48 Hours - For Marriage Or Money

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Celeste Beard was a divorcee raising two daughters when she met and married Texas millionaire Steven Beard. Five years into their marriage, Steven was murdered in the middle of the night. Police believed Celeste was behind it, even though it was her best friend who pulled the trigger. “48 Hours" Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 8/4/2004. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A special 48 hours mystery. I wanted somebody to take care of me, and he wanted someone to take care of. And so he asked me, you know, to move in, and I was like, okay, you know. It's a rags to riches story, Texas style. He pursued you. Yes, but I led him. Celeste had a hard life. She was a waitress, raising twin daughters.

daughters. Then she married a millionaire, Stephen Beard. She loved him. He loved her. He said being around me made him young. Celeste learned to live large. What's the biggest tab you ever ran up in your shopping in a single day, would you guess? Probably $50,000 in a day. Then, five years into their marriage, the fairy tale was shattered. Stephen Beard was shot in his own bed. It's emergency.

My guts just came out of my stomach. She immediately started screaming and saying, don't let him die. Don't let him die. Please don't let him die. Peter Van Sant on a crime that didn't quite add up. I couldn't imagine anybody I knew being involved in the shooting of my husband. The murder of Stephen Beard would take years to unravel, revealing intimate secrets between the best of friends,

tearing a family apart, mother against daughters, because when money is involved, anything can have. Anything can happen. I left it with all my heart. Who murdered the millionaire for love or money? I'm Leslie Stahl. When Texas tycoon Stephen Beard was killed, police didn't have to look very far for possible motives or potential suspects.

A motive? Show me the money. Suspects? How about the millionaire's young wife or her best friend? Peter Van Sant goes inside a case that proves even when fairy tales come true, there's no guarantee of a happy ending. Texas is known for doing everything big, and in Austin, Texas, Millionaire business tycoon Stephen Beard was living large with his new wife, Celeste.

Stephen was always very generous. He gave me lovely jewels, lots of jewelry, lots of everything. Celeste and Stephen had two houses, including this custom-built Texas palace. in one of Austin's wealthiest neighborhoods. I spent a lot of money redoing the houses all the time. Everything I bought for the Toro Canyon house, I had to buy for the Lake House. So I was used to buying in twos. A lot of my spending was compulsive.

Stephen Beard had made his mark as the co-owner of a local television station. He was rich, powerful, and an important member of the community. He pursued you. Yes, but I led him. Celestin Stephen met at the Austin Country Club. country club. Stephen was recently widowed after a 45-year marriage. Celeste was a waitress.

When did you start to realize that you were attracted to him? Immediately, I mean, it was his personality. I wanted somebody to take care of me, and he wanted someone to take care of. And so he asked me, you know, to move in, and I was like, okay, you know. I mean, he was just, he's what I needed, and I was what he needed at the time. And that's how he was. That's how to. how it started. Celeste says she had finally found a provider and protector in Stephen after surviving a hard luck life filled with depression and debt. No matter what I ever did, good or bad in my life, I could tell Stephen he would forgive me. But five years into her marriage, Celeste's fairy tale life began to unravel in the early morning hours of October 2nd, 1999.

It was an emergency. I ain't ambulance, hurry. It was a call that would launch one of Austin's most bizarre mysteries. Stephen Beard, alone in his bedroom, had called for help. My guts just came out of my stomach. They blew out, yeah, they blew out of my stomach. I'm in bed. Okay, sir, how did...

I didn't know who Stephen Beard was, didn't know he was famous. The unusual thing in this case is the whole dispatch that his guts were hanging out. It was close to three in the morning when Deputy Allen and Howard arrived on the scene. The Beard estate was completely dark. We received no answer at the front door, rang the door, banged on the door, still received no answer. Dispatch still had Mr. Beard on the phone. He spotted Beard through a window and broke the sliding glass door to enter. The curtains were open and you could see Mr. Beard through this sliding glass door. He was on the bed. It looked bad. You look at it and it's not something you see every day. Everybody was thinking

he's had some type of surgery or hernia or something. He's blown his incision. Shortly after Sergeant Gregory Truitt arrived, Celeste and daughter Christina emerged from a separate wing of the house where they'd been sleeping. I heard a woman's voice say, What are you doing in my house? What's going on? They hadn't heard our knocks, our phone calls. All of a sudden, something woke them up.

Truitt told Beard's wife that her husband was badly bleeding and an EMS helicopter was on its way. She immediately started screaming saying, don't let him die. Don't let him die. Don't let him die. Don't let him die. Please don't let him die. Minutes later, it became clear that this wasn't a medical problem they were dealing with. It was a crime scene.

A shotgun shell had been found in the bed or near the bed where Mr. Beard was. At that point, everything changed. Your whole attitude changed. You really started looking, there's somebody around here with a gun. Guns drawn, police began a room-to-room search of the house. The bathroom had been ransacked, and some clothing had been pulled out of the drawers. There was a lot of clothing on the floor. Although Stephen's wallet and some of his cash were missing,

police also noticed that the couple's other valuables had not been taken. And they began to wonder, was this a burglary gone bad, or a murder attempt staged to look like one? Soon, the EMS helicopter arrived. They wheel him out on the gurney, and I come up to him, and I just tell him, I love him. He's talking to me. He says he loves me too.

Stephen Beard survived the night, but spent the next four months in the hospital with Celeste by his side. He was always smiling when she was there. Phil and Anna Precii were the couple's closest friends. Every day she went there. She would talk to the doctor. She would make sure he was getting the proper medical treatment. She would demand things of the nurse, make sure that the wounds were taken care of.

And for Celeste, taking care of Stephen was the least she could do. Because he took care of me. Stephen did everything for me. including Celeste says financing a successful custody battle for her twin daughters, Christina and Jennifer. I wanted everything for them that I didn't have. Her goal was for Steve to adopt both girls so that the girls would have some security. Three years after he married Celeste, Stephen adopted the 17-year-old twins, and Celeste finally had a complete family.

We just travel. I love traveling and we would take big trips all over the world. Steve was a blast. He would get on those wave runners with me and go 55 miles an hour on the lake. I mean, how many 75-year-old men do that? And we would do that every weekend. We'd go out on the lake. Even his age didn't slow him down. Stephen was 75. Celeste was 37. He said being around me made him young and made him feel young and he acted young. He was like a teenager. He was so in love with Celeste that was just hard for him to contain himself, really. But in January of 2000, four months after he was shot, Stephen Beard died.

What do you miss most about Steve? I miss talking to him. When I was with him, I was so assured of everything. Celeste's world fell apart. I was just in a severe emotional depression. I was drinking heavily. I was taking a lot of medication, and I didn't want to be alone. You really did love this man.

It was more than twice your age. I did. I loved him with all my heart. But Celeste's heartache was just beginning. Within days of the shooting, police made an arrest. That shocked her. I couldn't imagine anybody I knew being involved in the shooting of my husband. The suspect was one of Celeste's best friends.

While friends and family were at Stephen Beard's side at this hospital in Austin, police received a tip that led them to the home of Tracy Tarleton. We introduced ourselves, she invited us in. We asked if she owned a 20-gauge shotgun, and she said, yes, she did. Within days, Detective Rick Wines linked Tracy's gun to the crime scene. The shotgun shell that we found at the scene came from the shotgun that we found in her house. Two and two to me has always been four. Our buying philosophy here is that we...

On October 8, 1999, the well-respected manager of Austin's largest independent bookstore, Tracy Tarleton, was arrested. And what's more, she and Celeste Beard were the best of friends. We saw each other, for the most part, every day at some point or another. Celeste is fun-loving, she's funny. She makes people feel important. I genuinely liked her. I mean, she was a nice person. She had a lot of good qualities.

I cared very much for Tracy as a friend. But today... I don't think Celeste is ever in touch with what her feelings are. Tracy's version of almost everything that happened back in 1999 is completely different from her one-time best friends, including the state of the Beard marriage. Did Celeste love her husband, Stephen Beard? No.

What she'd think of him? She often called him disgusting. She thought that he was a ridiculous old fat man. And Tracy says, Celeste told her it wasn't just Stephen's physical appearance that she hated. It was the way he treated her. You know, he just emotionally crushed her all the time, ran her down, and belittled her, and berated her, and taunted and tortured her emotionally, until it left her in these really depressed suicidal states. So why didn't Celeste just get a divorce?

She would become terrified about that. she would say she couldn't, you know, that he would hunt her down, and she could never get out from under him. Tracy says Celeste felt like a prisoner in her own home. So to escape her husband, she came up with outlandish ways to knock him out. They drank a lot of vodka, but she would take the vodka bottle and pour most of it out and fill it up with Everclear, which is a higher proof alcohol. Or she would take sleeping pills and grind him up and put him in his food.

And the reason for that was what? The first reason was that he would pass out early and she could leave. And the other reason was he was an older man and it would speed the death process. A slow poisoning. Right. Then, just days before Celeste and Stephen were leaving for a long trip to Europe together, Tracy says Celeste couldn't take it anymore. She came over and was just hysterical beside herself.

She said, I'll never, I'll never survive this trip. Celeste had absolutely convinced you that Stephen's abuse was going to lead her to suicide. Absolutely. And you wanted to save her. I wanted to help her. Two days later, Tracy drove over to the Beard Estate with a weapon in hand. What kind of gun? A fronkey, 20-gauge.

That gun was given to me by my father, who had had it engraved for me. It has my name on it. Tell me about that moment that you pulled the trigger. What do you remember? I had stepped into a space that was... was just numb when I went into that bedroom so that I wouldn't back away without doing what I felt like at the time I needed to do. And I shot him. But who is willing to commit murder and risk the death penalty for a friend? Well, Tracy says she and Celeste were more than friends. They were

lovers. And even after Tracy was arrested for shooting Stephen Beard and released on bond, she says she and Celeste continued their affair. And Tracy says these pictures show they They were a couple. This is Celeste and Tracy at a wedding in Atlanta. Here they're dancing at a party. Tracy was not secretive about it. Everybody in the store knew that she was dating somebody named Celeste. Jeremy Ellis worked with Tracy at book people, the trendy bookstore where Tracy was the boss.

She spoke about Celeste like it was her girlfriend. They were sort of physical, close with each other. So I thought, well, good for Tracy. But months after Stephen Beard died, Tracy says her relationship with Celeste was over. Celeste started just going bananas, just hysterical. Then we both said, we're not going to do this anymore. You won't see me again. Then, while out on Bond, Tracy read something about Celeste that would change everything.

In that article, there were a lot of things said. Including the startling news that Celeste had gotten remarried to a man she met in a bar. Cole Johnson. She's off at her honeymoon in Aspen. Even I couldn't overlook that. Everything started unraveling very quickly for me after that article. Today's an important mile study your life.

From then on, Tracy became more and more convinced that all of Celeste's stories were lies. When I started realizing that Celeste had been lying to me all along, that this man was not abusing her, that she had married him for his money, that she had been lying to me during our relationship, All of it was farce. Tracy begins to suspect that she'd been set up for murder.

I think she manipulated me from the beginning. A little more than a year after Stephen Beard died, Tracy, who'd already been charged with his shooting, was now taken into custody on a charge of murder. I know what the truth is. The truth, Tracy claims, was that she wasn't acting alone. Whose idea was it to kill Stephen Beard? Celeste.

For more than a year, Tracy sat in jail, keeping Celeste's involvement in Stephen's shooting a secret. Then in March of 2002, just days before her own murder trial was set to begin, Tracy struck a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for a 20-year sentence, Tracy would testify that it was Celeste who had planned the murder of Stephen Beard. Police near Fort Worth have arrested a former Austin woman. Two years after her husband's death, Celeste Beard was a woman. arrested for capital murder. Tracy's story is convincing, but can she be believed? Why do you think Tracy shot Stephen? Because she's crazy? That's the only way I can describe

her. She's nuts. Dick DeGaron, one of the most colorful and accomplished lawyers in Texas, is as at home on the range as he is in a courtroom. His success can be measured here on his 150-acre ranch in the Texas Hill country. Hey, bud. Complete with its prized longhorns, fine horses, and vintage pickup truck. Degarin is Celeste Beard's lawyer now.

Woo, cattle! Dead certain as to just what this murder is all about. It's about a woman that became deathly obsessed with Celeste and would do anything to have her. Were Celeste and Tracy lovers? No. Tracy wanted it, but Celeste rebuffed her. She had this fantasy of being Celeste's lover.

Despite their difference in age, Celeste is adamant that she was attracted to much more than Stephen Beard's wallet. Stephen Beard was 70 years old. He was elderly. He was obese. You were 32 years old. You're young and pretty. What's the attraction here? It's not physical.

I've never thought of myself as pretty. I never saw him as obese. I never saw him as 70. He said being around me made him young. And according to friends like Mary Lou Gibbs, the marriage was a good one. Yes, Celeste loves Steve very much. Steve gave Celeste something she'd never had.

A man who, no matter what she did, he thought it was terrific. Mary Lou became like, a surrogate mother to Celeste. She understood exactly why the 70-year-old millionaire believed he'd finally found his dream girl. You can't meet and be around Celeste without loving. Mary Lou and her daughter Dana witnessed the good life Stephen gave his new bride. The friends socialized together at the couple's new weekend house and at the mansion the newlyweds built in Toro Canyon, one of Austin's tonious neighborhoods. It was gorgeous. They had

fountains and everything and bronzes and statues. I could have spent and I did on whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, I did whatever I wanted. Steve Beard was her savior. She loved him. He loved her. A fairy tale unfolded, and Celeste, the former waitress, now lived like a queen.

How many persons did you have? Probably about 400, 3, 400. Three, 400 persons. When I bought a pair of shoes, I bought a purse that matched. What's the biggest tab you ever ran up in your shopping in a single day, would you guess? Probably 50,000 in a day. Hello? Yeah.

$50,000? Probably, yeah. Celeste is not a gold digger. She did spend a lot of money, and Steve showered money on her. She made him happy. He made her happy. So how could Tracy Tarleton ever describe Celeste as the selfish, manipulative mastermind of a murder.

She's sick, sick, sick. My diagnosis is bipolar, one with psychotic tendencies. Is it true that you've heard voices in the past? It's a voice in my head. According to this psychological report from the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, Tracy was also prone to substance abuse, depression, and suicide. I have been suicidal many, many, many years. you know, and still am sometimes.

In 1999, Tracy Tarleton sought treatment at this psychiatric hospital in Austin. Within hours, she met a fellow patient, another young woman with emotional problems. Her name was Celeste Beard. I was severely depressed. Clinical depression had in fact haunted Celeste from her teens through her marriage to Stephen Beard.

She alleges her problems stemmed from a troubled home, a disturbing childhood, and claims of sexual abuse. As Celeste grew up, she began to slip, from an A student to a deeply troubled adolescent. What were you like as a teenager? Hell. That hell continued through her adult life.

A series of failed marriages and dead-end jobs led to years of depression. Yes, I've cut my wrist. Taking pills? Yes, I've taken pills. Why? Why? Why'd you want to? want to die. Wanting to live is a struggle sometimes. It was this Celeste, not any Cinderella, who

met up with Tracy Tarleton on a hospital ward. Two women, emotionally vulnerable. She was needy and I was needy too. You became friends? We became friends. Suicidal, delusional, psychotic. Is that Tracy Tarleton? That's Tracy Tarleton. Your friend? My friend. And Celeste was a aware Tracy was gay. Celeste was extremely flirtatious with me from the beginning and I responded in kind. She wanted to have a sexual relationship with you. She wanted to have a sexual relationship with me. All fantasy in her mind? Well, she, obviously, because she didn't do that with me. Whatever the true nature of their relationship, it would continue when they were discharged from St. David's. Tracy became a regular visitor at the Beard

You knew Tracy was mentally troubled. Right. And so you decide, let's bring her home. Why would you do that? Well, obviously, I was making bad judgments. But according to the DA, Celeste's bad judgment went way too far, as she manipulated her troubled friend Tracy. And on March 29, 2002, more than two years after Stephen Beard died,

Celeste was charged with plotting her husband's murder. husband's murder. Did you manipulate Tracy Tarleton into shooting Stephen? No, I did not. Did you encourage her to do so? I had no idea that Tracy was homicidal. The jury would have to grapple with more than just murder. They'd have to examine a friendship and decide which friend was telling the truth. Please raise your right hand. The state of Texas versus Celeste Beard Johnson. trial as a state ready to proceed. It's hard to imagine Celeste Beard's journey from a troubled childhood to marrying a millionaire who gave her everything she wanted to now standing trial for his murder.

There's no dispute about the fact that it was Celeste's friend, Tracy Tarleton, who shot Stephen Beard in his own bed. But at the heart of this case is a question. Did Celeste plot the murder and manipulate Tracy into pulling the trigger? The most dramatic testimony will come from Celeste's twin daughters, and they are well aware they hold their mother's fate in their hands. Here again is Peter Vanceant. They're all Celeste shoes, flats, the size of the heels.

These are all clothes on hangers. All of Celeste's Beard's possessions. Celeste undergarments. From her years of wealth and extravagant spending, $595, $300. Yes. like to spend big. Now fit in this single small closet. That's quite a fall from a fairy tale life.

And as friends and foes gather on this first day of her murder trial, This is, as they say, her day in court. Celeste risks losing something money can't buy, her freedom. Celeste is innocent and it's all on my shoulders. You ready? I'm ready. All right, please.

to this indictment and each count therein, how do you plead? I'm not guilty. That's all I can say. A lot of people think the Bible says that money is the root of all evil. Co-prosecutor Gary Kaugh. What the Bible actually says is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Celeste Beard loved money more than she loved anything else. Because of that, she had Stephen Beard killed.

She couldn't stand, Steve Beard. Behind his back, she talked to people about how she hated him. disgusted her. In her opening statement, lead prosecutor Allison Wetzel says, while Celeste hated her husband, she loved his money and used her lover, Tracy Tarleton, to get it. What happened here is a simple case of a greedy, manipulative defendant who took advantage of a mentally ill woman who was in love with her. This is a case of fatal attraction. It's a case of obsession. Defense attorney Dick DeGarren tells jurors the prosecution's case is based on the inventions of a sick mind. Tracy Tarleton is psychotic. She's been diagnosed as having delusions, as hearing voices that aren't there, as seeing things that aren't there.

Of having a mental condition that created rich fantasies. The sexual relationship existed solely in Tracy's mind. fantasies that led to murder. Tracy shot Stephen Beard for her own selfish and sick reasons. They're going to have a lot of difficulty with Tracy Tarleton's credibility, and they're going to try to make Celeste look bad. The prosecution first wants the jury to focus on Celeste's money motive. I'm David Cooperman.

Stephen Beard's attorney, who drew up the family will, testifies that Celeste stood to inherit millions more dollars in cash and property if Stephen died. On his death, the half interest in the homes, the tangible personal property, and the club memberships, and $500,000 would go outright to Celeste. You wanted it all. You wanted the millions that you would get if he died as opposed to going through a divorce. But we weren't getting a divorce. I mean, I had everything. Stephen never would have divorced me. Prosecutors say in the spring of 1999, six months before the shooting, Celeste chose murder over divorce as the best way to cash in on Stephen's fortune. From the time she started befriending Tracy Tarleton, that was her plan.

They have Tracy Tarleton do her dirty work. Crucial to the prosecution's case of manipulation and murder is to prove Tracy's claims of a sexual relationship. She needed me, and I know that attracted me. that Celeste used sex to control Tracy. Well, they were very affectionate together, and they were holding hands. Brandy Witten, a coworker of Tracy's, saw Tracy and Celeste together at a party

just a few months before Stephen was shot. At one point, Celeste was sitting on Tracy's lap, and I saw Celeste nuzzle Tracy's ear. Were you in love with Celeste? Yes. Did Celeste love you? I believed that she did. You once bought a card that said,

to the one I love. And you didn't give it to Stephen. You gave it to Tracy. Right. The one you love. I did love Tracy as a friend. I cared very much for Tracy as a friend. And Dick DeGaron says it was Tracy who was the manipulator.

He claims Tracy would get Celeste high on alcohol or marijuana brownies and then try to seduce her. Celeste came on to me as much as I came on to Celeste. You promise the testimony to give this matter will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth will help you God. Yes, I do. But when Tracy Torleton takes the stand, Dick DeGaron has a surprise for her and the prosecution. You recognize this as a journal. DeGaron has Tracy's secret journal, her diary.

Were you truthful with yourself in your journals? As far as I could be, I was truthful with myself, I would imagine, yes. In the pages of her journal, Tracy writes of her most... private feelings. I used it to spill out everything deep. But something important is missing. Is there a single journal entry in which you say it finally happened? We finally had sex?

No. While Tracy had trouble explaining her journal, she stuck to her story that Celeste told her Stephen Beard was abusive. I just saw this woman that I loved in a desperate situation trying to find a way to survive this man. that was so awful. Tracy wanted to help. She says Celeste had an idea.

She had a plan, and she wanted me to shoot him at Toro Canyon with my shotgun. And what were you willing to do to help Celeste? I was willing to shoot him. And I went in and did it. Show us how you shot it. How did you do it? I looked through the room and came over in front of his bed.

When I stood there at the end of the bed, and raised the gun up and took aim where I was supposed to take aim and pull the trigger. What I was thinking about was Celeste's instructions. I was thinking about Celeste. And why did Tracy shoot your husband, if not for love of you? I don't know. I mean, I don't know why Tracy shot my husband. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But this woman who shared a cell with Tracy for two months does know why. She loved the Celeste, but Celeste didn't love her.

Katina Lofton says Tracy was out to punish Celeste for refusing her sexual advances. She just said that Celeste wasn't going to live happily ever after while she rot in jail. While Katina Lofton's testimony gives Celeste hope, two other witnesses will leave her in despair. She sometimes make comments like, why doesn't he just die already? her own twin daughters take the stand for the prosecution. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more.

So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. And remember, stay curious. Stay at this all your next room. Stay called Jennifer Beard. Ms. Mary, raise your right hand. Do you promise the testimony in this matter will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to help you come? Yes, sir. Please have a seat and let me stand.

One by one. The two people whose testimony may determine Celeste Beard's fate take the stand, her own twin daughters. Can you please state your name? Christina Beard is Celeste Beard your mother? Yes. But according to their mother, Christina and Jennifer aren't here to defend her. They're out to destroy her.

She said that she married Steve for his money. She sometimes make comments like, why doesn't he just die already? I just can't imagine any child getting up on the stand and being able to do that to their mother. I decided that a relationship with my mother was unhealthy and that I did not want to be around her anymore. Obviously, I was a horrible mother. I mean, I have to admit that because my kids wouldn't be like they are today if I wasn't a bad mother.

But I did the best I knew how. During several days of detailed testimony, Celeste. The twins described their hard life with Celeste. Born when their mother was a teenager, the twins lived through three failed marriages, two stepfathers, and a mother who they say didn't seem to care. It was kind of hard to keep up because she was always always. something. The twins also backed up many of Tracy Tarleton's claims, beginning with their mother's

true feelings for Stephen. She would say that he disgusted her. The girls also said they had suspicions about Celeste and Tracy's friendship. Had you observed some things that caused you to wonder about the nature of their relationship? Yeah. Just that Celeste wouldn't sneak out and go over to Tracy's house at night. How would she sneak out? get Steve really drunk.

Jennifer also said she witnessed her mother drugging Stephen. I saw her break apart the sleeping pill and put it in his baked potato. No, that's not true. Your daughters say it's true? Well, they're lying. In fact, Celeste says her girls are lying about everything, even their claims that they love Stephen. They hated Stephen.

Why? They thought he was old, you know, no fun. I used to beg them. call him dad, you know, he would love for you to call him dad. He just adopted you, and they refused. Why did your daughters turn on you? I hate to admit it, but the only reason why they could have turned on me was for the money. I mean, I have to face that fact. Celeste says that if she is convicted, the twins will get a share of her inheritance, an estimated $2 million each. If Celeste goes free, Stephen Beard's will calls for the girls to get significantly less.

Money. Put it real simply, if Celeste is convicted, the twins get the money. I do not agree for a minute that they're motivated by money. I think those girls, the growing up that they had with the defendant is just something that's almost too horrible to imagine. To give the jurors a sense of what life was like in the Beard House, You better get your asshole tonight. The prosecution plays a recording of a telephone conversation between Celeste and Christina. Christina says she recorded it in hopes of one day playing it back to Celeste, so she'd understand how verbally abusive she could be. You know, when she was angry, she would say, you know, they're just little, little bitches and little horrors.

And I'm sorry, I have all these mental problems. It's like all my stomach just, bha-to-my-go-deck. It's just, bitch! It's real clear who the emotionally abusive one is and who the bad guy in the relationship is, and it's not these girls. The prosecutor says that's the real Celeste Beard on that tape. I disagree. There's no excuse for what I did, and I'm sorry that I talked to my daughter that way.

You know, I used to... I used to say that if I didn't cuss her out and didn't talk to her like that, that I wouldn't be sitting here. Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen, the jury, at this time the state of Texas rests our case in people. Dick Garin decides not to put Celeste Beard on the stand, but he brings in some of her friends. It was a good relationship, it was loving. I think that Steve definitely loves Celeste and Schlese definitely loves Steve. I'm Dr. Bernard. And DeGaron calls three mental health experts to.

to the stand who had been involved with Tracy Tarleton over the years. They say Tracy can't be believed. Tracy had a need to believe that Celeste was the one who loved her. She clearly persisted in a delusional belief. After more than one month of testimony, both sides present their final arguments. Was she in a relationship with Tracy Talton? And did that relationship lead to Tracy Tallton?

had Celeste Beard's encouragement to shoot Stephen Beard. I think the evidence is overwhelming on that. And co-prosecutor Gary Cobb says Celeste wanted Stephen dead because she would inherit millions. A divorce would have been an entirely different financial picture. I'm going to show that to you right now. It is right here. On the back, look closely.

She would have had a big pocket full of empty. She would have had absolutely nothing. Prosecutor Allison Wetzel summed it all up. Folks, if you say that Celeste Beard is not guilty with all of this evidence, then you're going to tell her that her money can buy anything. This soap opera that we went through for four weeks does not prove Celeste is a killer. Defense attorney Dick DeGaron tells the jury that money had nothing to do with Stephen Beard's murder.

Steve Beard was shot because Tracy Tarleton saw him as the barrier to her happiness. Rather, it was one woman's obsession. The only evidence they have is Tracy Tarleton. And Tracy Tarleton can't be believed. She can't be believed because she's a crazy woman. People wonder why should you be believed? You're mentally ill.

Should I be believed because of my mental health? I don't know about that. All I know is that I'm telling you the truth. But who will the jury believe? He may be excused to deliberate. After two and a half days of deliberation, Have you reached a verdict? Yes, Your Honor, we have.

The jury has decided Celeste Beard's fate. What are you seen on their faces as they walk in? Hatred. We, the jury, find the defendant Celeste Beard Johnson, guilty of the offense of capital murder. My life is over. I'm devastated. We're all very, very disappointed.

We believe sincerely in Celeste's innocence. We believe that this conviction is wrong. The next day, Celeste is sentenced. The court hereby sentences you to confinement for life. The prosecution had agreed not to seek the death penalty. I'm scared, I'm terrified. I don't want to go to prison. I don't want to be with people that have actually murdered somebody.

If you could just have a seat in the witness stand, the spirit. But there's one last punishment. punishment yet to come. Celeste's daughter Christina takes the stand and speaks directly to her mother for the first time in nearly three years. What did I or Jen ever do to you except love you and this is how you treated us like trash? You say we turned on you but you turned on us. He turned on the whole beard family. He let you into his home loved you, honored, obeyed you and you violated him.

and murdered him. You are guilty. You've lost your husband. You've lost your homes. You've lost your freedom. And I've lost my children. And who honestly is responsible for that? I feel responsible in the fact that I brought Tracy into our lives. But am I responsible for Tracy going in the house and shooting Stephen? No, I'm not responsible for that. for that. Tracy Tarleton was released from prison in 2011.