 15: name inscribed on the weapon itself. I interviewed her for
• 18:30
  Speaker 15: probably an hour. According to her, she and Celeste had
• 18:34
  Speaker 15: had a lesbian affair.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: The police test Tracy's skeet shooting gun and match it
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: to the shotgun shell found at the crime scene. Six
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: days later, Tracy Tarleton is arrested for trying to kill
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Steve Beard. The story makes front page headlines in Austin.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: You'd think Celeste would have been distraught. The police arrest
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: her friend for trying to murder her husband. Her husband
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: is lying in the hospital with a giant hole in
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: his stomach.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So what does she do?
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: She shops.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: She went out and bought an $ 80- something piece of jewelry.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: She would check to see if her $ 10, 000 monthly allowance
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: was in the bank account, and if it was, boom,
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: she was over to Lake Charles, Louisiana to gamble.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Despite everything, Steve claims to still love his wife. He
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: changes his will to give her an even bigger share.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: But this will be his final gift to Celeste. After
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: four months of recovery, Steve Beard's health takes a downward turn.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: On January 22nd, 2000, he dies from an infection in
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: his lungs. At the time of his death, Steve is
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: worth over $ 10 million. Celeste stands to receive assets and
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: property amounting to a cool $ 6. 5 million. Steve's five children
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: are to divide up what remains. Steve Beard is placed
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: next to his first wife. More disturbingly for Celeste, the
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: bank puts a hold on her inheritance.
• 20:40
  Speaker 9: After Steve died, there was a crunch for money because
• 20:44
  Speaker 9: the bank would not give her enough. I mean, obviously
• 20:48
  Speaker 9: they were giving her a lot, you know, 20, 30,
• 20:51
  Speaker 9: 40 grand, but that wasn't enough.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Short on cash, Celeste comes up with a solution and
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: puts her daughters to work.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: She had clothes that she never wore. They just had
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: the tags on them still. And they were two, three,
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: four years old.
• 21:06
  Speaker 9: And she made Jennifer and I load up one of
• 21:10
  Speaker 9: the cars full of those clothes.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: And take them back. She wanted cash, but they wouldn't
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: give her cash.
• 21:17
  Speaker 9: So they gave her a store credit of like 25 grand.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: It was incredible.
• 21:23
  Speaker 9: It was just, the most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: In my entire life.
• 21:27
  Speaker 10: Talbot's wasn't the only store we did it to. You know,
• 21:30
  Speaker 10: we did it to Dillard's and Foley's and the Container Store.
• 21:33
  Speaker 10: I was very embarrassed about that, but it was something
• 21:36
  Speaker 10: that Celeste made us do, so we did it.
• 21:39
  Speaker 12: I just didn't think that she would make Christina do
• 21:41
  Speaker 12: the different things that Christina had.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: To do if she really loved him.
• 21:46
  Speaker 12: She would just treat her not as a daughter, Almost
• 21:51
  Speaker 12: not really as a person, just as her assistant.
• 21:55
  Speaker 10: We called her Mommy Dearest. She never knew we called
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: her that, though.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: Celeste's money was running out, and so was her luck.
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: She had manipulated her daughters and her late husband. But now,
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: she was about to get a taste of her own medicine.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Steve Beard is dead and Tracy Tarleton is out on
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: bail charged with shooting him. But the police aren't satisfied.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: They suspect Celeste is somehow involved in her husband's shooting.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: With the police on her heels and her money running out,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Celeste is getting nervous. When she hears a news report
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: that implicates her in the murder, she cracks.
• 22:45
  Speaker 9: There had been talk on the news that day that
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: she had been involved.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: In the murder. And she lost it.
• 22:52
  Speaker 9: She asked us if we would all kill ourselves with her.
• 22:58
  Speaker 9: And I thought this woman is just, just completely nuts.
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: Then Celeste checked herself back into treatment. Had she finally
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: realized how out of control she was? Apparently not.
• 23:16
  Speaker 10: You never know what she's going to do. You don't
• 23:18
  Speaker 10: know if she's going to stick a blow dryer in
• 23:19
  Speaker 10: the bathtub in front of us or if she's going
• 23:22
  Speaker 10: to try cutting herself with scissors or jump out of
• 23:26
  Speaker 10: a car. I mean, she's very scary.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: After a few weeks at Timberlawn, Celeste calls Christina to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: come and take her home. But Christina is scared and
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: refuses to go.
• 23:41
  Speaker 10: She's being very mean to me, telling me if I
• 23:44
  Speaker 10: don't come get her I'm going to regret it.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: But Christina's sister Jennifer does agree to pick up Celeste
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and takes along her boyfriend, Chris Deuce. Before the night
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: is through, the twins will see their mother's darkest side
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and nothing will ever be the same.
• 24:04
  Speaker 10: She gets in the elevator and says, come on, guys,
• 24:06
  Speaker 10: let's go. So we have her luggage and we.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: Run into the car.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Celeste then calls Christina, who is back at the house.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Christina secretly records the call on her answering machine.
• 24:19
  Speaker 16: No.
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: Then why don't you say that I hurt you less
• 24:43
  Speaker 7: than my dad hurt me?
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: Because you did.
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: You did? Do you know what I feel like?
• 24:50
  Speaker 16: I'm f * * * ing home now.
• 24:51
  Speaker 10: I just can't.
• 24:53
  Speaker 7: Do you know what I feel like? What? Do you
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: know what I feel like? Do you know what I
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: feel like?
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: The phone conversation ended, and she was just livid.
• 25:14
  Speaker 9: And that's when she said, I could kill Christina. And
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: I looked in the rearview mirror because Jennifer was in
• 25:21
  Speaker 9: the back seat, and we knew then it.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Was time to leave.
• 25:27
  Speaker 10: We knew we were never going back. You know, there
• 25:30
  Speaker 10: wasn't enough locks on the door, you know, for the
• 25:34
  Speaker 10: two of us to feel safe after that car ride.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: After Celeste's tirade and threats, Jennifer and her friends are
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: convinced that her mother is behind Steve's death. But Christina
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: still doesn't believe it.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: She was the one that was really manipulated by her mother.
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: And she's the one that loved her mother.
• 25:57
  Speaker 9: I think it was a hard decision for her because
• 25:59
  Speaker 9: she didn't really know what to believe.
• 26:02
  Speaker 10: I knew that I couldn't stand up to Celeste my
• 26:04
  Speaker 10: whole entire life. I was trying to grow a backbone
• 26:07
  Speaker 10: against her. just to be my own self, because it's
• 26:10
  Speaker 10: just like, who is Christina without Celeste?
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: Can you imagine that devastation of this mom who you
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: want to love you and take care of you and
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: caress you and comfort you and be there at your wedding,
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: and she's out threatening people.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: There were a whole chain of events that were really
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: scary in that time frame.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: The next day, Christina gets another call from her mother,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: which she also records.
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: The phone call.
• 26:59
  Speaker 10: That was my turning point.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: We were scared to death. We thought she'd kill the girls.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: And maybe all four of us, we didn't know. I mean,
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: it was very real.
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: This is the first murder case I've ever written about
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: where I have been afraid of the killer I was
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: writing about. She's vindictive. She has her husband shot. Then
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: she tries to hire someone to kill Tracy. The kids
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: are afraid. No one is revealing where they live, their
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: phone numbers, any contact information. There are so many people
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: out there who are afraid of Celeste Beard and what
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: she will do.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Now, with Christina on board, the girls and their friends
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: go to the prosecutor with tapes, letters, and their suspicions.
• 27:47
  Speaker 9: I don't think she ever thought we would turn on her.
• 27:53
  Speaker 9: And that was a large gamble on her part.
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: Celeste had manipulated everyone around her for a long time.
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: But now she had her daughters and the state of
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: Texas on her tail. Her days were numbered.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: The prosecutors ratchet up the pressure on Tracy, and two
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: days before her trial is to start, she strikes a deal.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: She agrees to testify against her former lover.
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: I asked someone, why did Tracy finally turn, thinking, oh,
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: it's because she's about to go to prison and facing
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: possibly the death penalty of life at best? And they
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: said because she finally realized that Celeste didn't love her.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: On March 28, 2002, Celeste Beard is arrested and indicted
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: on a capital murder charge. The evidence is against her,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: but Celeste has two things in her favor, her ability
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: to manipulate the people in her life and her dead
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: husband's money. In early 2003... the eyes of Austin, Texas
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: are on one place, the courthouse where Celeste Beard is
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: about to go on trial for the murder of her husband, Steve.
• 29:10
  Speaker 17: Celeste told people that she couldn't wait for him to
• 29:14
  Speaker 17: die and the evidence will show that.
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: She did not wait.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Celeste's lawyer, Dick DeGaran, is famous for his high profile
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: clients like Robert Durst and the Branch Davidians.
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: Dick DeGaran is a homegrown Texan with a great track
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: record and an expensive price tag. But Celeste could afford it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: She had access to Steve Beard's fortune. She was spending
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: his money to defend herself from charges that she caused
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: his death.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: This is a case of fatal attraction.
• 29:50
  Speaker 9: It's a case of obsession.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: The prosecution was claiming that Celeste had manipulated her lover,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Tracy Tarleton, into the murder. But DeGaran said that Tracy
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: shot Steve for her own motives.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: Unencouraged, undirected, uncommanded, on her own, Tracy Tarleton entered Stephen
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Beard's bedroom with a 20-gauge shotgun loaded with birdshot.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Bankrolled by Steve's fortune, Celeste's lawyers spent half a million
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: dollars trying to defend her. An astounding 45 expert witnesses
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: are called to testify about everything from finance to mental health.
• 30:30
  Speaker 15: Bipolar disorder that was sometimes of psychotic proportions.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: But the most powerful impression is made by Celeste herself,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: who enters the courtroom to gasps of surprise, dressed conservatively
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: with a cast on her leg, which she never explains.
• 30:48
  Speaker 16: Heck, when I looked over, I thought she was one
• 30:49
  Speaker 16: of the attorneys. When you visualize somebody that you think
• 30:54
  Speaker 16: is going to be convicted of this type of crime,
• 30:57
  Speaker 16: you don't necessarily visualize a middle-aged woman just didn't seem
• 31:02
  Speaker 16: to fit.
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: She is charming. That's how she ropes everybody in. She
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: has this sweet little lisp. She has a soft touch,
• 31:10
  Speaker 5: very prim with her arms under the table. But if
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: you'll notice, as trial goes on, she's not sitting as
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: primly every day. This woman has... temper like that.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Although Celeste does not take the stand herself, the prosecutors
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: play a taped deposition to attack her credibility.
• 31:32
  Speaker 15: Did you ever have any romantic involvement with Tracy Thompson?
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: No, I did not.
• 31:34
  Speaker 15: Did you have any kind of intimate physical relationship with
• 31:38
  Speaker 15: Tracy Thompson?
• 31:39
  Speaker 10: No, I did not.
• 31:40
  Speaker 14: What was the reason that.
• 31:40
  Speaker 12: You had a communication with Tracy Thompson and made.
• 31:46
  Speaker 7: It turn out to be true?
• 31:50
  Speaker 10: Because I have lost my entire family in less than
• 31:53
  Speaker 10: six months.
• 31:54
  Speaker 15: Did you ask her if she shot Stephen Green?
• 32:00
  Speaker 16: No.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: But when Tracy Tarleton takes the stand, she has a
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: very different story to tell.
• 32:08
  Speaker 17: Did there ever develop any kind of relationship between y'all
• 32:16
  Speaker 17: that was more than just a platonic friendship?
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: Yes, it did.
• 32:20
  Speaker 18: She followed me into our room one day and we
• 32:21
  Speaker 18: ended up kissing.
• 32:24
  Speaker 17: Did it ever progress to orgasm?
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: Yes.
• 32:29
  Speaker 19: Our relationship was, we felt like it was serious.
• 32:32
  Speaker 18: I felt like, I mean, I loved her and I
• 32:35
  Speaker 18: believed that she loved me.
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: She spent a lot of time letting me know that
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: she did.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Tracy shocks the courtroom when she testifies that Celeste tried
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: to kill Steve many times.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: He drank vodka, but she poured out the vodka and
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: poured in Everclear. She also would crush up sleeping pills.
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: And put them in his drinks. She said that, you know, sooner.
• 32:54
  Speaker 19: Or later, he's going to kill him.
• 32:59
  Speaker 20: She had asked me to order a book for her
• 33:01
  Speaker 20: called The Poisoner's Handbook because she wanted to cook up
• 33:04
  Speaker 20: a batch of botulism.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: And poison him with it.
• 33:10
  Speaker 20: We really de-emphasized Tracy's testimony. Especially the botulism really defied credibility.
• 33:17
  Speaker 20: My thinking was.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: This lady is telling a whopper.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Then the prosecution goes to the heart of its case,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: how Celeste manipulated Tracy into murdering Steve.
• 33:31
  Speaker 17: What did you say about her suggestion that she shoot
• 33:34
  Speaker 17: Steve Beard?
• 33:34
  Speaker 18: I said, I don't want to do this. She said,
• 33:37
  Speaker 18: there's nothing left. I might as well just take it
• 33:41
  Speaker 18: right now and shoot myself. And I said, fine, let's go.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: I'll do it.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: I thought about her and all of it.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: Torment and terror that I thought.
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: She'd been experiencing all these months.
• 33:52
  Speaker 18: And so by the time I got to the bedroom,
• 33:54
  Speaker 18: I couldn't stop and I couldn't look and I couldn't
• 33:57
  Speaker 18: do anything but.
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: Pull the trigger and.
• 34:00
  Speaker 19: Show us how you shot.
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: I walked into the bed and I saw him and
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: I pulled up and I shot him.
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: Tracy's mentally ill. Tracy has a drug and alcohol problem. Tracy, again,
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: if you go back and look at her background of
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: the abuse, she is just a perfect target to be
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: set up.
• 34:19
  Speaker 9: I started feeling a kindredness with Steve Beard.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: We had both been used by the same woman to
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: get his money.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: The real reason you're testifying is because you got a
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: sweetheart deal, 20 years, of which you'll probably only have
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: to serve 10.
• 34:35
  Speaker 19: Isn't that right?
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: That's not the primary reason.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Despite the gravity of the charges, a circus-like atmosphere prevails
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: with nearly 500 exhibits, hundreds of objections, and over 100 witnesses.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: The trial does not, for most spectators, evoke the majesty
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: of the law.
• 34:55
  Speaker 20: I didn't go in expecting to see, you know, To
• 34:58
  Speaker 20: Kill a Mockingbird or 12 Angry Men or Chicago, so
• 35:01
  Speaker 20: when it turned out to really be a big show,
• 35:03
  Speaker 20: I was kind of surprised.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Celeste's attorney defends her by attacking her daughters, accusing them
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: of gold digging.
• 35:12
  Speaker 19: And you didn't like Steve, did you?
• 35:14
  Speaker 10: That's not true.
• 35:15
  Speaker 19: Steve didn't like you either, did he?
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: He did too, like me. Didn't you contact a lawyer
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: about becoming your mom's guardian, taking over completely?
• 35:26
  Speaker 10: That's correct.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: You're planning, if your mom gets convicted, to file another
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: lawsuit so you can get your share of Sting's estate.
• 35:38
  Speaker 9: No.
• 35:38
  Speaker 19: You bought a Jeep.
• 35:39
  Speaker 13: Correct.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: You had a Cadillac, and your sister had a Cadillac,
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: but you bought a Jeep too.
• 35:43
  Speaker 10: Correct.
• 35:44
  Speaker 16: Correct.
• 35:45
  Speaker 10: I mean, I just can't imagine how they think 19-year-old kids,
• 35:50
  Speaker 10: I mean, we were kids at 19, could even cook
• 35:54
  Speaker 10: up a scheme like they were trying to make us
• 35:57
  Speaker 10: out to be. It just seemed like DeGaran was just
• 36:00
  Speaker 10: making up all this bogus evidence. I knew they were
• 36:03
  Speaker 10: going to do that, but it still made me angry.
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: It's inaccurate, it's unfair, and let's face it, if Dick
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: DeGaran were being paid a half million dollars by the children...
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: he would be calling Celeste Beard evil and not the children.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Then the prosecution plays the tape Christina made of her
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: mother's murderous rage.
• 36:28
  Speaker 20: When you listen to what was on those tapes, you
• 36:31
  Speaker 20: just get the raw, uncensored look into her soul.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: And I didn't like what I saw.
• 36:40
  Speaker 20: Now, I'd like to add that We made a conscious
• 36:44
  Speaker 20: attempt not to be trying her for being a bad person,
• 36:49
  Speaker 20: but trying her for the crime of capital murder.
• 36:52
  Speaker 16: I wouldn't select her to be my friend. However, that
• 36:56
  Speaker 16: doesn't make her guilty of murder.
• 36:58
  Speaker 6: Nearly all the evidence was circumstantial. The twins did stand
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: to gain financially if Celeste were convicted, and Tracy was
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: by no means the perfect witness. It was clear that
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: this wasn't going to be the slam dunk prosecutors were
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: hoping for.
• 37:14
  Speaker 10: When you're rich like Celeste Beard, you can buy a
• 37:17
  Speaker 10: lot of things.
• 37:19
  Speaker 13: You can buy a lot of friends, you can buy
• 37:21
  Speaker 13: a lot of lawyers, and you can buy a.
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: Lot of witnesses.
• 37:25
  Speaker 17: Folks, if you say that Celeste Beard is not guilty
• 37:28
  Speaker 17: with all of this evidence, then you're going to tell
• 37:31
  Speaker 17: her that her money can't buy anything.
• 37:32
  Speaker 19: This soap opera that we went through for four weeks
• 37:38
  Speaker 19: does not prove Celeste is a killer or wanted her
• 37:42
  Speaker 19: husband dead or did anything to do it.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: The only evidence.
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: They have is Tracy Tarleton, and Tracy Tarleton can't be believed.
• 37:51
  Speaker 19: She can't be believed.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: Because she has such a stake in it, but not
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: only because of that.
• 37:56
  Speaker 19: But because she's a crazy woman.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: Celeste is not guilty.
• 38:01
  Speaker 6: Low rise, please.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: After four weeks of trial and 23 hours of deliberation,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the jury in the Celeste Beard murder trial reaches a verdict.
• 38:14
  Speaker 8: Before we bring.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: The jury out, if there is anyone in the courtroom
• 38:16
  Speaker 5: who feels that they may have an emotional.
• 38:18
  Speaker 19: Outburst, I would ask that you please leave the courtroom
• 38:21
  Speaker 19: at this time.
• 38:25
  Speaker 13: Ms.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Johnson, would you please stand?
• 38:28
  Speaker 10: Truly, we've been waiting for this for three years now,
• 38:31
  Speaker 10: and so, yeah, it's very emotional, and you can't really...
• 38:36
  Speaker 10: know what 12 people that you've never met, what they're
• 38:38
  Speaker 10: going to do. Madam foreperson, please read the entire form.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: State versus Celestia Johnson.
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: Verdict of the jury.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: Verdict form one, capital murder.
• 38:50
  Speaker 16: We, the jury, find the defendant, Celestia Johnson, guilty of the.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Offense of capital murder.
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Madam foreperson.
• 39:04
  Speaker 10: Well, I had a flood of emotions you know I
• 39:07
  Speaker 10: wasn't expecting to get so worked up but it was
• 39:11
  Speaker 10: a lose-lose situation for us I mean she is our
• 39:13
  Speaker 10: mom and it's just like she's going to jail for
• 39:17
  Speaker 10: the rest of her life.
• 39:19
  Speaker 13: For me it's mostly relief that those 12 jurors believed
• 39:27
  Speaker 13: what we all had to say there was a a
• 39:30
  Speaker 13: little bit of sadness.
• 39:31
  Speaker 10: Too, because yet there's still moments where I feel bad
• 39:35
  Speaker 10: for her that I failed her.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Celeste Beard is sentenced to two consecutive 40-year prison terms
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: and a $ 10, 000 fine. We believe.
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: and Celeste's innocence. Mr.
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: Beard, how do you feel?
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: It's sad to have to say it, but I have
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: to thank Tracy Tarleton, too.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, she shot my father, but.
• 40:01
  Speaker 13: Without her, we wouldn't have gotten to here.
• 40:04
  Speaker 5: Celeste only did everything for her own good, her own gain.
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: Not gain in the heart, not gain in the soul,
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: only gain in the outer, the financials. I had someone
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: say to me one time, so-and-so doesn't have a soul,
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: and my mother corrected me, said, oh, everyone has a soul.
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: With Celeste Beard, it's hard to.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: Find that soul.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: The twins maintain that the case has never been about money,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: but about justice and about ending a chapter in their
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: lives full of fear. In Texas, after the verdict, the
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: relatives of the victim are allowed to address the guilty party.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Christina takes the stand and looks her mother in the eye.
• 40:53
  Speaker 10: What did I ever do to you except love you?
• 40:57
  Speaker 10: And this is how you treated us, like trash.
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: You say we turned on.
• 41:03
  Speaker 10: You, but you turned on us.
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: You turned on the whole Beard family.
• 41:10
  Speaker 10: He let you into his home, loved you, honored, obeyed you, and.
• 41:15
  Speaker 13: You violated him and murdered him.
• 41:18
  Speaker 10: You are guilty. Shame on you.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Celeste will be 80 before she is eligible for parole.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: She still denies being involved in Steve's death, and she
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: has not forgiven her daughters. Now, Celeste makes a last
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: desperate bid for Steve's money. She sends the trustees of
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: his estate a letter demanding that her monthly income of $ 12, 000
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: be reinstated and that $ 500, 000 be released for her appeal.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: A request is denied.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: She was toast. She was gone.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: And she knew that.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: She knew that if he ever recovered, her gravy train
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: was about to run out of gravy because it wasn't
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: going to be there for very long.
• 42:18
  Speaker 9: Had I been able to find the strength to call
• 42:23
  Speaker 9: her hand just one time and tell Steve, you know,
• 42:28
  Speaker 9: he could be here today.
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: And that's difficult.
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: I think this is a great story about Texas, Austin,
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: in fact, the United States in the 1990s. The narcissism,
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: the immediate gratification, and that's what happened to Celeste. She
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: found her venture capital, she blew it, she's crashing.
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: Celeste's powers of persuasion and her well-funded defense failed to
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: win her freedom. For the twins, Steve Beard's family, and
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: others who had suffered from Celeste's actions, justice was finally served.
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: For Court TV, I'm Dominic Dunn.