True Crime All The Time - Aaron Lewis and Crystal Lowery

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

50-year-old Beverly Carter was a successful real estate agent. In September 2014, she thought she was meeting a married couple for a showing at a rural property, but the couple set up the meeting with the intention of kidnapping her for ransom. Beverly was kidnapped and murdered hours later. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Aaron Lewis and Crystal Lowery. Aaron Lewis had a plan that included selecting a wealthy real estate agent, luring her to a remote location, and kidnapping her for ransom. But when the plan went sideways, he and Crystal did the unthinkable. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 395 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing great. It's amazing that we are inching closer to episode 400. I know. 4-0. I got a big one in store that I'm going to keep under wraps. All right. Not even letting me know. No, because you can't keep a secret. We've talked about this before. You are terrible at keeping secrets. I'm not the best. You're not the best. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Wynette Shaw jump out at our highest level. Well, thanks, Wynette. Sonia Wigfall. Hey, what's going on, Sonia? Raina Wells. Well, thank you,

Wales. Natasha De Silva. Ah, the Silva. Lindsay Mon. What's going on? Mon, like Mon, like, Hey, Mon. Sure. We'll go with that. Amos Lawson. Hey, Amos. James Shultz jumped out to our highest level. Oh, you're awesome. Thanks, James. Travis Mowen. From the Mowen franchise empire, whatever you want to call it. Bathroom, bathroom fixture empire.

Yeah. Amber Shaw. Hey, Amber. And last but not least, Kelly Rouse. There is Kelly. And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Ben Murphy. Hey, thanks, Ben. Yeah, thanks to everyone.

The new support, the continued support. It's all amazing. Gibbs right now we have an episode out on true crime all the time unsolved where we're tackling a pretty well-known case and that's the death of Rebecca Zahaw. So we're headed to California. She died inside this historic Spreckles mansion two days after a tragic accident occurred in the home. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of questions here. It's a big case.

It is a big case. There's official ruling of suicide, but a lot of people do not believe that's the case, especially her family. But we dive into all of it. So make sure you check that out. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time?

I am ready. 50-year-old Beverly Carter was a successful real estate agent in September 2014. She thought she was meeting a married. couple first showing at a rural property, but the couple set up the meeting with the intention of kidnapping her for ransom. Beverly was kidnapped and murdered hours later. And this is something we touched on a little bit on Patreon. We did. You having had experience as a real estate agent, and you've talked about it a little bit over the years, I mean, you can be put into some scenarios as an agent that could be a little scary, a little iffy. And we've,

we've done a few solved and unsolved cases where it involved an agent being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, let's face it, it's very difficult to get most people to go somewhere to meet you. Right. You know, if somebody calls me on the phone and says, hey, meet me here. But like, First of all, I don't know who you are. And second of all, you must not know me because I don't like to leave the house. But with a real estate agent to make money, you have to go out and show houses. So by that very nature, you are meeting people alone many times who you do not know. Now, you know, a lot of agencies have put some protocols in place, but it's still only,

going to work as good as following the protocols. And there's some people, I mean, look, if I was an agent still and someone called me up and said, hey, I'm pre-approved, I want to see this house. I'm only in town today. You know, actually, I only got like a half an hour. Can you meet me over there? You know, if you're, if you need money, right? If you're trying to make a living, you're going to say.

Which most people do. Yeah, you'd be like, okay, I'll head on over, you know. Now, probably shouldn't do it, but I'll go ahead and meet you this one time. Unlike most people, though, you'd have a K-bar, tucked in. I do. Probably a pistol on, on, in your waistband on the back. Some kind of 1800s derringer down your boots.

I mean, you, you got a whole bunch of stuff going on. Right. Some keestered as well. You never know. Something keestered for sure. And that's just for fun. Beverly Louns Carter was born on December 20th, 1963 in Anniston, Alabama. She got married when she was just 16.

years old. According to ABC, she and her husband, Carl Carter, were married for almost 35 years. They lived in Arkansas for more than three decades and had three sons together. One of their sons died in a car accident in the early 2000. Always tragic for a parent. To lose a child. Yeah, yeah, very tragic. Beverly turned 50 in December 2013 and had a big party with her. her friends and family. You remember turning 50? A little bit. I know it was a long, long time ago, but, uh, yeah, eight years ago. Thanks. She and Carl had five grandchildren. Beverly loved spending time with them and taught them how to ride bicycles and tie their shoes. And I'll be honest with you, Gibbs. I've been thinking more and more. Maybe it's because we got this new puppy, but I am really looking

forward to being a grandfather. Yeah. That's not the term that I'm going to go by, but I haven't figured it out yet. I'm leaning towards papal. Pappall, not big Mike. No, that doesn't sound good at all. On September 25th, 2014, Beverly went to work as normal. She was an agent for cry like real estate and was one of their top sellers. Her day started off on a good note. When, when she won $50 in a workplace competition. Somehow, when we had workplace competitions that had money involved, you won, took the money in, you ran the competition, but yet somehow you won like 80% of those competitions.

I don't really understand how that was, how that worked out that way. And you just hit the nail on the head. You don't understand. how it worked, therefore it was fairly easy to dupe you and a number of others. That you did do. Beverly called her husband around 515 to tell him that she would be coming home after her 6 p.m. showing at a rural property in Scott, Arkansas.

She shared the address with him and told him they could eat dinner together once she got home. And that does seem like a pretty smart thing to do, right? Tell someone else where you're going. She even went, you know, to the step of giving him the address. But he's not going to be there with her. No. So there's still quite a bit of danger. Beverly thought she was going to be meeting a married couple who were planning on moving to the area. She drove alone to 14202 Old River Drive and Scott and parked her vehicle in the driveway. And I wonder how much that played into it. Gibbs, you know, this thought that, well, I'm not meeting someone one on one.

Yeah, not meeting some single guy or just a guy by himself. I am meeting a married couple. I mean, it does give some credibility. Well, I think if you're Beverly, maybe you let your guard down and not just her, but anybody would because who thinks that a married couple is going to do you harm. That's true. Now, if you're meeting, you know, Otis Tool or someone of that ilk, you're going to have some reservation. Right. And you should. Maybe you don't even get out of the car. Beverly never came home that evening. Carl Carter went to the property around 9 p.m. to look for her. He saw her. He saw her.

he saw her vehicle parked in the driveway. Her purse was still inside the car. The door to the property was left open, but she was not there. Nothing was missing from Beverly's purse, but her phone was gone. Deputies also could not find the Holmes door lot. So I think if you're Carl, this has to be a very frightening situation. Yeah, I'm thinking, where's my wife? It's not like her one to...

leave a property that she's showing, leave her car here, her purse here, and not call me and tell me that she's gone somewhere else or doing something. Well, keep in mind, they had a plan. She was going to come home right after. They were going to eat. Police and volunteers launched a massive search effort for Beverly.

And investigators quickly identified a suspect. On September 28, 2014, a warrant was issued for 33-year-old. old Aaron Lewis, charging him with kidnapping. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Aaron became a person of interest when he was involved in a car accident in Pulaski County and taken to the hospital for treatment of facial injuries. So this wreck happened around 10 a.m. Witnesses said the driver was going fast, lost control of the vehicle, and landed in a ditch. Aaron Lewis was cited for careless driving and failure to wear a seatbelt.

While authorities believed he was getting a CT scan, he left the facility and could not be immediately located. The kidnapping warrant was not obtained until after 4.30 p.m. when he had already left the facility. Well, clearly he knew it was coming. Yeah. He wanted to get the heck out of Dodge. Yeah, I think he knew that they were going to figure out who he was,

what he had done. and he wasn't going to wait around for that, Aaron was on parole at the time. He has a long criminal record and was convicted of felony theft of property in two counties. Sheriff's Lieutenant Carl Menden said, per the Democrat Gazette, we do consider him dangerous based on the nature of the charge and based on the fact we haven't located Mrs. Carter.

We need him. The best person that can help us find her right now is Mr. Lewis. So they're not quite coming out and giving all the detail. Right. But obviously, at some point, they have connected Aaron Lewis with the disappearance of Beverly Carter. Well, and clearly, based on his record, he's not an outstanding individual. No, he's done a few things. On September 30th, it was reported that authorities found Beverly Carter's body over she was buried in a shallow grave at Argos Concrete Company in Cabot, Arkansas, about 20 miles from the house where her vehicle was found.

Aaron Lewis was arrested on September 29th and was questioned for more than 12 hours. Well, 12 hours is a pretty lengthy interrogation. Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of people would crack. And we know a lot of people have. We also know a lot of people have cracked to actually. she hadn't done anything, you know, that's a long period of time to be interrogated. Now, we don't know what this situation was, you know, were they giving him food and drinks

and, you know, giving him smokes. If he did smoke, we don't know. But during his interview, Aaron admitted to kidnapping Beverly, but he would not say where she was taken. And based on the timing, this was a day before her body was found. But how strange is that? You've implicated yourself or pretty much confessed to a major crime. Absolutely.

Kidnapping is a major crime. Yeah. But the police are obviously going to want to know, okay, you're telling us you kidnapped her. What you do with her? Where is she? And he wasn't giving it up. Well, probably a good reason why. Authority said he previously worked for Argus Concrete.

soon after he was arrested. Investigators got permission to search company property. They found the shallow grave at the back of the property. Aaron was initially charged with kidnapping, but a capital murder charge was added after Beverly's body was found. I think back to your point, very good reason not to help the police, tell the police where to find Beverly's body. Now, you can also ask the question, why did he admit to the kidnap?

Maybe we'll touch on that more a little bit later. On September 30th, Aaron entered a preliminary innocent plea to both charges. He told reporters that he didn't kill Beverly in that he targeted her because she was just a woman that worked alone, a rich broker. So he's saying, I'm innocent of kidnapping. I'm innocent of murder. But he is admitting that he targeted Beverly. Now, that could be for the purposes of robbing her, right? But it's not like he's coming out and saying, you know, he didn't know her.

He wasn't with her. He didn't kidnap her. He's kind of admitted to a lot of different things. when he was being escorted from the sheriff's office, Aaron was captured on video, saying that he had a co-defendant named Trevor, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The police spoke to the alleged accomplice named Trevor,

but he was ruled out as a suspect. Somewhat interesting, right, that he's trying to throw somebody else under the bus with him. Right. Maybe he wanted to say, you know, all I did was try to write. robber. After that, I don't know. You'd talk to Trevor. Yeah, because Trevor is the one that, you know, maybe killed her and did some of the other stuff. Sheriff's Lieutenant Carl Minden said, Lewis is the only suspect we have in the case.

And at this point is the only person we're going to be looking for. Captain Simon Haynes described Beverly as a target of opportunity. The police said that the cell phone data helped. locate Beverly's body, but would not say if Aaron was the one who texted Carl Carter from Beverly's phone hours after she was abducted. And Carl received several texts after midnight. One message said per ABC, having drinks right now. The messages didn't seem like they were written by Beverly. She also didn't drink often. So I think for a lot of different reasons, Carl knew something was all. Yeah. And I think most spouses would figure that out. Yeah, I mean, you know, when you're married to someone for 25, 30, 35 years, you get to know them pretty well. And that includes how they text, what they say.

You know, I know that my wife every now on them will go out with coworkers, you know, for a drink or a dinner or something like that. But I also know it's not going to be at midnight. because she is fast asleep by the time about nine o'clock rolls around. Just like if you saw someone said, uh, well, Gibby text me. I'm sure he's okay because the text said,

Hey, I'm down here having a drink. Come on down and I'll buy you around too. You'd be like, that's not Gibby. No, something is wrong. Or if the words,

uh, or the term window sill was in there, I would definitely know something was wrong because you always say it window seal. Yeah, that's what it is. The police initially thought Aaron acted alone. But on October 30th, 2014, the Plaskey County Sheriff's office arrested his wife, 41-year-old Crystal Lowry and charged her with capital murder and kidnapping. A judge sealed court documents, which meant the public didn't know much. about the details of the case.

On March 4th, 2015, a judge ruled that Aaron Lewis could dismiss his attorney and represent himself after a mental evaluation found him fit to proceed to trial. Because that's always a good thing to do. It always works out extremely well.

And, you know, there are some smart criminals. We know that. Yeah. But by and large, are we talking about, you know, Mensa members or rocket scientists or, you know, high-level PhDs, no. Even as Mensa member 25-27321, that's my MENSA code, by the way. Mensa people out there understand it.

Yeah, I'm smart. I was smart enough to figure that out. Yeah. So even with that, I wouldn't want to represent myself. I think that would probably be a pretty good idea not to. Yeah. Aaron said that he had some college education. and had legal experience because he previously won a lawsuit against Benton County.

It's a little bit different though, isn't it? This is murder. Well, you're also on trial for your life. Yeah. I think this is a big difference. You know, you and I might get out in the backyard, throw baseball around, and I might crank one up, like the old days. It doesn't mean that I'm ready to go pitch on a major league.

roster. No. And I could hit that ball out of the backyard. The backyard is not that big. You do realize that right. My backyard. I was just bunt. I bunt anyway. It's not like field of dreams. He was appointed a new attorney in June 2015 and his trial was rescheduled until January 2016. A week earlier, Aaron said he didn't want counsel because an attorney would not share the risks of trial because he was the only one who could be sentenced. He asked several questions about how to write his own motions, complained that prosecutors were not cooperating with him, and said that he didn't have access to necessary computer equipment to review evidence.

He told the judge that information on his cell phone would clear him, but he didn't trust anyone in law enforcement to preserve the evidence if he gave him. if he gave them his pass code to retrieve it. I'm pretty sure there's ways to make sure that they do preserve that evidence. Yeah, I mean, the authorities said they couldn't examine his phone without the code. I always thought there was ways around that, but I don't know, maybe not. What Aaron did was he asked for a representative to be present if he allowed the phone to be searched. Okay.

Seems like a compromise. on July 7, 2015, Crystal Lowry pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She would have to testify against Aaron at his upcoming trial. The Democrat Gazette reported that Crystal

did not answer most questions from reporters, but when she was asked if she was sorry, she said yes, I'm sorry for her death. Deputy prosecutor John Johnson said in court that Crystal and Aaron were identified as suspects after investigators found records of communication between Beverly and Crystal. Well, sounds like she flipped on him really quick. Well, I think it was in her best interests. You know, at a certain point, she realized that they had her and she cut a deal. It was also said that Aaron had Beverly's phone in his possession.

that never looks good. Further investigation of phone record showed that it was apparent that Crystal Lowry participated in the plan and kidnapping of Miss Beverly Carter which resulted in her death. But because of missteps by law enforcement, a judge blocked most of the information

from Aaron's police interviews from evidence as well as materials found during searches of his home and vehicle. Oh, that's got to. be frustrating. Well, it's such a big blow to the prosecution. You know, any time that a judge rules damning evidence inadmissible. And especially when it's due to your own side making mistakes. That's got to be tough to swallow. Yeah. And it was a big mistake. It was a big mistake. The judge made the ruling in December 2015. Aaron invoked his right to an attorney. Why? And it was a big mistake. Well,

while being transported by the Little Rock police, but no attorney was provided to him during his interrogation with the Pulaski County Sheriff's office. The judge also found that the search warrants were overly broad, and the evidence found in Aaron's home and vehicle was not allowed. Officers found duct tape and Beverly's hair in the trunk of the vehicle and her phone and other items inside the home. I mean, to me, you're getting,

Not quite there, but you're inching towards the slam dunk territory. Yeah, but because you didn't follow a procedure. Some of this great evidence, the jury will never hear about. Prosecutors were allowed to play a voice memo on Aaron's phone where Beverly asked her husband to pay the ransom and warned that things could get bad if he were to call the police. Okay, that seems very damning on its own. Prosecutors were also able to show the jury text exchanges between Aaron and Crystal where they discussed looking at houses for sale to find one without a security system. Some pre-planning there.

Yeah. The defense wanted Crystal's testimony excluded due to marital privilege, but the judge allowed her to act as a witness. Crystal filed for divorce before trial. So you said, you know, she turned. she really turned. Yes, she did. Opening statements began on January 13th, 2016. The prosecutor took the death penalty off the table at the request of Beverly's family.

And it's something that you and I have talked about quite a bit. You know, there are victims' families who want the prosecutor to seek the death penalty. And then there are some who are opposed to it and they don't want that. They want life in prison, I'm sure, but they want the death penalty removed. For whatever reason. For whatever reason. Deputy prosecutor Barbara Mariani told the jury that Aaron targeted Beverly and he and his wife lured her to the house to try to get ransom from her husband.

And for me, this kind of goes back to one of his earlier statements, right? This notion that she was a rich broker. And is that part of the reason why she was targeted? I believe so. But now, do you always know if somebody's really rich or do they just drive a nice car, wear nice clothes, but spend a big chunk of their money on that? Yeah, I think there's a lot of times people perceive to be rich, right? Oh, well, look, they have all these signs around.

They're selling all these homes. They've got to be making a lot of money. they drive the nice whatever car it is. But you don't know. Are they actually leasing it? Well, I also think that that image is a big part of real estate. It is.

So do you have to spend a little bit to maintain that image of success? Because that's just going to help you sell more houses. Yeah. I mean, most people want to list their house or sell with somebody that at least appear successful. I know that's why your time is. realtor was pretty brief. I mean, you know, wearing jorts in your picture for your signs probably was not the best choice. But I got the jort lovers. I mean, there wasn't many, but you're like, hey, like your jorts too. You missed out on a lot of upscale business. I did, yeah. Jorts and crocs.

The deputy prosecutor went on to say that Beverly was killed after the, the ransom plan fell through. Aaron brought her to his home in Jacksonville. The couple kept her bound with duct tape in the bathroom. According to oxygen, Crystal guarded Beverly with a stun gun. While Aaron returned to the abduction site to try to get her purse and bank her. By the time he got to the property, law enforcement was already there and he had to leave. Not really sure why they were at the home the first time, why they wouldn't

just taking care of that at that moment. But I think for some of these criminals, things don't always go to plan, right? You know, the heat of the moment. You're doing something extremely illegal, something you shouldn't be doing. The adrenaline is flowing. Are you thinking about everything? Or was it, you know, after they got home, things started to settle down a little bit that they thought, oh, yeah, we should have got this, this and this.

Yeah. They forced Beverly to record a 12-second message, asking her husband to cooperate or it could be bad. Carl did not receive this message before she was killed. Aaron and Crystal decided to abandon this plant and get rid of Beverly because they feared she had already seen Aaron's face and might have read Crystal's name on prescription bottles in the bathroom. Again, clearly, not the smartest criminals. No, I mean, was there some pre-planning? Yes. Was there enough? I would say no. Aaron Lewis killed Beverly by wrapping her head in duct tape.

Because her hands were bound behind her back, she suffocated. Prosecutor Marianne said, is quoted by oxygen. She died a horrible, terrifying death that no one deserves. Beverly loved her life. The last thing Beverly experienced was unspeakable terror at that man's hands. It would be terrible death

to be suffocated like that. I think everybody knows how tough and strong duct tape is. You wrap that around somebody's head. At a certain point, they are not going to be able to breathe. No.

And if your hands are bound behind your back, you'll imagine what a helpless feeling that would be, knowing you're going to die and there's not a damn thing you can do about. No, you're struggling just to get air. The defense argued that Beverly was not abducted and went with the couple as part of a hookup.

Wow. Well, they've got to come up with something. Yeah, but that's insulting. It is. It is. But, you know, you have to, I hate to use the word, invent, but you got to come up with something to explain.

Yeah. Why she was at the home. They know she was at the home. Defense attorney Bill James told the jury that Aaron and Beverly were having an affair and suggested that after she had sex with Aaron, she may have died during a consensual sex act with Crystal. He described it as a sexual trist gone wrong. Now, I don't know.

know what type of consensual sex act between two women would result in one of the women's death. I know you're really going through a number of scenarios in your head over there. I can see it. But you know what I'm imagining is Carl, you know, sitting in this courtroom, listening to this defense attorney run his dead wife down. Yeah. That would be a very, very, hard to take. They were married for, what do we say, 35 years? Long time. And now you're telling me she was having an affair with this scumbag who's on trial. And now you're putting her in some type of three way. That was not my wife. No. It's not how she died. And he wouldn't be the first person to be extremely upset by how the defense chooses to portray a

victim. Unfortunately, a lot of the times, it's very unflattering. You know, as part of their defense, sadly, they are trying to tear down the victim. The defense claimed that Aaron was not home. When Beverly died, they portrayed Beverly as a woman who was going through a midlife crisis and living a secret life. She was dealing with financial and marital problems and her sales, and were in the toilet compared to previous years. Bill James told the jury, we've got to look at this truthfully, not from a fantasy. Beverly was making bad decisions at this point in her life. Well, ever since the big crash, right? The real estate market really was never that great. I mean, 2008, 2009, 2010, those were some rough years. Yeah. But had they picked up by

13, 14? I don't think they ever really picked up, got any great momentum until a few years after that. Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. But I guess it's, you know, this whole midlife crisis. I get it. A lot of people do go through those. A lot of people have financial, marital problems. But I keep going back to Carl.

And what he was thinking is he has to listen to all this stuff. The prosecution said detectives had Aaron under surveillance when he wrecked on September 28, 2014. He took his phone as evidence and later searched his vehicle and home. Emails and phone records showed that Aaron and Crystal set up a viewing for a property with Beverly. Phone and email records tied in an account registered to Crystal Lowry to a phone number that called Beverly to arrange the show. Aaron and Beverly exchanged 49 text messages in September 2014. Aaron used a spoof number to hide his real phone number and went by the alias Steve Adams. Investigators traced an email sent from Steve Adams to Aaron Lewis.

So here's one of the things that kind of jumped out at me. You know, the defense is making this claim that Beverly and Aaron were having an affair. Okay. And maybe you point to 49 text messages as being part of that. But I think you could also easily see a lot of text messages going back and forth about homes, setting up appointments, things like that. But then you have to account for, you know, why you spoof in your number. Why are you using an alias?

If you're having an affair that your wife apparently knows. about and was participating in. Why would you have to hide all that? Right. Who are you hiding it from? Investigator Michael Hendricks testified about a police car ride where Aaron went into detail about the kidnapping. He admitted to targeting Beverly using the internet because he thought she was rich

and worked alone. Hendricks searched Beverly's computer and did not find dating sites in her browsing history or any evidence that her history or any files were deleted. His testimony was meant to discredit, the defense theory that Beverly was having an affair with Aaron and Crystal. And I think that would be pretty easy to do, right? You're telling me there's not a single email. There's not a text message that is sexual in nature, right?

Because you know they could have seen these. tax messages. Crystal Lowry testified for the prosecution on January 14th. She said Aaron was behind the kidnapping plot and scouted out potential victims in the area west of Little Rock. He decided to target a real estate agent based on the perception of financial wealth and chose Beverly Carter. There you go.

There is a lot of perception out there that many agents are very. wealthy have probably much more money than they actually do yes you know if you're driving a mercedes if you're wearing a nice suit that can be signs of great well yeah it could also be signs of you spending a ton of money on those things and barely scraping by what's the old saying fake it till you make it yeah there is some of that you've been doing it for the last 65 years 7, according to you. Crystal testified that she and Aaron had broken up at the time of the murder, but we're still living together because he didn't have enough money to move out.

They were expecting to get $100,000 in ransom. That's a random number. They didn't really know what kind of money she had. And I'm sure Carl would have figured out a way to get the money to get his wife back. I'm sure he loved her very much. But he never even got the chance to try to put it together. Right. Didn't even have the opportunity.

Crystal was in nursing school, living off for savings, and Aaron wasn't working. Okay. Not a recipe for financial stability. Well, that's going to definitely add stress to your relationship as well. When you have money, it's bad enough. You got to argue about where you're going to eat. Where you want to go. I don't know where you want to go.

I don't know where you want to go. But now if you don't have any money, you can't even have that conversation. You just hoping to eat. Exactly. But I do think it's interesting that they're broken up because Crystal said that she participated in the plot so that he could get enough money to move out. They planned the kidnapping for two weeks. Aaron hoped to use his credit card machine for the ransom.

He wanted a bank to transfer money to the car, which he would then manufacture and use. They staked out houses in West. Little Rock, but thought that there was too much security. The prosecution displayed messages between Aaron and Crystal. One message from Aaron said, according to ABC 7, I'm ready to do this. This shit is getting old. Now, obviously, they omitted the expletive on ABC7, but I'm filling in the blanks. Crystal responded, I'm ready for you to do this.

So it really does sound like this was his idea. but she went along with it. Now, if you believe her, it's because she wanted him to get some money to get the heck out of her life. Yeah, she's like, I want you out of here. I'm ready for you to do this too. But no doubt, she was a part of it.

They discussed different professions where a married woman might be working alone. He thought they would be more likely to get ransom if the woman was married. Aaron decided the realtor was best because he thought they made a lot of money. He searched online and found Beverly. And just think about that and how random it is.

Yeah. This is not even a person who sees someone on the street and then targets them. This is a person searching on the internet and randomly finding this woman. It's like putting in top real estate agent for Dayton, Ohio, and seeing a list of a few people pull up and be like, okay, you're the one. You're the one we're going to kidnap. Yeah.

That's a scary, scary thought. Crystal was not supposed to have contact with the victim because she didn't want to be involved. However, she spoke to Beverly once on the phone. Aaron wanted her to speak to the agent so she would know they were married and were going to see the house together. Again, hate to give people any credit, but there is some intelligence behind that. You know, as we mentioned, would someone be less leery and more apt to meet them in a rural location if they knew it was a married couple?

And I think the answer is yes. Absolutely. Especially if it's the woman that calls the agent. When asked why she didn't call the police, Crystal said, I didn't want to. I don't know why I didn't. Probably because she wanted him to do what he had to do to get the money. so that he could move out. Well, and let's not be naive and think that she wasn't going to get some of this money, too.

There's probably a factor surrounding that as well. Crystal testified that Aaron was the one who killed Beverly. The plan was to keep Beverly in an abandoned office building at the concrete plan while demanding ransom. They staked out the plan a week earlier. Aaron couldn't do this because of changes at the plan. So he drove around with Beverly in the trunk. Crystal asked him, per the Associated Press,

where are you going to take her? Because I don't want her at the house. She testified he didn't have anywhere to take her. And he was driving around and he said he could get pulled over at any moment. And he needed to get off the road. Aaron sent Crystal a photo of Beverly in the trunk of his car, which she deleted. Aaron eventually took Beverly to their house in Jacksonville.

So, you know, we mentioned there was some planning, but this thing went off the rails very quickly. They didn't want to bring her back to the house. And I think for good reason. Yeah, why would you? You don't want anyone knowing where you live, what you look like if you're going to try to ransom them. So this idea of keeping them in an office at the concrete plan. Okay. Maybe it was sound, but obviously they figured out that wasn't going to work.

And there really was no plan B. No. It was almost as if they were forced to default to bringing Beverly back to their home. Which is a really bad idea, like we said. But what else are you going to do? You can't keep driving around. No, because, you know, just like Aaron said, you get pulled over, you've got somebody in your trunk. Aaron told Crystal that Beverly didn't have money with her, but she told him her debit card

pen. And that's when he left to go back to the house and Scott to get it from her car. So, you know, back to your question, why didn't they get all this stuff in the beginning? I'm assuming they thought this ransom thing was going to run a lot more smoothly than it did. You know, things started going sideways and then they started looking for other ways to get money. Crystal was asked why she didn't call the police or let Beverly go while he was gone. According to ABC 7, she said it wasn't about the money. I was worried about getting caught.

Because she was worried that maybe Beverly saw her name on the prescription pills. And even if she hadn't by that time or she wasn't worried about it at that. time. If she calls the police, it's going to come out, Gibbs, that she was involved in this thing to some extent. So maybe the fear was simply that. And I get it, nobody wants to get in trouble. So first of all, stop doing things that get you in trouble. But then secondly, you're going to let a woman die rather than do the right thing and call the police. You know, this thing. You know, this thing. You started out as a kidnapping for ransom. And like we said, at a certain point, they made the decision that that wasn't going to work. They were going to have to get rid of Beverly Carter and get no money.

Yeah. At this point, they're probably just trying to preserve their lives. When Aaron returned, he said the police were already at the house, he was going to have to take her out of the house and take care of things. So he was. He was going to have to take her out of the house and take care of thing. So he was talking about the house from where they abducted. Yeah. Beverly. Police were already there. He couldn't get the card. Again, you're getting no money. You've already kidnapped the woman. And as we know, you're going to make the decision to kill her. Because you think the police might be closing in or that she could identify you. Crystal testified, I wanted her out of the house. I wanted her gone. She said that Beverly,

had not seen her, but she had medication in the bathroom with her name on it, which meant there was a risk. She could be identified. She hid in the office while Aaron took Beverly out of the house. The prosecution presented texts between Aaron and Crystal from 3.29 a.m., which were published by ABC 7. Crystal texted WTF. You know what that means, Gibbs? I do. Okay. Because, you know, some of us old farts don't get all of the abbreviations. I actually know what that one means as well. Aaron texted back, you sure you want me to do this. Crystal said, do whatever you want. Good night. Aaron, I'm asking you. Crystal responded, such a effing waste of time. Why don't you F her too? Aaron said, you need to chill. Crystal came back with whatever. It don't take that long to do

what you need to do, I'm not helping anymore. But I get the feeling that Crystal's involved in this for sure, right? She's not saying, don't do it. Yes. Yes. I'm getting that feeling as well. Obviously, she's involved, was involved from the very beginning. I think what you're getting is a very callous woman with no regard to what happens to this woman.

She's like, do what you got to do. why is it taking so long you don't take that long like she's trying to say man up and get this done right almost like she's trying to goad him into doing that as opposed to you know someone who doesn't want to see the death of another person that's why she didn't call police that's why you don't see any of that type of language in in these texts because that's not what she was thinking about She was about self-preservation at this point, and Aaron was too. According to Crystal, Aaron left with Beverly and returned without her. She waited at home.

When Aaron returned, he walked into the bedroom and said, look, I'm not effed up about it. I don't have a conscience. I can turn it on and off like a switch. Okay, cold. Cold? He admitted that he took Beverly to the edge of the grass and choked her. He said, I didn't know how hard it was going to be. Again, Gibbs, that's something we've heard from many killers that choking a person,

strangling a person to death is much harder than they ever thought it would be. Yeah, it's not like what you see on TV. No, no, it is definitely not according to these people. Crystal initially refused to help dispose of the body, but Aaron convinced her to do it by saying, All she had to do was hold a flashlight. They drove to Walmart and purchased the shovel and topsoil. Then they drove to the concrete plant and buried the body. Afterwards, they went to the Waffle House.

Now, you know Waffle House is one of my favorite places. Sure, yeah. I love me some smothered, scattered, covered, all that good stuff. But how many times does this come up? I get it. You need to eat. Everybody needs to do. eat. But you just killed and buried an innocent woman. Do you really need a waffle at that point?

Well, like he said, he can shut it off, turn it on, shut it off, whatever. Doesn't have an impact on him. So he's hungry. Right. But back to what you said, how different is Crystal? You know, she's not painted in a very good light at all. No, not at all. She almost, in a certain way, to me seems just as cold as him. State medical examiner Charles Cokes testified that the only way Beverly could have done was from the duct tape mask that was wrapped around her head. And I don't know if that's what Aaron meant by choked her.

Because to me, that's not choking someone. Choking is a physical act. Yeah. I think of it that way. It was more like he suffocated. her. K-A-R-K reporter Shannon Miller, who did a jailhouse interview with Aaron Lewis, testified that he expressed he was wanting to tell his side of the story after he told the police about his involvement in 2014. During the interview, he told Miller that Beverly's death was an accident,

but he felt like no one would believe him. He said, he wished he had spoken with Crystal before the police did so that he could tell her he was having an affair with Beverly. Look, there's no way he was having an affair with Beverly. No, but he's also changing up the story, right? At one point, all three of them were together in some kind of strange quasi-trist. But now he's saying, no, Crystal didn't know anything about the affair. and she wasn't part of it. And I think both you and I are always dubious of these people who change your stories over and over. Yeah, countless times. ABC7 reported that while Beverly was missing,

a detective asked her coworker Brenda wrote about possible issues she was going through and used the phrase, everybody has a secret lie. Brenda responded, if you knew Beverly, she was an open book. Now, she did mention Beverly's financial worries. The defense noted that Beverly did not tell Brenda about her past marital problem. Carl Carter testified that in 2013, Beverly sold $12 million in real estate, but by September 2014, she had only sold $2 million. She skipped a realty convention in Florida because of money problems. That's a big difference.

It is a huge difference. Commission on 10 million less. But I want to go back to, you know, her friend saying, if you knew Beverly, she was an open book. I'm taking that to mean there is no way in the world that this woman thought Beverly was having an affair. During Carl's testimony, he admitted he had an affair early in the marriage and once punched Beverly.

during a drunken altercation. But he said they were on good terms at the time of her death. When one of us was down, the other one would be there for them. We had some of our best times. Well, clearly she decided to stay with them after that affair. I mean, they were married for a long time. 35 years. That affair was in the early stages.

Yeah. And so, you know, obviously he's having to admit some things he probably would rather not have to admit. that he cheated on his wife, that he punched her, but he's got to be honest on the stand. But over 35 years, does that mean that their marriage wasn't good at that point? And I would say no. We don't really know exactly what their marriage was like.

No. On January 15th, Aaron Lewis got on the stand and told the jury that he admitted to a crime that never happened because of his numerous run-ins with law enforcement. his distrust in the judicial system and his desire to protect his wife. Well, if that doesn't make sense, though. I don't trust the system. And because I've had so many run-ins with the law enforcement,

I'm just going to go ahead and say I did it. I'm going to skip them, you know, saying I did it, I'm going to skip them screwing me by the time we get to trial. I'm just going to go ahead and just get there now. That does not make any sense. So he distrust the judicial system and therefore his best option is to confess to a crime he didn't commit. Right. Yeah, I'm with you.

That doesn't make any sense. Aaron discussed his criminal record, which started when he was 14 years old. He got in trouble for trespassing and stealing. The juvenile court gave him an ultimatum and he joined the military. He was later discharged from the Navy. And we've heard of that before, right? You can do X amount of time or you can go sign up for the military. That's right.

Aaron served six years in a Louisiana prison for bank robbery. When he was released, he transported stolen cars and ran money scam. He's a official criminal. Yeah. I mean, you know, how many people, at least the ones that we talk about, you know, go to prison for, five, six, seven, eight years and come out and make the decision that they're going to walk the straight and narrow. Now, I'm sure there are a lot of people that do that. It's just not the ones that we talk about. You know, these are people who, the minute they get out, they're back to doing,

you know, criminal things. Aaron said he wasn't present when Beverly died. He admitted to kidnapping Beverly because he didn't think the police would believe him. And he wanted to protect Crystal. He told the court, as quoted by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, they run a check on you and find you did something wrong. You did it. Yeah, but you didn't even give that an opportunity to happen because you just said, I just went ahead and admit it to the kidnapping. Well, now he's trying to say that was because he was trying to protect Crystal, right? He thought Crystal still had potential because she was in nursing school and he had essentially already destroyed his own life, I think is what, you know, he said. He testified that his marriage was rocky and he was not working and was taking care of

his stepdaughter. According to Aaron, Crystal told him about Beverly and said she wanted to meet for sex. They used an app called Text Me to communicate because it was good for swingers who didn't want to give out their real phone number. Do you still have that account? I notice it keeps popping up on your phone

every time we record. Text me. Text me. I know I've never known what it was. This is your phone. But, you know, I can't get over the fact that this is what the defense had to resort to. Right? Running Beverly into the ground, running her name. Now she's a swinger. She's using text apps to meet people for sex. Again, if you're her husband, her family, her friends who none of them believe this is the case.

Yeah, you're sicken by this. It's a tough listen for sure. But he's got to try to put something out there, right? Something's got to fit better than what I'm currently up for. He explained how they met Beverly. His testimony matched an affidavit that was read in court earlier. The handwritten account was published on Aaron's Facebook page. In it, he described the route he drove while taking Beverly home. He described what her naked body looked like and how he disposed of her body after she accidentally suffocated during a sexual encounter with Crystal Lowry. Okay.

first of all, who was writing this stuff on their Facebook page? This seems very graphic. And was this also a ploy? You were setting something up for, you know, the future. Because you knew what you had done was going to be really tough to get out of. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Earlier, a woman named Brittany Ballard testified that she does internet searches and other things for incarcerated inmates.

she posted the affidavit to Aaron's Facebook page on his behalf. So again, what do you make of that? Is that any more believable than some of the other stuff that he said just because it's written on his Facebook page? Well, that's him telling this Brittany woman, hey, write this for me because I need to make sure it gets out there. Yeah, and it's coming after he's already been incarcerated. When questioned by the prosecution, Aaron said the voice.

memo on his phone was 100% computer generated. And I do know this AI stuff, you know, he's got a lot of people in a lather. But I don't know that Aaron had the technology to pull that all. Also, this was over 10 years ago. Not a lot of AI going on in the open market like that. He said he didn't remember what software program he used to mimic Beverly's voice, he made it because it might be an angle to get something out of someone. However, Carl Carter Jr. testified earlier that he was certain. It was his mother's voice

in the recording. So what's more believable that they made this poor woman read a 12 or 13 second message that they recorded or that this guy who hadn't had a job and who knows how long had some sophisticated software that could mimic this woman's voice. Yeah. I mean, some of this stuff is almost laughable if it wasn't in the context of this poor woman being murdered. Exactly. The defense rested their case after Aaron's testimony on January 15th, 2016, after an hour of deliberation. Aaron Lewis was found guilty of capital murder and kidnapping.

he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for capital murder and life in prison for kidnapping. So it took the jury all of about an hour. And I'm sure 45 minutes of that was getting coffee and getting the paper ballots out and all that. Yeah, I'm sure they were ready just to go into the room. We're like, who, man, that was a joke. All right. Who's in favor of guilty? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

All right. We're out of here. Yeah. You know, you and I talk a lot about reasonable doubt. It's such an important concept, right? In a lot of these trials, did anything that Aaron Lewis or his defense put up sound as though it would have created even a scintilla of reasonable doubt in a juror's mind? No.

It didn't to me either. Crystal Lowry applied for clemency. In March 2020, she wrote a letter to the governor, which was published by KATV. She said she found religion and achieved an exemplary institutional adjustment. She wrote, I know I can never say or do enough to change what I did. But she argued that she was no longer a danger to society, writing, I have a debt to pay to society. and it would be more productive to pay this debt, volunteering and monitoring on the outside,

than staring at four walls on the inside, eating up taxpayer dollars. I'm asking you for a second chance to prove myself redeemable to society. Well, she has to try. I get it. She does, and I struggle with a lot of these. It's great that you found religion.

It's great that, you know, you've got a good record while you were in prison. But she's 100% right. I know I can never say or do enough to change what I did. At what point has a person done enough time? And it's such a hard concept to know in every situation, right? Because how do you know when someone is really remorseful in telling the truth? and when, as I believe a lot of these people are,

they're just saying what they know they have to say for the parole board. Yeah, and I think in this case, she's trying to say what she thinks they want to hear because I don't really know if at this point she's fully remorseful. Crystal was denied clemency in July 2020. Back in 2008, she tried to recant her guilty plea by saying she gave false testimony and her lawyers pressured her, to cooperate. A judge rejected her recantation. She then argued her plea agreement should be nullified

because she lied in her testimony. Her appeal was rejected in 2023. Crystal has since filed an appeal with the Arkansas Court of Appeal. Well, there you go, right? She's not even wanting to take responsibility. Now she's saying, I really didn't do anything. What does make it sound is though she wrote all of that stuff in a bid to get clemency, that was denied. So now she's going to a different route, which is to say, you know what, I lied about a whole bunch of stuff. So none of this should count. And again, to your point, is that taking responsibility?

And I would say no. And it leads me back to she just wants to get out, as does every prisoner or I should say most prisoners in this country and many, many others. Aaron Lewis accused a former Department of Corrections Sergeant of punching him in his dislocated shoulder while escorting him to Sit Call on June 9th, 2016. He filed a lawsuit in 2018, but the lawsuit was dismissed by a jury in August 2021. In May 2004, Lewis filed documents for a change. in identity, Lewis now identifies as a woman and wants the name Anastasia Nicole Kimberly in legal

records. Well, that's his right to try to. Or her right. Or her right at this point. Yeah. Doesn't change the situation. No, and I think that's a great point. You can identify however you feel.

But to me, that has no bearing on your past deeds. what you did. Am I going to feel more lenient for this person? I would say no. Now, what I don't know, does it get them placed at a different prison? Transferred to a different institution? Yeah. I really don't know how that works. I'm sure that's something that the prison system is struggling with more and more these days. The petition stated that Lewis was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2012. and began hormone therapy. Name and ginger changes were approved by a judge in April 2004.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that Lewis is currently incarcerated in a federal penitentiary in Tucson. It did not say Gibbs, if it was, you know, all male or all female or, you know, anything like that. Yeah. And I'm thinking they probably had to be placed in. a female prison. And I would think that would be tough. Yeah. There would have to be some sort of standard because you just have guys throughout the prison

system saying I now identify as a woman. But if there was the hormone therapy and there was, you know, this step and ultimately this other step, then maybe that does qualify someone to be moving. to a different prison. Or maybe they just are placed in isolation. That could be as well. Maybe they're just segregated out of fear that something bad's going to happen to them.

Yeah. I know we got a lot of prison workers. Yeah. That listened. Maybe they'll be able to close in on. Yeah, somebody will write in or leave a voicemail or something. And maybe it does vary by state, as a lot of things do. According to Oxygen, Beverly's murder brought new attention to realtor,

safety, her son, Carl Carter Jr., became a real estate agent and partnered with the Arkansas Realtors Association to train agents on safety practices. The Arkansas Realtors Association Safety Committee recommends using a buddy system, meeting with clients at an office before showing, and making a copy of a client's driver's license. And like you said, this is not the first case we've done, where a realtor has been murdered, meeting a client out at some house. And inevitably, there are changes made. And you see that in other professions as well, right? Some type of tragedy forces people to examine the way they do thing and make changes.

Carl Jr. also founded the Beverly Carter Foundation to continue to raise awareness. about real estate safety. And I know this is something that we've talked about before, right? Real estate can be dangerous work, especially for women, you know, if they're going out alone. Sometimes these agents are meeting people at night in rural areas. vacant homes. vacant homes. Yeah, these are dangerous situations.

So agent safety remains an ongoing issue in the industry. Because I do think the buddy system is great. but, I mean, back to your earlier point, you know, what if something comes up last minute and you have this buyer who seems too good to be true and nobody else is around? Are you going to pass up that opportunity? Probably not, especially if you're in the same scenario, Beverly was where she was having an off year and just wanted to get some deals going. You're thinking, married couple, ready to buy.

This could help out. This could help out my bottom line. I better go meet them. Otherwise, somebody else will. And I'll lose out on the commission. Yeah, going from 12 million to 2 million, that is a big difference. Yeah, that's a big sales drop. When you factor in, you know, the commissions on those amounts.

But that's it for our episode on Aaron Lewis and Crystal Lowry. Such a senseless death, right, as so many of them are. But here you have two. people in need of money. And they come up with this brilliant plan. I'm using brilliant in my air quotes to kidnap who they believe is a very rich real estate broker. Yeah.

And then they're going to, you know, ransom this woman and hope that her husband pays it. But they don't even get to that step of the plan. And they realized that, hey, we're in deep, you know what, we have to get rid of this person. And so ultimately, they got nothing and took this woman's life for absolutely nothing. And then, let's not forget, ran her name through the mud, you know, saying she was on all these sex sites and looking for partners and having three ways. and I'm not happy

about these two individuals at all. We've got some voicemails, Gibbs. You want to check those out? Let's hear them. I think Gibby, what's up? This is Kenneth Taylor out of St. Louis.

Man, I'm not sure if you guys even heard my last voicemail. It dawned on me, though. I was like, I don't think I listened all the way through. So I started listening to voicemails and I wasn't sure what week I had left

that I was like, dang, do I have to say keep your own time ticking to get played? But anyway, man, I love the podcast. I can't stress it enough. I really loved this podcast. I was over the road.

Truck driver at first. Now, I'm local. These long hours, I just listening and listen. I can't find another podcast I like. I originally had found this unsolved. I found unsolved purse in 2021, and it drove me absolutely nuts, not knowing who did what. I really couldn't stand that. But now, here I am, whatever the date is, the last something, 2024.

And I have listened to every single truth. all the time podcast. So now I'm going back to unsolved to see if I can fathom it because, like I said, this is the only show I'm going to be listening to on these long, long days traveling through St. Louis, Illinois. So thank you guys for what you do. Really appreciate the podcast. Hopefully I can make it a crime kind under these years.

I don't know. I'm still new to this stuff, man. So you guys take care, keep doing your thing. And I guess, well, keep your own time ticking. There it is. I love that voicemail. There you go, Kenneth. Yeah.

Yeah, you're on. You're on. We do get a lot of voicemails, and I try to pick and choose. So not everyone that someone leaves gets played. Right. But when I listened to this one, I was like,

oh, we got to play this one. Because obviously he's left a couple, and he's a big fan of the show, and we really appreciate it. I'm glad he's listening to all these. Hey, Kenneth, want to have some fun?

Go out there to try our Patreon out. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You'll find a bunch more episodes there. Yeah, there's a lot out there. Good time. I can give you. It's Thomas from Montreal, Canada calling.

Just wanted to give you a quick call and say, I'm almost caught up. I started binge watching in December, and I'm basically all caught up. I'm at the Thomas Lee Bean episode, and I got to give it up. I don't have an Australian accent, but I really want to hear Gibby say, good I die, right, good I night, where did you get the rise of light? Gibby, I got to hear you say it. I love you guys. Thanks for all that you do.

And stay safe and keep your own time taking. Bye. Oh, good day. Raise the lights. You don't even remember what it is. But I will say he had me. He did. I thought he was Australian.

So he said Montreal. I'm like, well, I thought that was a little strange. But maybe he just moved to Montreal. Oh, by the way, you've been getting a lot of, you know what, in emails. Who, me? Yes. From Montreal? Yeah, about saying.

that that was like the big European city. For Canada? No, I think people are saying it's Quebec, because there's more French-speaking people or something, Quebec. Old downtown Montreal looks like a city that you would find in Europe. Oh, so now you're going by looks. Yeah. What did I say?

I don't think that's the way you explained it, but I don't know. Anyway, a lot of people are disagreeing with you. Well, that's okay. And they're saying Quebec. Are they from Quebec? Maybe. I don't know. I don't know.

But that was a pretty good Australian accent. I'm not going to lie. Yeah. It was better than yours. It said you from Buzzbein. That's not even how you say the name of the city. So you say, if you're down from there, mate. Oh, all right, buddy.

That is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike. I, Gabby. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Thank you.