Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Missy Bevers Murder Probe - New Person of Interest

Episode Date: January 10, 2017

Police and relatives have gone silent nine months after the unsolved murder of Midlothian, Texas, mom Missy Bevers. Sources tell CrimeOnline.com a new "person of interest" in the brutal beating of the fitness trainer case is linked to law enforcement. Knowing the person who used a hammer to kill Bevers in a church is still free is causing fear in the small Texas community. Nancy Grace and Alan Duke explore the latest. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. In the early morning hours of April 18th, Beavers, a fitness instructor, a mom and wife, showed up at this church to teach a class. Police says she was killed by puncture wounds to the head and chest. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. This person intended to do exactly what they did, when they did it, and whom they did it to. The former Murphy police chief says the circle of people who may know what happened is likely very small. There has to be some link between her death and people in her past. Investigators have poured over Bieber's Internet history and executed multiple warrants,

but say today the ID on this suspect will come from a tip they still haven't received. This is what I do not understand. You've got a beautiful mother who takes care of her children, takes care of the home, the husband. Not only that, she works outside the home. She's a fitness pro. Gets up 4 a.m. She's already at the church in Midlothian to get ready to teach a gladiator-style workout class for other mothers that are going to work in and out of the home before they go to work. They're all converging around 5 a.m.

She's there before 4, and she's bludgeoned dead in Midlothian, Texas? It's a town of about 1,400 people. I mean, seriously? Out of 1,400 people, we can't find the killer? And not only that, the killer is caught on tape, caught on video. True, the killer decides to disguise themselves in a SWAT outfit, head to toe black. It looks like a motorcycle helmet he's wearing. You know by now I'm talking about Missy Beavers. She was bludgeoned dead April 18, 2016. Where's the killer? Joining me right now, Alan Duke. Alan, there are some major developments

in the case, but police are keeping it very, very quiet. What's happening? Well, silence fell on investigators and the family around mid-October. And what I've been able to find out talking to people who are close to the case is there is a new person of interest that has risen on their radar. Not a suspect, but a person of interest who is connected, formerly connected, to law enforcement. And that has put a chill through the investigation. You know what's so incredible is that this is not out there. Everyone doesn't know. We knew about the vehicle of interest that emerged, which is an Altima, a Nissan Altima. And that's a whole

story in itself. But this person of interest that is emerging, I believe, is a man, although they're not saying. And you have confirmed this with two sources, right? It is someone who is from that area. We're not going to name it, this person, although we have checked them out to some degree. We're not investigators and we're not going to publicly name them though. So it is a man that is former law enforcement. Now see, that explains a lot because who decides to disguise themselves in a complete SWAT outfit? Now there were a few inconsistencies that were not exactly SWAT, but who would think of that? I mean, when I think of, I'm going to hide my face, I wouldn't think of SWAT gear. To me, that was indicative at the time as to who the killer was. Now, we see the killer on video. We've got it up on crimeonline.com.

Clearly, the killer is just waiting, passing time until he can kill Missy Beavers. This is targeted. This was not a break-in. Nothing was taken at all. He came there to kill her. Why would a former law enforcement officer kill Missy Beavers? Now, had they had any kind of contact online, Alan Duke? I do know, we know this from search warrants, is public information. Missy Beavers, shortly before her death, had some interesting exchanges through LinkedIn, really the business social network. Flirtatious and personal kind of messages she sent to a man, a man who sent her what were described as creepy and strange, a creepy and strange message just three days, I think, before she was dead. And her friend who she shared it with said

she didn't know who this guy was, whether that led to this person of interest or not. I don't know. We're talking about a young mom and seemingly happily married. That weekend, the husband went on a long-planned fishing trip. I believe he goes on it every year. He was out of town. Interesting, she had been out of town at kind of a workout sports enthusiast expo in Austin just before this happened without her husband. My question is, it's amazing to me that the killer of Missy Beavers at that time of the morning has not been traced. I mean, I would

have thought there had been a cell phone tower data dump that shows every cell phone used at that time. That tells me that somebody's slick enough to know to cut off their cell phone before they go to the area. There was a warrant executed to get a data dump of the cell phone hours. However, it specifically targeted, and we've got the document, specifically targeted what they call target numbers, which include Missy, Brandon Beavers, the husband. And it also included four other people, two couples who were related in the fitness industry. It also included her in-laws. I mean, there were seven people identified. But I'm not talking about the warrant for specific cell phones.

I'm talking about what we just said, a data dump. You get every phone that is used around a certain cell phone tower within a certain period of time. I mean, Alan, how many people could be there in that area at 4 o'clock in the morning? The people driving on that highway, truckers, that sort of thing. There was some traffic we've seen from surveillance video that we just recently obtained that we've got on site. There is some traffic going down that highway around that time. You know, if the person of interest is former law enforcement, that would really explain a lot. A, the cell phone being turned off.

B, no fingerprints. C, wearing gloves. D, not using a gun that could be traced back by the markings on the bullet. No weapon left behind. And completely obscuring the face. I mean, this was somebody that was there waiting on her, Alan. Here's how clever this person was. The tools that were used to kill her apparently were tools that were already in the church. Didn't even bring the

murder weapon with him or used what was there. So does that mean they already knew what was there before they came? One possibility is this was just some kind of stupid guy breaking into the church and came upon her and decided to kill her. Or it could be somebody who knew her. And of course, I know you're leaning to plan B there. I mean, but Alan, examine it. What's the likelihood that somebody breaks into Midlothian Church of Christ that day at four o'clock in the morning, exactly when Missy Beavers is going to come,

if they were stealing, where's their car to hide the loot in? What about that? And you don't dress up in a costume for robbery, a theft. No, I mean, and also, what about the fact that when they duck into the room where Missy Beavers is, I don't think the camera ever catches them leaving. No, it doesn't.

What happens is this guy is in there, this person is in there. This person is in there walking around and we see them strolling in this video that we have online, banging on doors, opening doors, crashing through windows, that kind of thing with a hammer. What we're told is this person was in there well before Missy arrived. Missy walks through the front door at about 420 and is immediately bludgeoned that it wasn't that long that she was there that this happened. So all of this happened probably 40 minutes or 45 minutes before she was found by one of her students. It would make sense to me, Ellen, that if you were breaking into a church to steal something, what are you going to get?

The microphone? What? There's not any money there. There's nothing to take. And if somebody comes in on you and your face is covered, why not just run? Why murder the person? That doesn't make sense to me. You're right. That theory of it just being a perk for a gone bad, if you will, is pretty weak. And plus, if they had been there 45 minutes, they still hadn't taken anything. There's so much evidence that we have and so many theories here. It's just amazing, nine months later, that we're now getting to this person of interest. Let's get back to the person of interest. Now, I know we're not revealing any sources, but where you got the info that there is

a person of interest, a former law enforcement, is now considered, is being considered in the murder of Missy Beavers. You had to get to family or cops. You know, I made a lot of requests to family and cops to talk with us on this podcast. What I found out was the law enforcement has asked the family to be quiet. As recently as early November, there was a sister-in-law who gave a local television interview. The various relatives and the police were talking, but sometime in October, the police stopped talking. And there are some interesting reasons for them not to talk now. You know, another thing that we had discussed is that some of these sources have told you that they are living in fear, including some law enforcement sources. They're afraid of this guy.

Here's this very apparently clever killer, heartless killer, who did this to this woman. And he or she is still walking around free, likely or possibly in the community with access to their homes if this person wants to break in. I would certainly be concerned, and it's not a big community. When you discovered that some of the family members and some law enforcement in Midlothian are actually living in fear, why? What are they afraid of? They're afraid that this guy or woman could strike again. Well, another thing, Alan, is the closer and closer they get to the killer, the more dangerous it becomes. Because if the killer realizes that they're on to him, it becomes more and more critical that he not be caught.

So he will get more and more anxious and feel more and more cornered. And when you corner something, it bites. I was told by someone at one point recently they thought they were close to making an arrest, but it, quote, didn't pan out. That's how close they thought they were recently. I get the feeling talking to people that there's so much silence that behind that silence is a river running deep that might lead us to something soon. Let's talk about the vehicle. There is a gunshot about a half a mile away from the church as the crow flies. And that night, the night that Missy is murdered in the church, Midlothian Church,

a Nissan Altima pulls into the parking lot of this gun store. It's flashing its lights. It cuts the lights off. Then later it cuts the lights off. Then later, it cuts the lights on, and it doesn't leave. Then it goes around to the back. Why? I'm just wondering if the killer parked his car a distance away because a car was not caught on the church video and then walked to the church, which totally destroys the theory they're there to steal something. And keep in mind, it was raining that night. We posted this video online. You can see this is

new video that was just made available. Law enforcement didn't release this. The gun store, the SWFA Outdoors store, has posted this video. Originally, we first saw this car, just a grainy screenshot of the rear bumper. They wanted us to see the rear of this 2010 or 2012 Nissan Altima to see if we could, the public could identify it. But now the whole video, seven minutes or so, our online 17 camera angles, really clear video, but you cannot see a tag. Oh, Alan, I've tried and tried to read that tag. I can't read it, but I can tell you this much. If we've got satellites up in the sky that can monitor red lights,

it's hard for me to believe they cannot figure out what the tag is on this car. But maybe they have figured it out, and it's not the killer. They tweeted this photo. Watch out for this car. It's a vehicle of interest. I think if they've cleared that car, they should let us know. But they're not. You know, another issue here is so many people have commented on Missy and Brandon's marriage. And I don't think either you nor me nor anyone listening to this podcast has ever not done something they wish they hadn't.

And until an alleged affair can be tied into motive for murder, it's irrelevant. Of course, you got to chase down anyone that was flirtatious, anyone that they may have dated during the marriage and rule it out. But what do you think about the theory it was a woman? I'm not buying into that. I tend not to think it was. About that extramarital affair that was alleged, this isn't a search warrant. This isn't an affidavit that was filed.

This was when they wanted the telephone records from AT&T. They said that her records indicate, they want to know if the records indicate and confirm statements and tips provided to officers of an ongoing financial and marital struggle, as well as intimate personal relationships external to marriage with identified target numbers. Well, I tell you what, you throw an affair into a murder and it looks damning to whoever that is. Not necessarily true. I mean, that's a volatile situation. You've got the spouse.

You've got friends. You've got relatives that could be embroiled in the whole scenario. It's not just the possibility of one person, but the breakthrough that there is a new person of interest that is former law enforcement and is a male is a big breakthrough, Alan. Explain to me the term person of interest. I don't like reporting that and calling somebody that when I'd rather call them a suspect. What is the difference? Well, it's a technical, it's a legal technicality and I'll tell you why I think people do it. As soon as you are named a suspect, Alan, all a host of constitutional protections then immediately settle on you. You are protected in so many ways by the constitution. If you are

a target, you are a target you are a suspect if you're just a person of interest and you're not rising to the level of suspect police can tell you of course they can tell a suspect they can question you they can knock on your door and ask you questions without a lawyer being there they can ask you to come down to the station and ask us questions they can grab you and put you in a lineup. All sorts of things if you are not a formal suspect. That's the difference right there.

Here's something that's really been interesting. As I looked into what happened the night before, or just the hours before, other than this vehicle of interest. Missy Beavers was leading what she called the Camp Gladiator. It's a boot camp style fitness class. Sunday night, she posted on Facebook to her followers that they were going to have the class in the church, not normally in the church, but normally outside. But because of the rain, she said,

no excuses, you're a gladiators. If it's raining, we're still training. One might assume that whoever was there to meet her at the front door of the church at 420 read that Facebook post. You may assume that. Of course, the person could see that it's raining and they're just waiting for her to show up. She was going to be there inside the church for the training session. Yeah, you would think that, but I don't think that's necessarily true. If they knew that she taught the class and that she would be teaching that morning, I don't think it is mandatory to prove the case that they were on her Facebook. They could have shown up an hour ahead waiting for her to get there early to set up planning to kill her,

whether it was inside or out. And that could be our vehicle of interest two hours before. And I'm just wondering how you get from that gun shop to if you were going to walk to the Midlothian church. Was that the killer? Were they trying to find a place to park their car? Is that why they went around the back of the gun store? Did they notice the cameras and go, hey, this isn't going to work. And they leave and go find another place to hide their car? Is that what happened? Did they Google search how to get there?

Probably didn't need to. I doubt they would have walked down a thoroughfare to get there. I think they would have parked the car and walked through the woods to get there. There are several stands of trees around the church where they could have easily hidden out waiting for her. But, of course, they got there early. They got there before her. This is what I want to know.

When did they change into that Halloween costume? I mean, did they drive to it, to the scene in it, or did they put it on there? There's three minutes when we see this car, this vehicle of interest on video. Something's happening in the car. They're sitting there. We don't know if they're waiting or not doing anything. But what were they doing at that time, if that was in fact the killer's vehicle? But when did they put this on? It baffles me. It was a rainy night in Texas, and there are no footprints in the mud? Well, I can't guarantee you they

didn't put that motorcycle helmet on in the car, because they probably couldn't have seen it's tinted, so I doubt they could see the drive. I would imagine they were partially dressed in the outfit and put the rest on in the car. Guys, we're talking about the murder of a beloved mother, Missy Beaver's wife and mother, who led a gladiator boot camp fitness class at the church there in Midlothian. The tip line, 972-775-7624. 972-937-7297. There is a reward for information in connection to the murder of Midlothian mom, Missy Beavers. Thank you for being with us. Goodbye, friend.