Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Judge Locks Up Detective Who Killed Wife With 'Bare Hands'

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

John Byrd III worked as a detective in the Maricopa County State Attorney's Office in Arizona before he was accused of murdering his wife, Elizabeth Byrd, in their home last year. Byrd confessed to killing the mother of his three children at their home in Mesa. He had fled their home in her car. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through Byrd's interrogation and sentencing in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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He was a specialist in preventing the very crime he committed. He understood, better than almost anyone, the warning signs of abuse. A detective who swore to uphold the law breaks it behind the closed doors of his home. Those sweet children had no idea the nightmare that their lives had come that morning. And the monster in this nightmare was their father. I go through the case of former detective John Byrd and why he said he killed his beautiful wife. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. John Byrd helped investigate crimes of domestic violence and stop them. He worked to put criminals behind bars, but now he's right where he helped put so

many other people. He's in prison and he's there because he murdered his wife, Elizabeth, the mother of his three beautiful children. It all went downhill on July 31st of last year in Mesa, Arizona, when police were called to the family home for a report of a possible missing person. According to court documents, the reporting party was a friend of John's wife, 43-year-old Elizabeth Byrd, who grew concerned after she failed to show up to a gym class that they always attended together. When officers arrived at the home for the welfare check, they found a victim dead on the bedroom floor,

prompting an investigation to search for a fleeing suspect. Detectives later tracked down her husband, 47-year-old John Byrd III, driving a car registered to Elizabeth. What's scary about this is that John Byrd worked as an investigator with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. That's the prosecutor's office. Detectives brought Byrd in for questioning for the first 22 minutes of the interrogation. John Byrd remained alone with his thoughts in the room until detectives came in.

What's your last name? You guys already got the information about him. Yeah, I just like to know who I'm talking to and I always ask people who, because you're kind of like in the same business that we're in, right? It's been- I watch this.

Yeah, so it's just information information like when we talk someone say hey What's your name? We get information and talk to you What's your last name? Am I am I supposed to talk without returning present to you? I'm just asking your name. It's a normal thing. We can get out of here and get into any of that stuff. Yeah, I mean, you know my name. My name is Barrett, last name Barrett, first name John. So, just trying to figure out what's going on.

What happened? Yeah, I really would like to access my rights for a main file, though truly mean it, but I don't know. I think that's probably a smart decision for me. I'm an attorney. Okay. Well, like I said, we don't beat people up. I think it's crazy to ask questions and see see if we get to the bottom of something.

Yeah, that's fine. All right. Hang out here and we'll get back with you. I got something to go through. Appreciate it. So as you could see, John wasn't too interested in chatting about what happened until the investigator comes back asking him personal questions about himself. Then he's an open book. Tell me about yourself. Tell me about what's going on in your life.

Tell me about your struggles. Is that what you mean? Mm-hmm. My struggles? I definitely have mental health. I have struggles. I can fix that. Do you want to talk about what it stems from?

Do you feel comfortable talking about what it stems from? Mental health issues or is there some certain incident that happened or is it something from a long time ago or now? I would say, I mean currently my mental health has not been very good I've been seeking help and assistance for that. It has not been very good. I've been seeking help and assistance for that. But it has nothing good as to stress and anxiety. And that's what's been coming up. What's all that about, the stress and anxiety?

What's the stress and anxiety about? What's the major things that are happening? I have some, well I'm happy and had some health issues and you know that definitely brought up some stress in my life. That, you know, I got caught up in the stress of having health complications. This is a law and crime legal alert. Did you know that children are being diagnosed with serious conditions like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and research is potentially linking ultra-processed foods to these outcomes. Morgan & Morgan is stepping in to fight to hold food companies accountable. With decades of experience fighting large corporations, they are ready to stand up for

families that deserve justice. So if your child under the age of 21 has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit www.forthepeople.com slash food or scan that QR code on your screen to learn more. John Byrd goes on to explain how his health issues affected every aspect of his life, including his relationship with his wife of 18 years. Our relationship was definitely stressed. For sure. What kind of things was she saying to you? Was she trying to help you through something? Was she irritated? She was, she definitely was trying to help. She was trying to help. Helping me through a very difficult

state of mind to deal with. It's been very difficult. You don't feel like yourself. You don't feel normal. You don't feel healthy. You're constantly aspirable. You're still stressed out. And yeah, those things are very, very difficult. Now that the detective has him talking, he pivots to the incident. Did you guys have any kind of physical altercation yesterday? No, we've never. That's never happened. Okay. That's never happened. Okay.

I can tell you that much with the eyes. That's never been a part of our relationship. Yeah. Not at all. Okay. So that's yesterday? Yeah. So yesterday we had, like I said we had different different arguments. One was downstairs like I said

one was in our bedroom one was downstairs in like the kitchen living room area and yeah I would say pretty intense nothing physical of course but pretty intense. say pretty intense, nothing physical of course, but pretty intense. So by the time evening rolls around, do you guys, do you have dinner for the kids and is everything going okay? No. Yeah, we had, we had dinner. Yeah, both of them are bloody kids. Okay.

Mm-hmm. The detective starts pressing harder, and the truth slowly starts to come out. How did Elizabeth die? How did Elizabeth die? She died of it through. You're asking me how she passed away? Yes. Um.

Your estimation. um your estimation no i mean it's not my estimation you have come on take the distance you don't know um well and then i'll change how did you kill

a listener what's that accident How did you kill a listener? What's that? Accident. I understand things just got out of control. And you're at a point where a switch just turns. And what happened when that switch turned? Yeah, that's exactly correct. Yeah, the switch turned.

Yeah, and when that switch turned... It turned from a conversation to... to me... to To me To me to me it's really hard to say it's hard to articulate you know it's hard to to say what I know what I know happened what I know happened, what you know happened. That escalation definitely led to me sort of having a, I don't want to say a blackout, I'm not going to say that it was a moment of, I would just say, just releasing frustrations, releasing my

inability to do the things that needed to be done as I said previously and you know that led me to that led me to to use my hands um and um yeah cause I'm gonna use my head and um I love to use my head I'm using my hands to put pressure on that. her neck. I just want to do that process. Doing that.

Where were you when I was spinning? Where were you both at that time when you had your hands on her neck I imagine on the bed, on the floor I'm hoping I think it was between the bed started off on the bed

and My name, that's where it started, was on the bed, for the most part. When your hands were around her neck, was she facing you or facing the way? She was. No, she was facing Eve. Bird tells the detective he's been diagnosed with a mild cognitive impairment or MCI. He actually has trouble explaining how he felt after killing Elizabeth, who everyone calls Liz. What was your thought process after that? You scared, worried, relieved? No, no, I was very, um...

I'll explain how I felt. Honestly, I felt very similar to... to feeling not relieved, not um, not relief, not, I still don't know what I'm looking for to find the way that describes how I felt like But once I asked you how I felt I just felt like a sense of Hmm, I would say I definitely felt like I would I would say that it was like like I would say that it was like sort of like a

sort of like a almost like a so how should I okay here's how I can explain this so the last I told you about how the last, I shared with you how the last five or six weeks, there's been a lot of non-communication with everybody. Okay, it hasn't just, it's just been

a depressive mode of state but also I think disassociation too. When you're in a depressive mode you're not really and you're not sleeping and you you know have the MCI like I do. That's really what changed just my thought patterns in general. Having my cognitive impairment, designation, non-hospital, I have been staying for several weeks and I'm like, I'm not myself anymore. What I mean by that detective is I'm not... Like you're like you have a car and you have a piston only one or two

inspiring and it's not just it's not just the cognition only it's also the just your personality your emotions it's almost like they don't. It's like someone stripped that away and that's how it's been for just many weeks. Now I can have a conversation with you with you but that's not that's about as far as I I can go as I can have a conversation but in terms of feeling in terms of having You know, the feeling of connectedness, those kind of things. It's been, I would call it, I would say that part of my personality was basically, it just, that wasn't existent, that was not existent. Having the personality and the kind of public function to be able to feel, just to be normal,

you know, to be caring, to be loving, to be compassionate, to be a champion of women's rights and the things that I've always tried to stand for and have. That was my track record where I worked. You know, that was my track record is I would always be called upon to To speak with victims survivors and understand what they've been through because of the things that I went through as a child So though all of those things and how I am and how I cheat my mom and how I cheated my wife all of those things just kind of like that person that the heart condition, the mind, the emotions that was it kind of just disappeared over the last three to five weeks. It just

disappeared. I don't know if I'm explaining this right or expressing it clearly, probably not. Now keep in mind, Bird is usually on the other side of this situation, so you have to wonder, is he carefully choosing his words to protect himself or truly remorseful for killing his wife with his bare hands? However that, however that worked, allowing my mind and my spirit and my hands. I'm disappointed that of what I did, disappointed at my actions, disappointed at what that does to so many different people. The domino effect. It's, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, you know, it's, it's unspeakable. It's, it's, it's the, it doesn't even seem real to have sense. I don't know if that makes sense. And I'm just, Detective, I'm just very, I'm just very disappointed.

I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in what I did. You know, the decision that I made and that's not something, I can't take that back. I can't take back the, you know, thing about my kids, our kids and hands. You know how I treated them. You know, in her all you know wasn't forced by an honest with him I mean given the circumstances that I cost given the circumstances that I caused. It's just devastating. That's the word. It's not easy, but you're honest. It's, it's, it's, it's devastating. You know, it's devastating. Bird was arrested following the interrogation

and two days later charged with second-degree murder. Even though he confessed in the interrogation, he pleaded not guilty. That's just how the process works. At the time of the murder, Bird was already on medical leave from the MCAO, but when he was officially charged with murdering Liz, the county attorney's office terminated him. Nine months after the death of Elizabeth, for reasons unknown, Bird decided to change his plea to guilty. Earlier this month, John Bird learned his fate.

Now before the court heard victim impact statements, Michael McDonald, a clinical therapist with Jewish Family and Children's Services, provided the judge with an update on Bird's son. Mr. Bird's oldest child is my client. I have seen the child since last October for 13 talk therapy sessions. He has been struggling with complex traumatic grief, the loss of his mom, the loss of his dad, the loss of his community, which would include his peers, his friends, his school, his church. He's been relocated to another community. And as part of that grieving process, he has been having a difficult time expressing his

emotions and is starting to really open up about those. I would say that part of that processing is recognizing and what he has said to me directly is the loss of choices and the loss of control in his life at this time. So he has been struggling. He is also a very bright, intelligent, engaged person in the world with so many gifts and skills, and he has great social support. I would answer any questions if there are any, otherwise it's very privileged to companion this young man. The first victim impact statement came from Kimberly Moody, one of the best friends of

Elizabeth Byrd. With my gratitude aside, I would like to bring some light to your courtroom today. It would be a joy to tell you about Elizabeth Marie Byrd. She was called Lizzie, daughter, mother, friend, sister, but I called her Liz. She was the light. Her light was so bright that it almost blinded you when you were near her. My name is Kim. Liz called me Kimmy. I was Liz's best friend. I really struggled figuring out a way to capture who this was and what she meant to me. We met when we were 11 and in the sixth grade.

We grew up together. Through middle school, high school, and college, we were inseparable. We played sports together, we exercised together, we traveled together, and went to many concerts. I'll even share that we saw the new kiss on the block three times. We went to church together, laughed together and cried together. We got married a year apart. We had babies around the same time and the last eight years of her life

were 11 miles from my home. I knew her like a sister. I loved her like a sister. I loved her like a sister. I even loved John like a brother, and I'm still in shock about what he did to her. I saw her almost every day. She was always there for me, and I was always there for her. We shared life together, which has made this road painful for me. Everything reminds me of her.

Moody was the friend that was supposed to go to the gym with Liz Bird that tragic morning. I vividly remember the morning on July 31st. Liz was gonna pick me up that morning around 8 a.m. where we would go to her fitness class. When she didn't show up, call or text that morning, I was unsettled. I knew something was wrong. I spent the day calling her, texting her, and even calling but not speaking to John to find out where she was. As the day moved along, I grew more concerned. I asked my son to message Jonathan. I saw him and heard him on the screen. I also heard Brooke and Matt there as well. I

was a little relieved. I strained to hear Liz in the background listening and listening and I never heard her. Jonathan shared that she had been gone all day and that their dad had left around lunchtime. They were home alone all afternoon. Something was really wrong. I drove immediately to her house and told them all to pack bags

because we were going to have a sleepover at my house. Matt and Brooke were excited. Jonathan was concerned and knew something was wrong. He knew something was very, very wrong. I safely removed the kids from their home and brought them home with me. That morning, John had strangled Liz and left her dead in the bedroom. It came out, locked the door and left her there. He then left the kids home alone with her dead in the bedroom. He came out, locked the door, and left her there. He then left

the kids home alone, with her dead, in the next room. What a nightmare. Those sweet children had no idea. The nightmare that their lives had come that morning. And the monster in this nightmare was their father. In my heart, I knew John was responsible for her absence. I never thought he would kill her. It is so deeply sad and despicable that he murdered her and now we're all gathered waiting for your decision here. And then Wendy Mason spoke.

She's a cousin-in-law of Liz. Another thing that puzzles me is why did he leave the house? Also, why did he plead not guilty when he was first arraigned in court, even though he admitted to the police and judge that he had killed his wife and that he did this with the knowledge that his actions would likely lead to the death of Lizzie. John knew that what he was doing was wrong and yet he continued to strangle Lizzie after the switch flip knowing he would kill her.

And yet he still didn't try to rectify the situation by calling And yet he still didn't try to rectify the situation by calling police Which begs to differ was this truly a crime of passion or was it a carefully orchestrated plan to set his case up for a plea deal down the road I I am also left to wonder, has John ever expressed any remorse for his actions? Has he asked for and received help for the issues he claims to have suffered from? Has he ever asked about his children, how they are, what is being done for them, where they are?

Has he acknowledged the extreme pain and loss he has caused their children as well as Lizzie's family and friends? Or has he been more concerned about his well-being, about how he will be treated and taken care of, and how the court system will treat him along with his plea deal. These are the thoughts and questions I have struggled with since learning of Lizzie's murder. They come unbidden throughout the day, sometimes at night, and always leave me feeling

like we can truly never know another person and what they are capable of. And it is a horrible way to live. When Liz's brother addresses the court, he starts by giving a tribute to his sister, but then he directs his words to her murderer. You see, your honor, John just didn't murder Liz. He destroyed the emotional foundation of three There are many devastating facts in this case, but one must be emphasized above all. John Byrd was not just a husband. He was a trained career domestic violence detective, a job that meant the world

to him. He was a specialist in preventing the very crime he committed. He understood, better than almost anyone, the warning signs of abuse, the risks of escalation, the patterns of manipulation, and the community resources available to get help. He had the tools, the training, and the sworn duty to protect women like Liz. Instead, he used his knowledge to control, isolate, and ultimately kill her. This is not just a case of domestic violence. Your Honor, it's a case of law enforcement betrayal, a category so severe that experts have given it special weight. According to Dr. Jennifer Freyd, founder

of betrayal trauma theory, when the perpetrator is someone entrusted to protect, the psychological damage is multiplied. Her research shows that betrayal by someone in a position of trust, particularly in law enforcement, exacerbates trauma, not just for the victims, not just for Matt, Brooke, and Jonathan, but for John's families and for communities, because it erodes faith in justice itself. John's betrayal didn't stop with Liz. It extended to his children, his co-workers, and to every

survivor he claimed to help. No mitigation can offset this. John did not act in a moment of passion or confusion. Let's review. He refused to take medication. He refused to see a therapist. He refused help from the wife who loved him. He confessed to strangling Liz in a deliberate act. He did not attempt to administer any first aid. He failed to call for help. He left his children alone in a home with her body locked in a bedroom. He did not turn himself in voluntarily. He fled the scene in Liz's vehicle, a vehicle he hated to drive. Why? Perhaps it was because he's in law enforcement and he knew his fancy red Camaro would attract attention. Maybe it was just an

attempt to evade law, evade law and accountability. Or maybe there was something more sinister at hand. And Liz's grandmother spoke about how the children are processing all of this. The middle child was eight on the day of her mother's murder. On her way home from a counseling session recently, she asked when the sentencing was taking place. When I told her, she put the date in her watch calendar. This was the first question that she asked about anything concerning her mom's murder.

I then asked if I could ask a question and told her she didn't need to answer if she didn't want to. She said I could ask the question. So I said, how do you feel about your father? father and she said I never want to see him again and I think he deserves life and I told her the sentence would be in the range of 16 to 22 years not life she was very quiet for the rest of the trip home this young lady was always considered a daddy's girl and it breaks my heart to know that her idol has done so much harm. As her grandmother, I have witnessed that she has a fear of the dark.

She keeps a bright light in her bedroom all night long. She has a fear of being alone at night, and she wants to have someone to lay down with her until she falls asleep. She avoids conversations about her mother's murder. She isolates herself in a room for long periods of time. The youngest child was four when his mother was murdered. He cried almost every night for his mom and dad when we first started living together. He cries when he's tired or something triggers his memory of his mom, but how do you make sense of this violent tragedy in terms a four

or five year old can understand? This young man has no filter about what he says to others. He will often tell people that my mom is dead and my dad is in jail. When we told the children that their dad was in jail, he did ask, does that mean my dad is a bad guy? I replied, he did a bad thing. Our immediate family, our extended family, all of Liz's friends and our friends are grappling with traumatic grief. It impacts our everyday life and relationships. All of Liz's friends and our friends are grappling with traumatic grief.

It impacts our everyday life and relationships. The defense presented mitigating factors about Bird's mental health issues, his non-existent past criminal record, and even his former employment in law enforcement. The judge sentenced Bird to 19 years in prison and imposed a lifelong no contact order for Bird with his three young children and Elizabeth's family. He's now serving his sentence in an Arizona prison. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjana Levy.

Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. I'll see you back here next time.