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The Southeast Sun
Kay Kirkland - Oct. 30, 2002
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A man convicted recently in the murder of an 87-year-old widow who lived near Daleville was sentenced to death Monday by Houston County Circuit Judge Ed Jackson.

A Houston County jury recommended the death penalty for Rex Allen Beckworth after convicting him at the conclusion of his trail in September.

Beckworth, 34, was convicted of capital murder Sept. 16 in the January 2000 murder of Bessie Lee Thweatt. Beckworth's step-brother, James Earl Walker, still faces trial in the case in November.

Mrs. Thweatt lived near the Houston/Dale County line on Highway 84 East. She had lived in the same house for 50 years. Her body was found by relatives Monday, Jan. 10, 2000.

Preliminary autopsy results showed Mrs. Thweatt died of a gunshot wound to the head, and she appeared to have sustained significant trauma by blows to her body before she died.

The Houston County Sheriff's Department investigation had centered on the theft of a .22 caliber rifle taken in a burglary in the north Alabama city of Piedmont Dec. 29, 1999 which was believed to have been used to kill Mrs. Thweatt sometime during the weekend of Jan. 8-10. Beckworth reportedly contended in the trial that his step-brother had fired the shot that killed Mrs. Thweatt

Sheriff's Department Commander Bill Land said burglary led to the killing. "It was a senseless killing," he said.

Beckworth and Walker were both charged with capital murder in connection with the execution-style slaying of Mrs. Thweatt. The investigation had involved law enforcement agencies throughout the state and in neighboring states, as well as the FBI.

Land said Beckworth and Walker surfaced as suspects in the brutal murder shortly after a rifle believed to be the murder weapon was found in a creek near Mrs. Thweatt's home. The Remington Speed Master Model 552, with its stock removed, was found Jan. 21, 2000 in the creek at Power Dam Road.

The rifle was later determined by forensic experts to be the same weapon used to kill the elderly widow. The trail of evidence eventually led to warrants issued for Beckworth and Walker, who were taken into custody weeks apart at different locations.

Other News Links

November 10, 2009 - DothanEagle.com

Case Law 1041931 - March 30, 2007 - FindLaw.com

August 21, 2003 - WTVY.com (Video)

September 18, 2002 - SoutheastSun.com

August 16, 2000 - SoutheastSun.com

Criminal Details

caselaw.FindLaw.com
August 25, 2006

Antonio Devoe Jones was convicted of one count of murder made capital in connection with the death of Ruth Kirkland because it was committed during the course of a burglary in the first degree. See § 13A-5-40(a)(4), Ala.Code 1975. The jury recommended, by a vote of 11 to 1, that Jones be sentenced to death. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Jones to death.

The State's evidence tended to show that on the afternoon of December 31, 1999, 80-year-old Ruth Kirkland drove her 1990 white Cadillac automobile to the grocery store to purchase groceries. Mrs. Kirkland, who had lived alone since the death of her husband, was a petite woman, who had suffered a stroke, leaving her with a limp and a weak right arm. As a result of the stroke, Mrs. Kirkland used a walker or a cane to get around. It was generally known in the community that Mrs. Kirkland kept money inside her house.

According to testimony at trial, because of her condition, it took Mrs. Kirkland several trips to carry her groceries inside, and it became dark before she got all her groceries into her house. Because Mrs. Kirkland did not like to be outside after dark, she left the remaining groceries in her car for the night.

Some time later, Antonio Jones went to Mrs. Kirkland's house, turned off the circuit breakers outside, and went inside. From the evidence, the police were unable to determine whether Jones broke into the house or whether Mrs. Kirkland opened the door to investigate the power failure, allowing Jones to enter unimpeded.

Upon gaining entry to the house, Jones beat and kicked Mrs. Kirkland as she attempted to defend herself. Jones broke Mrs. Kirkland's wrists as she attempted to ward off his blows. In addition to using his hands and feet to assault Mrs. Kirkland, Jones also used one of Mrs. Kirkland's walking canes and a broken chair leg to savagely beat Mrs. Kirkland. Splatters of Mrs. Kirkland's blood were found in various locations and pieces of her broken cane were found in several different rooms.

At some point, Jones dumped the contents of Mrs. Kirkland's purse on the floor. Mrs. Kirkland kept the keys to her car in her purse. He also searched the house for the money Mrs. Kirkland reportedly kept in her house, ransacking the house, leaving open several drawers and cabinets. Mrs. Kirkland's body was found near the armoire where she kept her money. Jones took Mrs. Kirkland's car keys-and possibly other undetermined items-and left Mrs. Kirkland's house driving her white Cadillac.

That same evening, Linda Parrish, Mrs. Kirkland's daughter, became concerned when she was unable to contact her mother by telephone. Mrs. Parrish asked her son, Brent Parrish-a Dothan police officer-to go by Mrs. Kirkland's house and check on her. Officer Parrish arrived at his grandmother's house shortly before 8:00 p.m. He noticed that no lights were on inside the house and that Mrs. Kirkland's white Cadillac was missing. As he approached the house, Officer Parrish discovered that the back door was open. Officer Parrish notified the police and waited for help to arrive. When the other officers arrived, the police entered Mrs. Kirkland's house and discovered her body lying on the floor.

Concluding that Mrs. Kirkland's assailant had taken her automobile, the police began searching for the white Cadillac. Around 9:00 p.m., an officer spotted a white Cadillac matching the description of Mrs. Kirkland's. The officer activated his emergency lights, signaling the driver to stop; however, the driver failed to stop. The officer requested assistance, and several other patrol cars responded. Eventually, the police were able to stop the car near a K-Mart discount department store on the north side of Dothan. Inside the car were Jones; his sister, Lakeisha Jones; Lakeisha's baby; and Lakeisha's boyfriend. Jones, whose clothes and shoes were bloodstained, was taken into custody. During a search of the car, police discovered a number of items, including Mrs. Kirkland's remaining groceries, two of Mrs. Kirkland's walking canes, and a torn and empty envelope from SouthTrust Bank apparently given to Mrs. Kirkland when she made a withdrawal. Neither Lakeisha nor her boyfriend knew anything about Mrs. Kirkland's murder. Lakeisha did, however, tell the police that Jones was acting strangely when he picked them up earlier that evening.

Jones was transported to the Dothan Police Department. At some point, Jones voluntarily stated that he knew where to find bloody clothes related to Mrs. Kirkland's murder. Officer Jon Beeson then informed Jones of his constitutional rights in accordance with Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Jones declined to sign a waiver-of-rights form, but he did agree to accompany police officers to a bridge on Honeysuckle Road where, he claimed, the true killers of Mrs. Kirkland had disposed of their bloody clothing. Before taking Jones to the bridge, officers had him remove the clothes and shoes he was wearing when he was taken into custody. Jones agreed, and he changed clothes. The clothing he had been wearing was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for testing.

Thereafter, the police took Jones to the bridge on Honeysuckle Road, where they unsuccessfully searched for the reported bloody clothing. The officers also searched for footprints in the area and found none. After daylight, the officers returned to the site but again found no evidence that would support Jones's claims.

Back at the police station, Jones asked to speak to Officer Beeson again. Before talking with Jones, Beeson informed Jones of his Miranda rights a second time. At 2:55 a.m. on January 1, 2000, Jones signed a waiver-of-rights form, acknowledging that he understood his rights and that he had not been threatened or promised anything in exchange for his statement. Jones told Beeson that three other men had killed Mrs. Kirkland. Jones denied any involvement in Mrs. Kirkland's killing; he claimed that he was not present when Mrs. Kirkland was killed and that the blood on his clothes came from being around the three killers. Additionally, Jones claimed that the white Cadillac he was driving belonged to his grandfather.

Around 5:30 a.m., Jones asked to speak with Officer Beeson again, stating that he wanted to tell Beeson the “whole story.” Sgt. Jim Stanley told Jones that Beeson was unavailable, and Jones indicated that he wished to tell Stanley “the rest of the story.” Sgt. Stanley took Jones into his office, where they were joined by Officer Donovan Kilpatrick. Before allowing Jones to give his statement, Sgt. Stanley asked Jones if he remembered his Miranda rights. Jones indicated that he did. Jones proceeded to give the officers additional information regarding Mrs. Kirkland's murder. As Jones related his version of events, Sgt. Stanley made notes of what Jones told them. During Jones's second statement, he admitted being present at Mrs. Kirkland's house during the murder. Jones claimed, however, that the other three men had entered the house with the intent to commit a robbery. He claimed that when he entered Mrs. Kirkland's house, one of the three men was beating her with a walking cane. According to Jones, he took the cane away from Mrs. Kirkland's assailant and telephoned 911 for emergency assistance in an attempt to save Mrs. Kirkland. Jones also claimed that the other three men took Mrs. Kirkland's car. He claimed that after he telephoned for assistance and turned the circuit breakers back on, he became scared and fled the scene on foot. Only later, Jones claimed, did he meet up with the other three who at that time were driving Mrs. Kirkland's car. When the officers attempted to verify Jones's claims, they discovered that the three men Jones claimed had killed Mrs. Kirkland all had alibis. Likewise, no 911 emergency calls had been received from Mrs. Kirkland's home that night.

On January 2, 2000, Dr. Alfredo Paredes, a forensic pathologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, conducted a postmortem examination on Mrs. Kirkland's body. Dr. Paredes determined that the cause of Mrs. Kirkland's death was blunt-force trauma incurred during the attack. Based on his examination, Dr. Paredes concluded that Mrs. Kirkland's assailant had used his hands and/or fists, and that he had also beaten her with a walking cane and a broken chair leg. Additionally, the assailant kicked Mrs. Kirkland and “stomped” on her breasts. The blows caused over 100 separate injuries to Mrs. Kirkland's body, including severe bleeding, multiple blows to her head and face, and multiple fractures to her ribs, sternum, and arms.

The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences also conducted DNA testing on the clothing Jones was wearing when he was taken into custody. DNA testing positively matched Mrs. Kirkland's DNA to the blood found on Jones's clothing.

At trial, Jones offered two witnesses-Malik Ali Hasan and Palmer Cox-in an effort to prove either that he was not at Mrs. Kirkland's house on the night of the incident or that someone else had committed the murder. At the time of their testimony, both witnesses were incarcerated for offenses unrelated to this case.

After both sides had rested and the trial court instructed the jury on the applicable law, the jury returned a verdict finding Jones guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment.

During the penalty phase of Jones's trial, the State resubmitted all of the evidence it had introduced during the guilt phase. The State did, however, recall Dr. Alfredo Paredes to testify briefly concerning the extent of Mrs. Kirkland's injuries and whether she was conscious during her attack. Dr. Paredes testified that based on the massive bleeding and the numerous defensive injuries, he believed that Mrs. Kirkland was conscious during much of the attack.

Jones offered the testimony of several witnesses during the penalty phase. Jill Witsett, Jones's mother, testified that Jones was raised in a single-parent home and that he had no relationship with his father. She testified that the family did not have a lot of money and, on occasion, received welfare and food stamps. Witsett testified that as a child Jones was diagnosed with hyperactivity; numerous medications were prescribed to treat his condition. According to Witsett, when Jones took his medication, he was much calmer. Jones's aunt, Marilyn Walker, and his sister, Lakeisha Jones, also testified. Both women testified concerning the difficult circumstances of Jones's youth.

Edwina Culp, a GED instructor at the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center in Dothan, testified that Jones had attended GED classes at the Saliba Center. She testified that while attending classes, Jones's progress fluctuated. She testified that an individual's home environment could cause fluctuations in a student's progress. According to Ms. Culp, Jones “was not a troublemaker” in class; “he cooperated with me when I would ask him to do something to the best of his ability.”

Finally, Jones offered the testimony of Dr. Robert deFrancisco, a clinical forensic psychologist. Dr. deFrancisco testified that he had met with Jones on several occasions after the incident in order to evaluate his mental condition. Dr. deFrancisco determined that Jones's IQ was 81, which was “below average.” Dr. deFrancisco described Jones as a “gap child,” meaning “someone who doesn't fit into the school system ․ he's too smart to be in special ed, but he's too slow to be in a regular class.”  (R. 1432.) Dr. deFrancisco testified that as a gap child falls behind his chronological peers, “the individual becomes more and more frustrated, and ․ tend[s] to have a lot of behavior problems.” According to Dr. deFrancisco: “Under the right guidance and instruction, [Jones] can be a productive person. He is not stupid. He is not mentally retarded. And he is not crazy. He's totally misguided. And he has suffered from a horrible, horrible childhood. And I'm not justifying anything he's done. I'm explaining to you the fact that behavior does not occur in a vacuum. You just can't look at an act. You have to understand the individual.”

After both sides had rested and the trial court instructed the jury on the law applicable to the penalty phase, the jury returned an advisory verdict recommending that Jones be sentenced to death.

Criminal Details

WTVY.COM
Apr. 30, 2005

A Dothan teenager, who was sentenced to die for murder, has been ordered to spend his life in prison instead.

James Willis Bonds was just 16 when Norman Manning was shot to death in September of 1999. The 57-year-old businessman was killed during a robbery at his office near downtown Dothan. Judge Ed Jackson followed a jury's recommendation and sentenced Bonds to die.

But last month, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 vote, held that convicted killers could not be put to death if they were under the age of 18 when the crime was committed.

On Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Judge Jackson to sentence bonds to life without parole. The judge has 28 days to carry out that order.

Criminal Details

The Dothan Eagle
Greg Phillips - Mar 14, 2009

In life, Bruce Maloy stayed out of the spotlight. In death, he became a hero.

Maloy was believed to be the last of Michael McLendon's random victims, shot as he headed home after a day of work at Brooks Peanut Company in Samson.

But police now know Maloy was killed after the 51-year-old Samson resident made a desperate attempt to stop McLendon Tuesday afternoon before the gunman opened fire on the unarmed Maloy, leaving him dead on Alabama Highway 52.

And according to investigators and eyewitnesses, Maloy’s actions saved lives.

“He’s the entire reason I’m alive right now,” said Ashley Knowles, 22.

Knowles was heading to Samson from Hartford when she saw Maloy’s pickup truck heading toward her, racing alongside McLendon’s car.

She screamed as she saw Maloy ramming McLendon’s car, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

It wasn’t until later that she realized Maloy was saving her from an even worse fate.

“It looked like he was trying to push (McLendon) off the side of the road. When he saw me coming, he moved back over, because he didn't anybody else to get hurt,” Knowles said. “Right there at my driver door, I had my window down, and I heard it when he crashed right into (McLendon’s) Eclipse. I saw the Eclipse go off the road, and then I just saw dust. I knew he was shooting. If it hadn't been for Mr. Maloy, he could've shot me dead.”

Investigators say Maloy may have witnessed McLendon shoot two people at the Inland Big/Little Store, and he was moved to respond.

Gary Wigginton was downtown at Samson Seed and Feed when he heard a hail of gunfire. Moments later, he saw McLendon's Mitsubishi Eclipse at a traffic light facing east on Highway 52. Maloy was in his 1985 Isuzu Pup heading west. Wigginton said Maloy turned around and began to pursue McLendon before

Wigginton lost sight.

Greg Bowden knew Maloy for 25 years, and he was buying supplies from a downtown parts store that afternoon when Maloy’s pursuit of McLendon began.

“Undoubtedly he saw something that happened, knew that was the guy and took off after him,” Bowden said. “I saw a red car go by, and Bruce was right behind chasing him.”

Witnesses estimate the speed of the chase at 70 mph through the town.

Craig Harrison was standing by the roadside with a customer at his store when he saw his former employee, Maloy, drive by at an uncharacteristically high speed.

“Me and a customer were going outside, and we heard shots,” Harrison said. “There came the shooter’s car, and Bruce's truck was not two car lengths behind him. When they passed, I told the customer something had happened, because that boy never drove fast. He took his time. You could tell Bruce was pursuing him.”

Just a few moments later, Harrison heard two more shots, then saw the chase continue across the nearby railroad tracks.

Soon after Knowles encountered the two men in the midst of their chase, Maloy’s attempt at stopping McLendon came to an end.

Based on evidence collected at the crime scene, Alabama Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Tim Rodgers said it appears McLendon was able to pull ahead of Maloy, stop, exit the car and wait on Maloy. Skid marks indicate Maloy locked his breaks, then slammed into the back of McLendon's car. McLendon fired at least four rounds into the vehicle, then continued toward Geneva.

By the time he reached Geneva, however, police had set up a roadblock, and other nearby agencies were en route.

“What Mr. Maloy did was slow the shooter down enough that law enforcement could get to him before he even got to Geneva, so he had to worry more about police than more civilians,” said Corporal Darrell Smith of the Samson Police Department. “He ran him down on his pickup truck and was enagaging him with his truck, trying to cause the guy to wreck. Unfortunately, it ultimately cost him his life.”

Maloy’s actions may have saved lives in Samson as well.

“If (McLendon) took time to stop at the Big/Little and get out and shoot some people, it's my belief that if Bruce hadn't been chasing him, he'd have taken more time at that sidewalk by the True Value Hardware and more people would have been killed,” Bowden said. “He could've shot people down here or he could've turned off on a side road and killed more folks. I believe Bruce saved a lot of lives.”

Harrison says he wouldn’t be alive today without Maloy’s heroism.

“In my view and the customer who was out there with me, it sure looks like Bruce in pursuing the shooter may have kept him from shooting in our direction,” Harrison said. “There's no telling, between here and the Mexican restaurant and the Subway and Dollar General, what he would have done if he hadn't been preoccupied by a vehicle following him. I wonder if we would've been two more of the victims if Bruce hadn't been pursuing him. That's constantly been a thought running through my mind.”

Those who knew him say Maloy kept mostly to himself, though he always tried to make people laugh.

“He always wanted to be liked. He was a real comedian-type guy,” Harrison said. “He was a good worker and an excellent welder. In school, he was always bullied. Everybody picked on him and made fun of him. That's what makes me admire more about what he was trying to do, because if anybody had a reason not to care, it was probably him.”

According to his friends, Maloy was always willing to lend a helping hand.

“He was an all-around good guy. He'd do anything for anybody,” Bowden said. “He was just that kind of guy.”

Maloy's aunt, Reba Judson, said she was not surprised Maloy tried to stop McLendon.

"It makes me very proud of him. The loss still hurts, because that loss will always be there," Judson said. "But knowing he tried to do something makes your heart swell up inside."

The bystanders who witnessed Maloy’s courage Tuesday afternoon just wish he had survived to hear their gratitude.

“I would tell him thank you,” Knowles said. “I’m alive because of you.”

Maloy will be buried Wednesday at Shady Grove Assembly of God Church Cemetery.

Lance Griffin contributed to this article.

Geneva County Massacre

The victims were:

• Lisa White McLendon, 52, Michael McLendon's mother
• James Alford White, 55, McLendon's uncle
• Tracy Michelle Wise, 34, daughter of James White
• Dean James Wise, 15, son of Tracy Wise
• Virginia E. White, 74, McLendon's grandmother
• Andrea Dawn Myers, 31
• Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months, daughter of Andrea Myers
• James Irvin Starling, 24
• Sonya Lolley Smith, 43
• Bruce Wilson Maloy, 51

FindAGrave.com
Don Atwell - Mar. 12, 2009
View on FindAGrave.com

Alabama Department of Public Safety

MONTGOMERY – State, federal and local investigators responding to the multiple homicides March 10 in south Alabama are piecing together the sequence of events that resulted in the shooting deaths of 10 victims, the injury of six individuals, and the death of the suspect from a self-inflicted gunshot. Investigators also are working to determine a motive for the deadly attacks.

The gunman has been identified as Michael Kenneth McLendon, 28, of Coffee County.

We believe the attacks began at McLendon's mother's residence in Coffee County on County Road 474 in Kinston, where McLendon also lived. The body of a woman was discovered at the residence at approximately 3:30 p.m. when local firefighters responded to witness reports of a fire at that location. The Department of Forensic Sciences is working to confirm the identity, but the victim is believed to be Lisa White McLendon, 52, McLendon's mother.

McLendon then traveled to Samson in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five individuals on the front porch of his uncle's residence on West Pullum Street. The victims are identified as:

• Corrine Gracy Myers, 18 months, the daughter of Geneva County Deputy Josh Myers
• Andrea D. Myers, 31, mother of the 18-month-old and wife of Deputy Myers
• James Alford White, 55, identified as McLendon's uncle
• Tracy Michelle Wise, 34, identified as McLendon's cousin
• Dean James Wise, 15, identified as Ms. Wise's son and McLendon's second cousin

Injured at that residence was 4-month-old Ella K. Myers, the daughter of Deputy Myers. Ella was transported by LifeFlight to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. This morning she was listed in stable condition and scheduled for surgery.

McLendon then shot and killed Virginia E. White, 74, identified as McLendon's grandmother, who was standing in the doorway of her home on Pullum Street, next door to the residence where the first attack occurred.

McLendon then left Pullum Street, traveling north on Wise Street in a red 2003 Mitsubishi. On Wise Street, McLendon shot and killed a pedestrian, James Irvin Starling, 24. McLendon continued north onto Main Street in Samson, where he shot and injured Jeffrey Lynn Nelson, 50.

McLendon then traveled to the Inland Gas Station on Main Street in Samson, where he shot and killed Sonja Smith, 43. Injured at that location was Greg McCullough, 49. McLendon continued traveling east on Alabama 52, firing rounds into several businesses and vehicles as he drove.

At 4:01 p.m. CDT, an Alabama state trooper notified the Dothan State Trooper Post that he had received a report of a subject shooting at people in Samson, and the trooper proceeded toward Samson on Alabama 52.

McLendon, traveling east on Highway 52 toward Geneva, then shot and killed Bruce Wilson Malloy, 51, who was traveling in a vehicle on 52.

At 4:06 p.m. CDT, the Alabama state trooper encountered McLendon on Alabama 52, and McLendon fired at least seven rounds into the trooper's vehicle. The trooper, Mike Gillis, was injured slightly by broken glass, and continued the pursuit on McLendon into Geneva.

The Geneva Police Department attempted to stop McLendon using a PIT, or pursuit intervention maneuver, in front of the Wal-Mart in Geneva. McLendon fired several rounds into the officer's vehicle, injuring him with glass fragments. Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey attempted to block McLendon's exit from the area, at which time McLendon fired several rounds at the chief. Chief Lindsey was wounded in the shoulder.

McLendon continued on Highway 52, turned onto Maple Avenue in Geneva, and then onto Highway 27 north. He stopped at Reliable Products in Geneva at 4:17 p.m., where he exited his vehicle. McLendon exchanged fire with a Geneva County deputy and a state Conservation officer before entering the Reliable Products building. Within minutes, gunshots were heard, and McLendon was discovered dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

McLendon was employed at Kelley Foods of Alabama. We have identified that in 2003, he was briefly employed as a police officer in Samson, but failed to complete required training at the police academy in Montgomery. He had no known criminal record.

McLendon was armed with two assault rifles, an SKS and a Bushmaster, using high-capacity magazines taped together; a shotgun; and a .38-caliber handgun. At this time we believe that he fired in excess of 200 rounds during the assaults.

In addition to the Alabama Department of Public Safety, agencies participating in the investigation are the Geneva County Sheriff's Department, Geneva Police Department, Samson Police Department, Coffee County Sheriff's Department, Dothan Police Department, Dale County Sheriff's Department, Andalusia Police Department, Covington County Sheriff's Department, New Brockton Police Department, Ozark Police Department, State Fire Marshal, Alabama Beverage Control Board, Conservation and Natural Resources, Department of Forensic Sciences, Emergency Management Agency, Alabama Power Company investigators, the FBI, ATF, and Ft. Rucker Police Department.

Other News Links

March 2009 - V.O.C.A.L. Samson Massacre Story

March 11, 2009 1am - CNN.com

March 11, 2009 10pm - CNN.com

March 11, 2009 - ABCNEWS.com

March 11, 2009 - NYTimes.com

Wikipedia - Geneva County Massacre

Michael McLendon - Murderpedia.com

WTVY.com
Ken Curtis - July 6, 2015
View WTVY.com article

Dothan It’s been nearly 16 years since the body of Cynthia Gail Wilson was found in a remote area less than a mile from Ross Clark Circle. Her remains were discovered just off Columbia Highway after police received an anonymous telephone tip.

“There’s always a chance any cold case can be solved,” said Police Lt. Scott Long, who was a young investigator at the time. Long, today, supervises the Criminal Investigation Division of the department. “We spent many, many hours out here processing this particular scene.”

Wilson is believed to have been dead for nearly a month when her decomposing body was discovered October 8, 1999. Police say they received a tip from a pay phone caller telling them where the body was located. The man claimed he was picking up aluminum cans when he spotted it.

WTVY news files reveals the man called a second time after police issued pleas through the media that he do so. Both calls originated outside convenience stores but the man who placed them was never located. Police, at the time, said he was not considered a suspect in Wilson’s killing according to a news report filed by Wayne May who is now WTVY’s assignment manager.

Wilson’s daughter, Latasha Miller, was in her early 20’s at the time her mother was killed. She revisited the murder scene Monday---brush had grown so thick over the years it was difficult to locate the cross.

What is not difficult for Ms. Wilson is remembering the day she learned of Wilson’s death. “We were at my sister’s house and we were all just sitting around when we got the phone call and I was just in shock,” she recalled.

Cynthia Wilson, 44 years at the time of her death, was last seen four weeks before her body was discovered. She was last seen in the 600 of East Newton Street talking to person police have never been able to identify.

Long said it’s unclear if Wilson was killed where her body was found or murdered elsewhere and the body dumped at the site. In fact, Long said the remains were so decomposed that the way she was murdered has never been determined though natural causes and suicide have been ruled out.

“The fact so many years have gone by troubles us a great deal because that person has not been brought to justice. “It’s personal to me, especially since I was one of the initial investigators assigned to the case,” Long said.

Criminal Details

ago.alabama.gov
July 19, 2017

On Saturday, July 31, 1999, JB Hilton Green Beasley, white female and Tracie Hawlett, white female, both 17 years of age, were reported missing to the Dothan Police Department by family members. The girls were reportedly headed to a party and were last seen in Ozark, Alabama. At about 9:00 A.M. on Sunday, August 1, 1999, the vehicle they were traveling in, a black Mazda, was located on Herring Avenue in Ozark by the Ozark Police Department. It was later determined that both girls were deceased in the trunk of that vehicle; both were victims of apparent homicide.

Anyone with information on these murders is urged to contact the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, Cold Case Unit Toll Free Tip Line at (866) 419-1236 or email [email protected]. You could be eligible for a reward.

WebSleuths.com
DimeDective - March 5, 2013

I've been researching this case for the past couple of months. I've organized all the facts uncovered thus far into a sort of case file, which follows in its entirety. It is my hope that this will provide a foundation on which we can build, ignite a new conversation and bring some much-needed attention to this ice-cold case. —DD

1. ON THE WAY TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY

At approximately 10:00 p.m. on the night of Saturday, July 31, 1999, Northview High School incoming seniors J.B. Hilton Green Beasley, 17, and Tracie Jean Hawlett, 17, left their hometown of Dothan, Alabama, together in Beasley’s 1993 black Mazda 929. It was Beasley’s 17th birthday, and the friends were headed to a “field” party for her at the rural home of Beasley’s friend and fellow dancer Janna Hare in Headland, about 10 miles north of Dothan.

Earlier that evening Tracie Hawlett had finished her shift in the menswear department at J.C. Penney, left work shortly after 9:00 p.m., and went home to change clothes before Beasley, of 205 Woodleigh Road in Dothan, arrived to pick her up sometime between 9:45 and just past 10:00 at her house in the Hickory Hill Drive/Rock Spring Road neighborhood in Dothan.

The girls never arrived at the party. Carol Roberts, Tracie Hawlett’s mother, said, “They never found the party. They just couldn’t understand the directions.”

2. LOST

Beasley and Hawlett were spotted in Headland at about 10:30 p.m. Police records show that they stopped at a BP gas station near the intersection of Routes 173 and 431 in Headland, where they used one of two side-by-side pay phones to call friends, probably to get clearer directions to the party or possibly to tell friends they wouldn’t be able to make it: Hawlett’s curfew that night was 11:30 p.m., giving the girls a relatively short night out given their departure time, made all the shorter by their becoming lost.

One hour later, just after 11:30 p.m., Beasley and Hawlett turned up in Ozark -- more than 20 miles northwest of Dothan -- at the Big/Little convenience store-Chevron station located at 763 East Broad Street. The store had closed for the evening. Beasley and Hawlett encountered a woman, Marilyn Merritt, and her daughter, who had stopped to buy a soda; the girls asked for and were provided directions to U.S. Highway 231, which would take them the 20 miles southeast to Dothan. Merritt and her daughter later told police that Beasley’s car was spotless, the girls were clean and nothing seemed awry. 

Using the pay phone at the far right end of the store front, Tracie Hawlett then called her mother to say they had gotten lost and wound up in Ozark but had gotten directions and were on their way home. Carol Roberts stated, “Nothing was wrong in Tracie’s voice. It was ‘Mom, I love you. Be home soon.’”

Merritt and her daughter then saw Beasley and Hawlett pull out of the parking lot and turn right toward the highway, as directed. It was the last time Beasley and Hawlett were seen alive.

3. THE NEXT MORNING

Exhausted from a double shift as a nurse's aide at Wesley Manor nursing home, Carol Roberts fell asleep after the call from her daughter. When she awoke at 5:00 a.m., Tracie had not returned. Of Tracie’s failure to return that night, Roberts stated, “Tracie’s never late. I knew that something beyond her control was keeping her from getting home.”

At 8:00 that morning, August 1, 1999, Roberts called Dothan police. Officers started to search for a possible car wreck.

At almost that exact moment, Ozark police officers found Beasley's black Mazda 929 just before 8:00 a.m., parked along Herring Avenue, about 30 yards from the James Street intersection, less than a mile from the pay phone Hawlett had used the night before. Though a residential street, the stretch of Herring Avenue where the car was found is houseless, flanked by dense woods on both sides. It is dark in the daytime and near pitch-black at night.

4. THE CAR

According to police, when the car was initially found, there were no outright signs of foul play. Police say why the girls stopped remains a mystery. They say it doesn't look like someone forced the girls off the road, since there was no damage to the car.

Though undamaged, the car was muddy and almost out of gas despite a fill-up the day before. When police found the car, the driver's side window was rolled down a few inches and the door was unlocked. J.B. Beasley’s driver's license was on the dashboard. The girls' purses were inside the car. It appeared only the car keys were missing.

5. "SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FEELS FUNNY."

Lieutenant Rex Tipton, the chief of detectives with the Ozark Police Department, was contacted by a sergeant at the Herring Avenue scene and told about the discovery.

“I don't know why I'm bothering you," the sergeant said, "but something about this feels funny.”

Tipton told the sergeant to keep an eye on the car, figuring that teenagers may have left it there after a night of partying, which would not have been unusual. The sergeant ran the car's license plates and discovered that it was registered in Dothan, the region's largest city with just under 60,000 people. He contacted police there.

The Dothan police told Tipton they were just then taking a missing person's report from Tracie's parents.

Tipton reiterated his order to keep an eye on the car.

“At that point," Tipton said, "I didn't think about popping the trunk. There was nothing to indicate anything was wrong.”

6. INSIDE THE TRUNK

Hours passed with no sign of the girls. By lunchtime, Tipton had become worried. Dothan police sent an investigator, who planned to have the car towed back to Dothan. As officers waited for a tow truck, the Dothan investigator noticed that he could open J.B.'s trunk with an inside lever; the missing keys weren't needed.

Six hours had passed since the discovery of the car. It was nearing 2:00 p.m. when he popped the trunk:

J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were inside, each dead from a single 9mm gunshot wound to the head. 

7. CRIME SCENE DETAILS

They were clothed and showed few signs of struggle. Hawlett's arm was scratched, her pants had briars, and the $95 New Balance tennis shoes she had bought the week before were covered in mud. First into the trunk, she had been shot once in the temple.

Beasley had been shot once in the cheek. She was noticeably dirty; her shoes were muddy. 

Both girls’ pants were wet below the knee.

A single 9mm shell casing rested precariously on Hawlett’s leg.

Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive when it was confirmed that not only the girls’ purses but also their jewelry, money, and credit cards were all found inside the car.

The only known missing item is Beasley’s key chain, which holds the car’s keys. It is described as having white blocks with black letters that have a heart on one and spell out “HARD2GET.”

An autopsy revealed that the girls had not been raped and had no alcohol or drugs in their bodies.

Authorities were able to determine that the girls had not been murdered where the car was parked on Herring Avenue.

A palm print was recovered from the trunk lid.

More than two months after the crime, a stunning revelation came from state forensics examiners: They found semen on J.B. Beasley’s bra, panties, and skin. Authorities consider this discovery the key to the unsolved murders.

"You have to assume it's a sex offense, or at least came out of a sex offense," said David Emery, the district attorney of Dale and Geneva counties. "If we could find who donated that semen, I think we'll have the killer.”

8. THE STRANGE CONFESSION OF JOHNNY WILLIAM BARRENTINE

At 11:30 p.m. on the night of July 31, 1999, at the same time Tracie Hawlett called her mother from the Big/Little Store pay phone, 28-year-old part-time mechanic Johnny William Barrentine told his young wife that he was headed out to buy milk for the couple’s 2-year-old son.

Barrentine didn’t return home until shortly before 1:00 a.m., and, according to his wife, when he came in he was visibly upset. When asked, he told her his car had been “hit by a black truck with a Dothan tag near Herring Avenue.”

In the days that followed, Barrentine would confide in others that he knew something about the murders of the two teens found on Herring Avenue . “He just said he thought he might know who did it,” said Avalyn Murphy, whose boyfriend, Leon Jordan, encouraged Barrentine to go to authorities and collect the reward.

Barrentine finally took the advice.

On September 1, exactly one month after the bodies of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were found, Johnny Barrentine met with police for a four-hour, videotaped interview, ultimately offering six different stories and sometimes placing himself at the scene of the crime.

According to Ozark Police Chief Tony R. Spivey, Barrentine first said that on the night of the killings he'd seen a black truck speeding away from the area where the girls were found. 

As the interview wore on, Barrentine changed his story several times, finally telling investigators that he'd picked up a “tattooed man” he didn't know, and the two drove by the Big/Little Store. Barrentine said the man he'd given a ride got into a car with two girls -- who Barrentine identified as “the dead girls” -- and told him to follow. He said they ended up on Herring Avenue. The man got the girls out of the car. Barrentine said he soon heard two gunshots and the man returned. Barrentine gave the man a ride away from the scene, then went home.

In another version, Barrentine confessed to investigators that the man he’d picked up and given a ride home wasn’t unknown to him at all -- it was his neighbor. Alarmingly, Barrentine lived just eight-tenths of a mile from where police found the bodies.

Police arrested Barrentine then and there, naming him the prime suspect and charging him with two counts of capital murder.

But there were problems with his account. He never mentioned sexual activity that would account for the semen found on Beasley. The neighbor he implicated had an alibi for the evening and, like Barrentine, did not match the DNA samples.

Barrentine, whose police mug shot makes him look like he might have just been startled from a slumber, immediately said he'd fabricated the whole story in hopes of scoring some quick cash. 

“I didn't see anything,” he later told a grand jury. “I made up everything to get the reward money.”

“He says he was there,” Police Chief Spivey said, explaining what made Barrentine a suspect. “He relayed to us about getting the girls out of the car. One of the girls ran. The girls were combative. The individual placed the girls in the trunk. Two shots were fired. The gunman comes back to the car. Something is in his hand. He drove the gunman outside the city. He returned home.”

In a September 21 preliminary hearing, Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Charles Huggins testified that Barrentine was able to describe the girls’ clothing and other items consistent with the girls and the crime.

Police Chief Spivey said the district attorney, who was present during the September 1 interview, instructed police to arrest Barrentine. When Barrentine’s arrest was announced at a September press conference, Spivey said police were confident they had arrested the right man.

"What do you do?" Spivey would say later. “If you don't charge him, maybe you just let a killer walk out the door. You're between a rock and a hard place.”

Barrentine was held without bond in the Dale County jail from his September 1 arrest on. In an October 18 bond hearing before Circuit Judge P.B. McLauchlin, Barrentine denied he was involved in the killings, though he had made the earlier statements to police that he watched the two 17-year-olds shot to death by an acquaintance of his who had “tattoos all over his arms.”

Barrentine told McLauchlin that he never picked up a tattooed man and that he didn't see anything the night of the murders. He said he simply went to the BP at about 11:00 p.m. to get milk for his little boy.

Barrentine was denied bond by McLauchlin, who then appointed 36-year veteran lawyer Bill Kominos to represent Barrentine.

Barrentine's friends and family stood by him, professing his innocence to anyone who would listen. “He did not do it,” his mother, Faye Barrentine, adamantly told reporters the day after her son's arrest. "He's not capable of doing it. He has a two-year-old son, and he is not capable of doing anything to hurt a child.”

Kominos would go on to say his client had obviously stumbled into a situation with investigators he wasn't capable of handling. “As a lawyer, you need to take what your client says with a grain of salt sometimes,” he said, speaking in slow, measured tones, his hands held together almost as if he were praying. “But I had a feeling from the very beginning, in viewing the car, in viewing the evidence, I said to myself, ‘No. Johnny Barrentine could not have done this.’”

The police were under intense pressure to make an arrest, Kominos contended. And that pile of reward money kept growing. It grew enough to lure Barrentine in, Kominos said.

“Well, they started. They questioned. And questioned. And questioned. Four hours,” the lawyer said, punctuating each sentence with a moment of silence. “It's all on video and the questions turn from questions to accusations. From accusations to suggestions.”

Barrentine, who had lived in Ozark for several years and was residing at 110 Young Avenue with his wife and son, said he first went to Spivey several days after the murders to tell him of a rumor. He gave Spivey a name and was told that police had already checked out the rumor and that the man Barrentine named was not a suspect.

Also several days after the murder, Barrentine reportedly said, he and his wife and brother-in-law went to the scene on Herring Street where the Beasley car was found. Barrentine said they were looking for something that might help the police solve the case.

Barrentine said he was tired when he told the story to police in the September 1 interview at the police station. He said he was interviewed for more than four hours and was not told he could go to the bathroom or could leave at any time.

Barrentine said police "tricked me" into telling the story.

At one hearing, it was reported that Barrentine finished the seventh grade and a portion of the eighth grade, and that he was in special education courses.

Daleville lawyer Joe Gallo said he didn’t believe police, who were under intense pressure to solve the case, would drop charges against Barrentine if they believed he was remotely involved. Yet Gallo offered no explanation for Barrentine's stories, except to say Barrentine suffered mild mental retardation. "You've got me," he said.

Barrentine's DNA was compared to that of the semen found on J.B. Beasley’s body.

It did not match. 

A judge then approved Barrentine's bond request. He was released from jail on Friday, December 17. In January, a Dale County grand jury declined to indict Barrentine.

“Barrentine is living in Daleville now,” Kominos said at the time, “and is trying to pick up the pieces.” Kominos said no physical evidence exists that links Barrentine to the murders.

Police still consider him a suspect, Spivey said, noting that Barrentine is also alleged to have made a jailhouse confession.

Police have said Barrentine could be charged later if new evidence points to him.

9. OTHER SUSPECTS

• The Man from Michigan: A man from Michigan who was at a party the night of the murders near where the car was found is also a "very viable" suspect, Chief Spivey said, even after tests failed to match the man's DNA to that found on J.B. Beasley’s clothing. The man, whom Spivey would not name, left town within days of the murders, the chief said, adding that investigators have traveled to Michigan three times to interview him. The man cannot account for three or four hours of his time on the night of the murders, and later made "suspicious" statements to people, Spivey said. He would not elaborate on what he meant by suspicious.

• The Driver of the Small White Pickup Truck: A video surveillance camera inside the Big/Little Store caught a grainy, poor quality image of what appears to be a small white pickup truck at the gas pumps at the same time that J.B. and Tracie were at the outside phone calling Tracie's mother. The store had closed, and there was no record of a gas purchase being made at the pump by credit card or debit card at that time, Chief Spivey said. The video never reveals anyone getting out of the truck, and never clearly shows the driver. After releasing a photo of the truck to the media a month into the investigation, no one had come forward to say it was him in the truck. The truck -- and its driver -- seem to have disappeared. “So that may be the key,” Spivey said.

• The Man from Mississippi (Presumably ruled out - DNA): In early March 2000, it was reported that a DNA sample taken from a Jones County, Mississippi, man was being compared to samples taken from the body of J.B. Beasley, but Chief Spivey said no factual evidence known at the time linked the man to the brutal murders of Beasley and Hawlett. Spivey said the man, who was extradited from Jones County, had been arrested there on an outstanding warrant for possessions of drug paraphernalia issued in Ozark. The man had been staying in Ozark with relatives but left two days after the murders. Spivey said investigators wanted to question him in connection with the case. “He has been extensively interviewed and DNA samples have been obtained and sent to the forensics lab," Spivey said at the time. "But at this time we do not have any factual information to connect him to this case. We just want to be double sure that he's not involved.”

10. ABOUT THE VICTIMS

J.B. Hilton Green Beasley was born Saturday, July 31, 1982 in Troy, Alabama, to Hilton Lanier Beasley and Cheryl Stout. In 1984, her family moved to Dothan.

J.B. was an All-American Cheerleader in the 8th grade at Carver Middle School. She was active in dance for ten years and was the recipient of numerous dance trophies and awards. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Dothan.

Despite its brutal ending, that final Saturday evening began on a festive note. It was J. B. Beasley's 17th birthday, and there was much to celebrate. She was an up-and-coming high school senior. Her future was promising, even if her past had not been trouble-free. Her relationship with her mother was admittedly strained, and her dance instructor had become her legal guardian. Even now, Cheryl Stout-Burgoon describes her daughter as rebellious and manipulative -- albeit very smart. But others considered her spirited, including her pastor, Lawson Bryan, who called her an “extremely vivacious, friendly, outgoing person.”

Tracie Jean Hawlett was born Wednesday, March 3, 1982. She was a second-year majorette at Northview High School, as well as a beauty contest finalist. [I've had a hard time finding facts on Ms. Hawlett. I'm hoping someone can help me here. —DD]

11. INVESTIGATION: DEVELOPMENTS

Police were stumped almost from the beginning. When state and county detectives joined the hunt, more than 50 investigators were working on the case in a city with just 45 officers on its force.

An FBI suspect profiler was brought in. But the profile revealed nothing dramatic, Chief Spivey said. The profiler said the killer most likely was a young male who could be described as a loner.

2008-2009: Ozark Police Chief Tony Spivey says they have investigated new leads over the past year and a majority of those leads have taken them out of Alabama. They’ve interviewed about a dozen people according to the Chief, some in Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, Arkansas and South Carolina. But he says they’ve come up empty-handed. Chief Spivey says it is personally frustrating that they have not found the killers but the department continues to work with the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

12. AGENCIES INVOLVED IN THE INVESTIGATION

• Ozark Police Department

• Alabama Bureau of Investigation

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• Alabama State Troopers

• Dale County Sheriff’s Department

• Daleville Department of Public Safety

• Wiregrass Violent Crime/Drug Task Force

• FBI Violent Crimes Task Force

• Dothan Police Department

• Houston County Sheriff’s Department

• Alabama Department of Game and Fish

• Dale County District Attorney’s Office

• Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences

• Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit

• Richard Walters, Cold Case Investigator

• Attorney General Troy King’s Cold Case Commission

13. TELEVISION COVERAGE

• Summer 2000: Spivey contacts America’s Most Wanted. The FOX network television show had helped Ozark police catch two suspects in a 1989 murder case.

• July 28, 2007: AMW airs a segment on the Beasley-Hawlett murders.

• August 15, 2007: CourtTV’s Haunting Evidence “Wiregrass Murders” (Beasley-Hawlett murders) episode airs.

14. A WITNESS

Since the day police discovered the bodies, they have said that J.B. and Tracie were shot while inside the Mazda's trunk. And, they've said, they believed the actual shooting happened somewhere other than where the car was found.

Yet, months into the investigation, police couldn't say where that somewhere else was.

Then, in March 2000, a woman who lived just south of town reported that she heard screams and what sounded like two gunshots on the night of the murders.

The woman didn't report the information sooner because she "didn't want to get involved," Chief Spivey said.

The area, next to what neighbors said is a now-vacant house, is surrounded by trees and has two World War II-era buildings on the property. The spider-web-encrusted buildings -- wooden structures that appear to be a barn and a half-collapsed garage -- sit about 100 feet off the roadway.

With FBI help, Spivey said, crime scene specialists and investigators combed the area and found a spent 9mm shell casing, the same caliber casing found in the trunk with the bodies.

Police sent the casing and a soil sample from the area to the state forensics lab, where they still sit. [July 2000]

Tipton said forensics experts will compare the dirt from that location with dirt found on J.B.'s and Tracie's clothing.

He said they will also examine the unique "extraction marks" left on the two casings by the gun that ejected them.

Because investigators are still awaiting those test results from the forensics lab, they don't know if the scene south of town is the actual murder scene.

Criminal Details

ago.alabama.gov
July 19, 2017

On Saturday, July 31, 1999, JB Hilton Green Beasley, white female and Tracie Hawlett, white female, both 17 years of age, were reported missing to the Dothan Police Department by family members. The girls were reportedly headed to a party and were last seen in Ozark, Alabama. At about 9:00 A.M. on Sunday, August 1, 1999, the vehicle they were traveling in, a black Mazda, was located on Herring Avenue in Ozark by the Ozark Police Department. It was later determined that both girls were deceased in the trunk of that vehicle; both were victims of apparent homicide.

Anyone with information on these murders is urged to contact the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, Cold Case Unit Toll Free Tip Line at (866) 419-1236 or email [email protected]. You could be eligible for a reward.

WebSleuths.com
DimeDective - March 5, 2013

I've been researching this case for the past couple of months. I've organized all the facts uncovered thus far into a sort of case file, which follows in its entirety. It is my hope that this will provide a foundation on which we can build, ignite a new conversation and bring some much-needed attention to this ice-cold case. —DD

1. ON THE WAY TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY

At approximately 10:00 p.m. on the night of Saturday, July 31, 1999, Northview High School incoming seniors J.B. Hilton Green Beasley, 17, and Tracie Jean Hawlett, 17, left their hometown of Dothan, Alabama, together in Beasley’s 1993 black Mazda 929. It was Beasley’s 17th birthday, and the friends were headed to a “field” party for her at the rural home of Beasley’s friend and fellow dancer Janna Hare in Headland, about 10 miles north of Dothan.

Earlier that evening Tracie Hawlett had finished her shift in the menswear department at J.C. Penney, left work shortly after 9:00 p.m., and went home to change clothes before Beasley, of 205 Woodleigh Road in Dothan, arrived to pick her up sometime between 9:45 and just past 10:00 at her house in the Hickory Hill Drive/Rock Spring Road neighborhood in Dothan.

The girls never arrived at the party. Carol Roberts, Tracie Hawlett’s mother, said, “They never found the party. They just couldn’t understand the directions.”

2. LOST

Beasley and Hawlett were spotted in Headland at about 10:30 p.m. Police records show that they stopped at a BP gas station near the intersection of Routes 173 and 431 in Headland, where they used one of two side-by-side pay phones to call friends, probably to get clearer directions to the party or possibly to tell friends they wouldn’t be able to make it: Hawlett’s curfew that night was 11:30 p.m., giving the girls a relatively short night out given their departure time, made all the shorter by their becoming lost.

One hour later, just after 11:30 p.m., Beasley and Hawlett turned up in Ozark -- more than 20 miles northwest of Dothan -- at the Big/Little convenience store-Chevron station located at 763 East Broad Street. The store had closed for the evening. Beasley and Hawlett encountered a woman, Marilyn Merritt, and her daughter, who had stopped to buy a soda; the girls asked for and were provided directions to U.S. Highway 231, which would take them the 20 miles southeast to Dothan. Merritt and her daughter later told police that Beasley’s car was spotless, the girls were clean and nothing seemed awry. 

Using the pay phone at the far right end of the store front, Tracie Hawlett then called her mother to say they had gotten lost and wound up in Ozark but had gotten directions and were on their way home. Carol Roberts stated, “Nothing was wrong in Tracie’s voice. It was ‘Mom, I love you. Be home soon.’”

Merritt and her daughter then saw Beasley and Hawlett pull out of the parking lot and turn right toward the highway, as directed. It was the last time Beasley and Hawlett were seen alive.

3. THE NEXT MORNING

Exhausted from a double shift as a nurse's aide at Wesley Manor nursing home, Carol Roberts fell asleep after the call from her daughter. When she awoke at 5:00 a.m., Tracie had not returned. Of Tracie’s failure to return that night, Roberts stated, “Tracie’s never late. I knew that something beyond her control was keeping her from getting home.”

At 8:00 that morning, August 1, 1999, Roberts called Dothan police. Officers started to search for a possible car wreck.

At almost that exact moment, Ozark police officers found Beasley's black Mazda 929 just before 8:00 a.m., parked along Herring Avenue, about 30 yards from the James Street intersection, less than a mile from the pay phone Hawlett had used the night before. Though a residential street, the stretch of Herring Avenue where the car was found is houseless, flanked by dense woods on both sides. It is dark in the daytime and near pitch-black at night.

4. THE CAR

According to police, when the car was initially found, there were no outright signs of foul play. Police say why the girls stopped remains a mystery. They say it doesn't look like someone forced the girls off the road, since there was no damage to the car.

Though undamaged, the car was muddy and almost out of gas despite a fill-up the day before. When police found the car, the driver's side window was rolled down a few inches and the door was unlocked. J.B. Beasley’s driver's license was on the dashboard. The girls' purses were inside the car. It appeared only the car keys were missing.

5. "SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FEELS FUNNY."

Lieutenant Rex Tipton, the chief of detectives with the Ozark Police Department, was contacted by a sergeant at the Herring Avenue scene and told about the discovery.

“I don't know why I'm bothering you," the sergeant said, "but something about this feels funny.”

Tipton told the sergeant to keep an eye on the car, figuring that teenagers may have left it there after a night of partying, which would not have been unusual. The sergeant ran the car's license plates and discovered that it was registered in Dothan, the region's largest city with just under 60,000 people. He contacted police there.

The Dothan police told Tipton they were just then taking a missing person's report from Tracie's parents.

Tipton reiterated his order to keep an eye on the car.

“At that point," Tipton said, "I didn't think about popping the trunk. There was nothing to indicate anything was wrong.”

6. INSIDE THE TRUNK

Hours passed with no sign of the girls. By lunchtime, Tipton had become worried. Dothan police sent an investigator, who planned to have the car towed back to Dothan. As officers waited for a tow truck, the Dothan investigator noticed that he could open J.B.'s trunk with an inside lever; the missing keys weren't needed.

Six hours had passed since the discovery of the car. It was nearing 2:00 p.m. when he popped the trunk:

J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were inside, each dead from a single 9mm gunshot wound to the head. 

7. CRIME SCENE DETAILS

They were clothed and showed few signs of struggle. Hawlett's arm was scratched, her pants had briars, and the $95 New Balance tennis shoes she had bought the week before were covered in mud. First into the trunk, she had been shot once in the temple.

Beasley had been shot once in the cheek. She was noticeably dirty; her shoes were muddy. 

Both girls’ pants were wet below the knee.

A single 9mm shell casing rested precariously on Hawlett’s leg.

Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive when it was confirmed that not only the girls’ purses but also their jewelry, money, and credit cards were all found inside the car.

The only known missing item is Beasley’s key chain, which holds the car’s keys. It is described as having white blocks with black letters that have a heart on one and spell out “HARD2GET.”

An autopsy revealed that the girls had not been raped and had no alcohol or drugs in their bodies.

Authorities were able to determine that the girls had not been murdered where the car was parked on Herring Avenue.

A palm print was recovered from the trunk lid.

More than two months after the crime, a stunning revelation came from state forensics examiners: They found semen on J.B. Beasley’s bra, panties, and skin. Authorities consider this discovery the key to the unsolved murders.

"You have to assume it's a sex offense, or at least came out of a sex offense," said David Emery, the district attorney of Dale and Geneva counties. "If we could find who donated that semen, I think we'll have the killer.”

8. THE STRANGE CONFESSION OF JOHNNY WILLIAM BARRENTINE

At 11:30 p.m. on the night of July 31, 1999, at the same time Tracie Hawlett called her mother from the Big/Little Store pay phone, 28-year-old part-time mechanic Johnny William Barrentine told his young wife that he was headed out to buy milk for the couple’s 2-year-old son.

Barrentine didn’t return home until shortly before 1:00 a.m., and, according to his wife, when he came in he was visibly upset. When asked, he told her his car had been “hit by a black truck with a Dothan tag near Herring Avenue.”

In the days that followed, Barrentine would confide in others that he knew something about the murders of the two teens found on Herring Avenue . “He just said he thought he might know who did it,” said Avalyn Murphy, whose boyfriend, Leon Jordan, encouraged Barrentine to go to authorities and collect the reward.

Barrentine finally took the advice.

On September 1, exactly one month after the bodies of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were found, Johnny Barrentine met with police for a four-hour, videotaped interview, ultimately offering six different stories and sometimes placing himself at the scene of the crime.

According to Ozark Police Chief Tony R. Spivey, Barrentine first said that on the night of the killings he'd seen a black truck speeding away from the area where the girls were found. 

As the interview wore on, Barrentine changed his story several times, finally telling investigators that he'd picked up a “tattooed man” he didn't know, and the two drove by the Big/Little Store. Barrentine said the man he'd given a ride got into a car with two girls -- who Barrentine identified as “the dead girls” -- and told him to follow. He said they ended up on Herring Avenue. The man got the girls out of the car. Barrentine said he soon heard two gunshots and the man returned. Barrentine gave the man a ride away from the scene, then went home.

In another version, Barrentine confessed to investigators that the man he’d picked up and given a ride home wasn’t unknown to him at all -- it was his neighbor. Alarmingly, Barrentine lived just eight-tenths of a mile from where police found the bodies.

Police arrested Barrentine then and there, naming him the prime suspect and charging him with two counts of capital murder.

But there were problems with his account. He never mentioned sexual activity that would account for the semen found on Beasley. The neighbor he implicated had an alibi for the evening and, like Barrentine, did not match the DNA samples.

Barrentine, whose police mug shot makes him look like he might have just been startled from a slumber, immediately said he'd fabricated the whole story in hopes of scoring some quick cash. 

“I didn't see anything,” he later told a grand jury. “I made up everything to get the reward money.”

“He says he was there,” Police Chief Spivey said, explaining what made Barrentine a suspect. “He relayed to us about getting the girls out of the car. One of the girls ran. The girls were combative. The individual placed the girls in the trunk. Two shots were fired. The gunman comes back to the car. Something is in his hand. He drove the gunman outside the city. He returned home.”

In a September 21 preliminary hearing, Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Charles Huggins testified that Barrentine was able to describe the girls’ clothing and other items consistent with the girls and the crime.

Police Chief Spivey said the district attorney, who was present during the September 1 interview, instructed police to arrest Barrentine. When Barrentine’s arrest was announced at a September press conference, Spivey said police were confident they had arrested the right man.

"What do you do?" Spivey would say later. “If you don't charge him, maybe you just let a killer walk out the door. You're between a rock and a hard place.”

Barrentine was held without bond in the Dale County jail from his September 1 arrest on. In an October 18 bond hearing before Circuit Judge P.B. McLauchlin, Barrentine denied he was involved in the killings, though he had made the earlier statements to police that he watched the two 17-year-olds shot to death by an acquaintance of his who had “tattoos all over his arms.”

Barrentine told McLauchlin that he never picked up a tattooed man and that he didn't see anything the night of the murders. He said he simply went to the BP at about 11:00 p.m. to get milk for his little boy.

Barrentine was denied bond by McLauchlin, who then appointed 36-year veteran lawyer Bill Kominos to represent Barrentine.

Barrentine's friends and family stood by him, professing his innocence to anyone who would listen. “He did not do it,” his mother, Faye Barrentine, adamantly told reporters the day after her son's arrest. "He's not capable of doing it. He has a two-year-old son, and he is not capable of doing anything to hurt a child.”

Kominos would go on to say his client had obviously stumbled into a situation with investigators he wasn't capable of handling. “As a lawyer, you need to take what your client says with a grain of salt sometimes,” he said, speaking in slow, measured tones, his hands held together almost as if he were praying. “But I had a feeling from the very beginning, in viewing the car, in viewing the evidence, I said to myself, ‘No. Johnny Barrentine could not have done this.’”

The police were under intense pressure to make an arrest, Kominos contended. And that pile of reward money kept growing. It grew enough to lure Barrentine in, Kominos said.

“Well, they started. They questioned. And questioned. And questioned. Four hours,” the lawyer said, punctuating each sentence with a moment of silence. “It's all on video and the questions turn from questions to accusations. From accusations to suggestions.”

Barrentine, who had lived in Ozark for several years and was residing at 110 Young Avenue with his wife and son, said he first went to Spivey several days after the murders to tell him of a rumor. He gave Spivey a name and was told that police had already checked out the rumor and that the man Barrentine named was not a suspect.

Also several days after the murder, Barrentine reportedly said, he and his wife and brother-in-law went to the scene on Herring Street where the Beasley car was found. Barrentine said they were looking for something that might help the police solve the case.

Barrentine said he was tired when he told the story to police in the September 1 interview at the police station. He said he was interviewed for more than four hours and was not told he could go to the bathroom or could leave at any time.

Barrentine said police "tricked me" into telling the story.

At one hearing, it was reported that Barrentine finished the seventh grade and a portion of the eighth grade, and that he was in special education courses.

Daleville lawyer Joe Gallo said he didn’t believe police, who were under intense pressure to solve the case, would drop charges against Barrentine if they believed he was remotely involved. Yet Gallo offered no explanation for Barrentine's stories, except to say Barrentine suffered mild mental retardation. "You've got me," he said.

Barrentine's DNA was compared to that of the semen found on J.B. Beasley’s body.

It did not match. 

A judge then approved Barrentine's bond request. He was released from jail on Friday, December 17. In January, a Dale County grand jury declined to indict Barrentine.

“Barrentine is living in Daleville now,” Kominos said at the time, “and is trying to pick up the pieces.” Kominos said no physical evidence exists that links Barrentine to the murders.

Police still consider him a suspect, Spivey said, noting that Barrentine is also alleged to have made a jailhouse confession.

Police have said Barrentine could be charged later if new evidence points to him.

9. OTHER SUSPECTS

• The Man from Michigan: A man from Michigan who was at a party the night of the murders near where the car was found is also a "very viable" suspect, Chief Spivey said, even after tests failed to match the man's DNA to that found on J.B. Beasley’s clothing. The man, whom Spivey would not name, left town within days of the murders, the chief said, adding that investigators have traveled to Michigan three times to interview him. The man cannot account for three or four hours of his time on the night of the murders, and later made "suspicious" statements to people, Spivey said. He would not elaborate on what he meant by suspicious.

• The Driver of the Small White Pickup Truck: A video surveillance camera inside the Big/Little Store caught a grainy, poor quality image of what appears to be a small white pickup truck at the gas pumps at the same time that J.B. and Tracie were at the outside phone calling Tracie's mother. The store had closed, and there was no record of a gas purchase being made at the pump by credit card or debit card at that time, Chief Spivey said. The video never reveals anyone getting out of the truck, and never clearly shows the driver. After releasing a photo of the truck to the media a month into the investigation, no one had come forward to say it was him in the truck. The truck -- and its driver -- seem to have disappeared. “So that may be the key,” Spivey said.

• The Man from Mississippi (Presumably ruled out - DNA): In early March 2000, it was reported that a DNA sample taken from a Jones County, Mississippi, man was being compared to samples taken from the body of J.B. Beasley, but Chief Spivey said no factual evidence known at the time linked the man to the brutal murders of Beasley and Hawlett. Spivey said the man, who was extradited from Jones County, had been arrested there on an outstanding warrant for possessions of drug paraphernalia issued in Ozark. The man had been staying in Ozark with relatives but left two days after the murders. Spivey said investigators wanted to question him in connection with the case. “He has been extensively interviewed and DNA samples have been obtained and sent to the forensics lab," Spivey said at the time. "But at this time we do not have any factual information to connect him to this case. We just want to be double sure that he's not involved.”

10. ABOUT THE VICTIMS

J.B. Hilton Green Beasley was born Saturday, July 31, 1982 in Troy, Alabama, to Hilton Lanier Beasley and Cheryl Stout. In 1984, her family moved to Dothan.

J.B. was an All-American Cheerleader in the 8th grade at Carver Middle School. She was active in dance for ten years and was the recipient of numerous dance trophies and awards. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Dothan.

Despite its brutal ending, that final Saturday evening began on a festive note. It was J. B. Beasley's 17th birthday, and there was much to celebrate. She was an up-and-coming high school senior. Her future was promising, even if her past had not been trouble-free. Her relationship with her mother was admittedly strained, and her dance instructor had become her legal guardian. Even now, Cheryl Stout-Burgoon describes her daughter as rebellious and manipulative -- albeit very smart. But others considered her spirited, including her pastor, Lawson Bryan, who called her an “extremely vivacious, friendly, outgoing person.”

Tracie Jean Hawlett was born Wednesday, March 3, 1982. She was a second-year majorette at Northview High School, as well as a beauty contest finalist. [I've had a hard time finding facts on Ms. Hawlett. I'm hoping someone can help me here. —DD]

11. INVESTIGATION: DEVELOPMENTS

Police were stumped almost from the beginning. When state and county detectives joined the hunt, more than 50 investigators were working on the case in a city with just 45 officers on its force.

An FBI suspect profiler was brought in. But the profile revealed nothing dramatic, Chief Spivey said. The profiler said the killer most likely was a young male who could be described as a loner.

2008-2009: Ozark Police Chief Tony Spivey says they have investigated new leads over the past year and a majority of those leads have taken them out of Alabama. They’ve interviewed about a dozen people according to the Chief, some in Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, Arkansas and South Carolina. But he says they’ve come up empty-handed. Chief Spivey says it is personally frustrating that they have not found the killers but the department continues to work with the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

12. AGENCIES INVOLVED IN THE INVESTIGATION

• Ozark Police Department

• Alabama Bureau of Investigation

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• Alabama State Troopers

• Dale County Sheriff’s Department

• Daleville Department of Public Safety

• Wiregrass Violent Crime/Drug Task Force

• FBI Violent Crimes Task Force

• Dothan Police Department

• Houston County Sheriff’s Department

• Alabama Department of Game and Fish

• Dale County District Attorney’s Office

• Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences

• Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit

• Richard Walters, Cold Case Investigator

• Attorney General Troy King’s Cold Case Commission

13. TELEVISION COVERAGE

• Summer 2000: Spivey contacts America’s Most Wanted. The FOX network television show had helped Ozark police catch two suspects in a 1989 murder case.

• July 28, 2007: AMW airs a segment on the Beasley-Hawlett murders.

• August 15, 2007: CourtTV’s Haunting Evidence “Wiregrass Murders” (Beasley-Hawlett murders) episode airs.

14. A WITNESS

Since the day police discovered the bodies, they have said that J.B. and Tracie were shot while inside the Mazda's trunk. And, they've said, they believed the actual shooting happened somewhere other than where the car was found.

Yet, months into the investigation, police couldn't say where that somewhere else was.

Then, in March 2000, a woman who lived just south of town reported that she heard screams and what sounded like two gunshots on the night of the murders.

The woman didn't report the information sooner because she "didn't want to get involved," Chief Spivey said.

The area, next to what neighbors said is a now-vacant house, is surrounded by trees and has two World War II-era buildings on the property. The spider-web-encrusted buildings -- wooden structures that appear to be a barn and a half-collapsed garage -- sit about 100 feet off the roadway.

With FBI help, Spivey said, crime scene specialists and investigators combed the area and found a spent 9mm shell casing, the same caliber casing found in the trunk with the bodies.

Police sent the casing and a soil sample from the area to the state forensics lab, where they still sit. [July 2000]

Tipton said forensics experts will compare the dirt from that location with dirt found on J.B.'s and Tracie's clothing.

He said they will also examine the unique "extraction marks" left on the two casings by the gun that ejected them.

Because investigators are still awaiting those test results from the forensics lab, they don't know if the scene south of town is the actual murder scene.

Criminal Details

No criminal details found.

The Augusta Chronicle
Columbia County Bureau - April 21, 1999
View on Chronicle.August.com

McDuffie County sheriff's deputies found a young black male dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head on Interstate 20 Tuesday afternoon.

The body was discovered after the Georgia State Patrol received a call around 1 p.m. that there was an abandoned car near mile marker 168 on I-20, said McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall.

"The state patrol got involved at the scene of the crime after they got a call from a respondent," Sheriff Marshall said. "We don't know where the call came from."

Sheriff Marshall said the victim was found in the back seat of a Chevrolet Impala with a gunshot wound to his temple. The rear windshield of the car was shattered, where the bullet apparently exited the car.

Police would not release the victim's identity because relatives had not been notified. They said there did not appear to have been any robbery.

FBI agents suspect that the victim may be the gunman in the murder of a 22-year-old Alabama man that occurred late Monday afternoon.

Jonathan Lamont Tolbert, 22, of Troy, Ala., was shot and killed Monday evening while looking at cars with a friend at The Lemon Car Lot in Fort Rucker, Ala.

Two black males in a small, green vehicle with North Carolina tags stopped to talk to Mr. Tolbert and his friend, and at some point one of the men pulled a gun and shot Mr. Tolbert, according to FBI agents assigned to the case.

After the shooting, the suspect who fired the gun left in Mr. Tolbert's 1995 black Chevrolet Impala SS, Alabama tag 55BF874, while the other suspect left in the green car. Mr. Tolbert's friend was unharmed, said FBI agents.

The suspect who shot Mr. Tolbert was described as a black male with slender build, wearing blue jeans, a white short-sleeved shirt and black boots.

The description of the shooter matches that of the victim found in McDuffie County in Mr. Tolbert's black Impala.

A gun similar to the one used in the shooting death of Tolbert was found under the body, said FBI agents.

McDuffie County authorities on the scene would not say whether foul play was suspected or if the two deaths were related.

"We are aware of the situation in Alabama, but right now, we are not absolutely sure that the two are connected," said John Seay, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent in charge. "We are looking into the possibility that there is a connection, but we expect to know more tomorrow."

Criminal Details

No Criminal Details

No criminal information found.

Criminal Details

The Dothan Eagle
Lance Griffin - Jan. 4, 2008

Traumatized, tearful and perhaps tormented, 18-year-old Michael Newman sat in a tiny interrogation room at the Henry County Sheriff’s Department, a little more than two hours after he told deputies he was shooting at a deer when the bullet missed, then struck and killed his hunting buddy, 15-year-old Joey Drescher of Tumbleton.

Something wasn’t adding up. Deputies trying to re-create the shooting at the scene — just off Henry County Road 91 in Shorterville — couldn’t quite see how Newman could have shot toward a deer at the angle he said he was in, and hit Drescher where he was found dead.

Pushing further, the deputy asked Newman if he was willing to submit to a polygraph examination.

That’s when authorities say Newman changed his story. The shooting was accidental, he said, but he didn’t miss a deer in plain view and hit Drescher, who could not be seen in the background. Newman told deputies he simply shot at movement in a pine thicket. He thought the movement was a deer, but the shot from his .270 caliber rifle struck Drescher in the chest. Newman said he ran frantically out of the woods, found his grandfather, and the two went to a nearby store to call police.

Newman was charged with manslaughter later Thursday. He posted a $5,000 bond.

Drescher was pronounced dead at the scene around 9:30 a.m., about four hours after the two friends walked into the woods on a frigid Thursday morning.

Houston County Sheriff Will Maddox, a former Henry County game warden, said Drescher was wearing a hunter orange cap, but it was covered up by a hooded coat.

The law requires all hunters less than 12 feet off the ground to have on hunter orange. It must be visible from 360 degrees around.

Newman told police he thought Drescher was in a nearby tree stand.

“You have to constantly communicate,” Maddox said. “If they had had some communication, and if the victim had had hunter orange visible, he may still be here, alive today.”

Alabama law requires all hunting deaths to be investigated by the grand jury. The next grand jury is scheduled to convene in March, where it will determine whether to indict Newman on the manslaughter charge.

Maddox said Newman — also of Tumbleton — was “sick and distraught” over the accidental shooting of his friend. He said the two were close friends and had been hunting together many times.

Funeral arrangements for Drescher are being handled by Holman-Headland Mortuary.