Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Secret Evidence: ‘Persons of interest’ remain in Missy Bevers murder probe

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Secret Evidence: ‘Persons of interest’ remain in Missy Bevers murder probe · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: The murder case of Missy Beavers continued to stump investigators.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of April eighteen, Beavers, a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: fitness instructor, a mom and wife, showed up at this
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: church to teach a class. Police says she was killed
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: by puncture wounds to the head and chest. This person
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: intended to do exactly what they did, when they did it,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and whom they did it too. This is Crime Stories
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. The circle of people who may know
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: what happened is likely very small. There has to be
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: some between her death and people in her past. Investigators
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: have poured over Beaver's Internet history and executed multiple warrants.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I would say today the I D on this suspect
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: will come from a tip they still haven't received. Twelve
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: months later, investigators are still searching for her killing. Today
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is the one year mark of the murder of a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: mid Lothian, Texas mom, Missy Beavers. Her killer was caught
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: on camera. We know the killer's size, their approximate weight,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: even their gate. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. It seems is that
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the police force, in fact the entire community, has gone
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: deaf come for their silent nobody's talking, but today we
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: remember and we want answers what happened to Missy Beavers
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: who killed her? Been Lothian Police Assistant Chief Kevin Johnson
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: spoke to us to discuss Missy's murder on the first
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: year mark of the brutal attack there inside Creek Side
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Church of Christ. Johnson has not spoken publicly about Missy's
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: case since last year. Alan Duke is with us. Nancy.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Before we here, Chief Johnson's entered you. Let me share
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: with you an email that I got yesterday from Brandon Beavers.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: He's Missy Beaver's husband. He's been silent also for some time,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: about six months since he gave an interview or anybody
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: from the family, and this is what he told me
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: in response to my request that he talked with us today.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: The family has unilaterally decided not to do any interviews.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: We have elected not to memorialize the date of the event,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: but to celebrate her life in private instead. Chief, thank
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you for talking to us today. It's been one year
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: since the brutal death of Missy Beavers. What is the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: latest that you can tell us about The mid Lothian
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Police Department's investigation. Well, it continues to be an open
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and active investigation. Obviously the tips have slowed, UM, but
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: we continue to work through every bit of information we have.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: We have a full time investigator signed to this, as
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: well as continuing our collaboration with our other investigative partners,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: particularly the FBI. Your department and you have been pretty
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: quiet about this over the last several months. Should we
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: interpret that to mean anything? You know? I think what
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you have to realize is our you know, our investigative
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: strategy and our our media response or two separate things. Um.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: We decided early on that that that the investigation would
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: come first. UM. And I think we've stuck to that
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: when there hasn't been anything to say. We haven't gone
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: out there before the media just just for the sake
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: of doing so. UM. That to some people means that, um,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: you know, nothing is new, or I think some people
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: have mistakenly assumed that that that we're not working on
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: this case, and that's that's far from true. UM. Like
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I said, obviously, the tips have slowed down since the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: early months of the investigation. UM. And when we've had
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the time, we've gone back over information conducted follow up
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and repeat interviews. UM got fresh eyes to look at
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: the case. Nobody here has forgotten about the case. It's
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: certainly not the situation. I think it's safe to say
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: that in a small town and what you've got about
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: twenty citizens in Midlothian, it's a lot harder to deal
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: with an investigation and the media as opposed to a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: big city where not everybody's everybody's neighbor and everybody knows everybody.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Is that safe to say, yeah, that's probably an accurate statement,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: because when when there's a news report or speculation, let's
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: just say speculation, it it can make things uncomfortable and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: more difficult for investigators. It can, it can And again, UM,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: you know, we just didn't want attention for attention sake
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: or media for media's sake. And I know that's been
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: frustrating to some people. But but we've been very judicious
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: with the information that has been released. And there's there's
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of information that that hasn't been discussed and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that we haven't responded to because we don't want to.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: We just we want to protect the integrity this investigation. UM.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: There are some people who think that that makes us
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: less transparent, and then that because it's been a year,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: we should just don't in the books for for the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: whole world to see. And clearly that's not a reasonable
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: approach to any kind of police work, more especially an
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: investigation is important as this. Is there something the public
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  Speaker 1: can help with? I know that not long after this
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  Speaker 1: murder you put out some video and you put out
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: the image that car of interest for example at the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: gun shop. Is there anything that people can look for
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: or anything specifically you would like the public to be
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: aware of. No, not that we haven't already said. I
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: do want to encourage people if they have information that
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason they haven't shared, maybe they didn't think
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it was important enough. Um. You never know what what
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: tip may be helpful in this case. Um. And when
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: we combine that with information we already know, it could
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: it could it could be productive. So if there's anybody
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: who hasn't come forward that that has something to say,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: we certainly would encourage them to do that. Are you
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: still wanting people to keep an eye out and for
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the potential car of interest that Nissan ultimately that you
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: tweeted about, Is that's still a thing that you would
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: like people to be aware of? Absolutely, that's still a
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: component of this investigation. That's an unknown and certainly we yeah,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: we would, we would definitely love to locate that car
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and that driver. I know there are people who look
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: very closely at those images and try to figure out
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: what they can from that. Sure, So it's an active investigation.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: You have detectives working on it regularly, and Missy has
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: not forgotten. I think that's the message today. Absolutely. Um Again,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: you know, you have to be careful drawn conclusions from
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: you know, a lack of us, you know, being out
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: on the front steps holding conferences when we don't have
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: information that needs to be shared. And I think the
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: lay person believes, hey, the more information the better because
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you just never know what will happen, and that that
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: may sound good until you realize, you know, someday we're
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: gonna be sitting in an interview room of this killer
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and and anybody with a computer who is going to
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: know every detail about this this crime, UM. And that's
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: not a good position to be in as a as
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: a police officer, UM or or the prosecutor of the
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: case later on. So obviously we're going to treat this
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: this investigation very carefully and UM and again be be
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: judicious with the release of information. I think it's interesting
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: that you do have to have the perspective that someday
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: this will be in the history books in in a way,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and people will look back and then they're going to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: find things to question and criticize. So you have to
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: make sure every step you take is the proper one. Absolutely,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and listen, I'll say this. You know, when this investigation
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: does draw to a close, we will open the books
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and I would just ask people to reserve their their
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: criticism for that day. And if we find then that
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: there were mistakes we made, then then by all means,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: let's discuss it. Give us an opportunity to explain it,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: give us, you know, we'll all learn from it. We
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: have probably made a mistake or mistakes that we don't
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: yet know what those mistakes are. But we certainly we
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: certainly are are we think our investigation is defensible. We
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: we we are we think our effort is is the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: best that this case could have. And so again, one
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: day the books will be open and and and everybody
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: can can um you know, make their opinion. Then I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: don't think it's fair now before all the information is
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: known to draw conclusions about the investigation or what should
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: or shouldn't have been done. Everybody working on this case
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: is dedicated to find injustice for Missy and and that's
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: that's our guiding principle when we make a decision about
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the release of information or an interview or a press conference,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: again the investigation and and and what we do with
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the media or two different things. I think the public's
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: interest in this case, in particular in our community is
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: obviously just a reflection of of of how concerned they
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: are about this case and how they are how concerned
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: they are about our efforts. And I get that. But
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you know, the speculation, you know, it goes with the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: business for us, the criticism and in the speculation. But goodness,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about human being here with a husband,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: mother or father, three beautiful girls. Um, you know, it's
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: it's not just the subject of a public interest. I mean,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's a person, it's a member of our community.
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  Speaker 1: And and some of the some of the reason why
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: we and others I believe perhaps the family have been
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: pretty calculated is because you know, there's such a critical
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: analysis of word choice and order and state, you know,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to the extent that I think some people feel like
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: they can't answer a question correctly because it will be
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: it will be picked apart in social media and it
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: will lead to to more insinuation or speculation or assumptions,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you know, And certainly we wouldn't let that prevent us
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: from from putting information out there that needed to put
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: out and be put out there. But it's it's a
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: it's an interesting challenge, it's a it's a frustration I
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: think of of as the policing field adapts to you,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: if you want to call it the social media age,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: you know, we've we've got to learn how how best
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: to capitalize on that. The assistant chief there Midlofi and
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Kevin Johnson, states that his department is still actively investigating.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: There's one detect a full time working with the FBI
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: other agencies as well. When asked why the case has
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: gone silent recently, he states that, quote, the investigation will
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: come first, and are not talking if they don't have
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: anything specific to say. Nancy. Chief Johnson says in this
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: age of the Internet, when anybody can learn everything about
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: a case just by searching, that it could jeopardize their
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: investigation to make public all of their evidence, especially when
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: they bring a suspect into the irrigation room. They like
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: that person of interest to be a little bit in
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the dark about some of the details. So there is
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: evidence they're not sharing with us about Missy's killing, and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it sounds like it's important evidence detectives. So far, I've
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: come through four hundred tips sent in by the public
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: in the past year, but as he said, that flow
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: of tips has slowed. There is a fifty dollar reward.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: By the way. While family and close friends are ruled
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: out from suspicion, there are still several persons of interest
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that detectives are looking at and what the police know
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: about the killer based on that video, they have determined
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: that this person is between five ft two and five
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: ft seven, that's short for a man, not short for
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a woman, and walks with a distinctive gate. Chief Johnson
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: says that his detectives are split on if it is
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a woman or a man, and investigators also are split
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: and if Missy was targeted by the killer or if
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: it was just a random attack. And you heard Chief
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Johnson confirmed that Nissan Ultima is seen in the gun
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: store parking lot in the hours before the murder. That
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: car is still a vehicle of interest, then why haven't
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: we heard about the tag plate. He also talks about
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: how social media speculation has complicated the investigation, especially in
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a small town like Midlothian. Yes, Facebook and other social
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: platforms can help, the chief said, but they also can
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: create unwarranted suspicion and fear that can well complicate the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: investigation and cause problems inside the small town. Our prayers
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: continue for msys children, her family, and her search for
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: justice goes on and the murder of Missy Beaver's Nancy
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Grace Crime Stories signing off Goodbye friend,