AL AL - J.B. Beasley, 17, & Tracie Hawlett, 17, Ozark, 31 July 1999 #2
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somequestions
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I think everyone comes up with a theory about a case so here is mine based on a t.v. program.
I think at some point J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett turned the car around in Ozark, AL. to go back the way they came from on AL 27, whether to find the party or just backtrack. For whatever reason they made a wrong turn maybe at Bingham Ave. and ended up on someone's property somewhere. I think that property has water either on or very near it, whether man-made or natural. At some point they were assaulted for whatever reason, whether sexual or something else. Afterwards they were marched out into the middle of a pond or creek, something with a steady water level since it was said that both girls had wet pants from the knee down. The property is probably not kept up with well because of the briars on their clothes so there is the thought that it may be isolated as neighbors do not complain. Maybe they pleaded with the killer or maybe he decided it was not best to kill them on his property so he had them get into the trunk of their car. As soon as they get in he shoots them both in the head. He quickly closes the trunk, leaving the shell casing, then drives the car until he sees James street. The first side street he sees is Herring and he leaves the car on the side of the road. He cannot go any farther with the car without going into town because he knows he has to walk back. He gets out and walks home. The Bingham Ave. idea is just hypothetical in nature.
This is the theory based off the t.v. show Haunting Evidence so take it for what it is.
I think at some point J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett turned the car around in Ozark, AL. to go back the way they came from on AL 27, whether to find the party or just backtrack. For whatever reason they made a wrong turn maybe at Bingham Ave. and ended up on someone's property somewhere. I think that property has water either on or very near it, whether man-made or natural. At some point they were assaulted for whatever reason, whether sexual or something else. Afterwards they were marched out into the middle of a pond or creek, something with a steady water level since it was said that both girls had wet pants from the knee down. The property is probably not kept up with well because of the briars on their clothes so there is the thought that it may be isolated as neighbors do not complain. Maybe they pleaded with the killer or maybe he decided it was not best to kill them on his property so he had them get into the trunk of their car. As soon as they get in he shoots them both in the head. He quickly closes the trunk, leaving the shell casing, then drives the car until he sees James street. The first side street he sees is Herring and he leaves the car on the side of the road. He cannot go any farther with the car without going into town because he knows he has to walk back. He gets out and walks home. The Bingham Ave. idea is just hypothetical in nature.
This is the theory based off the t.v. show Haunting Evidence so take it for what it is.
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It was destroyed years later. And the message wasn't necessarily to the police.
We don't know they policed their brass. As far as I know, we have no idea what happened to it. It could have been left on the ground at a crime scene.
I have never heard it was an unspent bullet.
However, I am not going to defend this theory that much. I don't know what happened. This case suffers from so much misinformation and lost and tainted evidence that it is possible it never even existed.
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http://m.southeastsun.com/mobile/daleville/news/article_0cc8d965-fab7-567f-8858-80ec42772160.html
The way I read this they found two unspent bullets. Also, notice they could not use the unspent bullet in comparison because unspent bullet had no marks.... Doesn't this suggest they do (or did) in fact have ballistics? So is the 1 bullet missing or is all the ballistics missing? Those are quotes from the police chief. I may spend some time of Google earth and see if I can identify the area they are talking about. It should not be that hard.
The way I read this they found two unspent bullets. Also, notice they could not use the unspent bullet in comparison because unspent bullet had no marks.... Doesn't this suggest they do (or did) in fact have ballistics? So is the 1 bullet missing or is all the ballistics missing? Those are quotes from the police chief. I may spend some time of Google earth and see if I can identify the area they are talking about. It should not be that hard.
CoolJ
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Anybody know about this double murder in Jones County, Miss that had some similarities ?
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That is very interesting. I have never heard any of that before. This makes me think of a much more disorganized murderer...
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Herring to Mathews, Mathews to Edna. Edna is on 123 (business 231).
TedMac
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This is from DimeDetective Post#9 in the original thread:
"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.
We were discussing how the DNA "cleared" several suspects yesterday. Sometimes, I believe the semen found on Beasley has been more of a curse than a blessing in this case.
easongt
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I agree there is a strong possibility that the DNA has nothing to do with the crime. I also feel that LE may have interviewed somebody who gave an explanation. Just my opinion of course and I could be 100% wrong
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CoolJ
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Interesting that this man was extradited from Jones County to Ozark and the day before authorities in Jones County contacted Spivey about the double murder. If I am reading this article right:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.true-crime/Ce_ggcnuui0/Yu6CfJ3ZaR0J
"Mississippi authorities responded last week to a nationwide request
from Ozark police for information in cases similar to the murder of
Beasley and Hawlett.
The response arrived the day before an Ozark man was returned from
Jones County, Miss., after being picked up on an old warrant for
possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of cocaine."
somequestions
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I was at Walmart the other day and there was a guy there buying a fish. It made me think that if someone knows water, they might also know fishing. That is about the only other thing I can think of concerning the case of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett.
Can I ask a couple questions...I've tried to read all 100 pages, but my head is spinning on a couple points...
Is it definitive now that the license is in the purse, rather than the dashboard, or is this still an open question?
Is it definitive that they were or were not shot in the trunk, or was that just speculated to be the case because it might muffle the sound? I read different theories, but it would seem to be pretty elementary based on blood/matter spatter to determine if they were shot in the trunk.
This is a horrible story. I have a couple thoughts.
I tend to agree with those who think the DNA is a false lead. Especially with how long it took to turn up, and the manner in which it was found. I think it's very possible it could have been from an earlier encounter. Teenagers are very secretive about that kind of stuff, and it's quite possible that not a lot of people knew. There's a myriad of possibilities of why someone who "left" the DNA might not have come out and reported the unrelated consensual nature of it, whether they were in another relationship, were of an inappropriate age, etc. To me, if it's just deposited and left there, especially post mortem, that's something that would be most likely pretty apparent on an early inspection when it dries. I picture a scenario where the victim "cleans up" from an earlier unrelated encounter...but not clean enough that residue isn't picked up in the lab.
I also think the entire party/lost/not really lost thing is pretty nebulous, and might not even have a definitive answer. When I was that age (about ten years before the murders), having "plans" just doesn't mean what it does as an adult. In addition, in the days before ubiquitous cell phones and texting, this kind of stuff happened all the time with teenagers...saying you're going to be somewhere really meant more like you "might" be there.
The timing of having so little time before curfew to go to the party (or anywhere all that specific) implies to me that the main thing is the girls just wanted to get together...they might have gotten in the car, got in a conversation, and just started driving around. They might have had a destination in mind, or not really. That was something that was actually quite common for me (a male) at that age...you start driving, you get in a conversation, you're ambivalent about the party, decide to maybe check out another place where you heard about a party, maybe not...you're really just hanging out with your friends listening to music...and being a teenager, driving around in a car is one of the places you can do that. Back in that day before texting and being in 24/7 contact with all your friends, just getting together was a big deal, and often times more important than any given destination or activity.
I guess I'm just hesitant to put an overly huge amount of emphasis on their plans and the timeline...given they barely had time to go to a party, I think there's a good chance they just wanted to get together, maybe talk about something or someone, and just drove around. That would explain the gas used. They might have circled around and back the the same route multiple times. Maybe they eventually got lost, maybe they weren't lost, but had to call and give their mom and excuse. If you're going to get out and call your mom to tell them you're lost (as an excuse), and there are people standing there concerned, you pretty much would ask them for directions just to fit the story. You're not likely to tell them "Oh we're not really lost, we're just lying to our mom".
Just a long way of saying, I'm not sure they had to be lost OR had to be in Ozark for intentional clandestine purposes. Could just be teenage cruising.
As for the murder...I can't help but think it was something that got out of hand...that the murderer never intended to murder them whenever it started. I still think, driver's license or not, that a police impersonation is the easiest explanation of how they got stopped. Maybe he was a guy with a police fixation, who was rejected from the career. It's possible that he got his jollies by impersonating a cop and pulling over pretty women. Just that feeling of power and fear over a woman might have been enough for a guy who felt powerless with women in real life.
Somehow, I feel like it escalated...they realized he was a fake cop, maybe threatened to call the police, took off and ran. Not sure how it happened, but I think they ended up dead because the perpetrator got scared and didn't know what else to do. I think he was used to just harassing women and walking away, and it broke bad this time. I think it's possible that they were alive for awhile, while he tried to figure out another way out.
While I think he did get a sexual high from harassing women drivers in his normal game, I don't think he left his DNA or murdering them was directly a sexual act like that. I think he left the car where it did so they would be discovered because he felt bad about what happened and wanted them to be found. I don't think he considers himself a murderer who would hide bodies, and he doesn't think what happened was his fault. I think it's possible he hasn't killed again.
For those of you familiar with the area, how out of the way is it from major highways? I tend to think that he's not local, and either came into the area from out of town to play his little fake cop game, or was possibly just passing through, stopped for gas, and saw an opportunity to play. I think he could be from anywhere in the country.
I would be looking hard at anyone nationwide who might have been caught impersonating a cop, especially doing so and asking inappropriate questions of women.
Is it definitive now that the license is in the purse, rather than the dashboard, or is this still an open question?
Is it definitive that they were or were not shot in the trunk, or was that just speculated to be the case because it might muffle the sound? I read different theories, but it would seem to be pretty elementary based on blood/matter spatter to determine if they were shot in the trunk.
This is a horrible story. I have a couple thoughts.
I tend to agree with those who think the DNA is a false lead. Especially with how long it took to turn up, and the manner in which it was found. I think it's very possible it could have been from an earlier encounter. Teenagers are very secretive about that kind of stuff, and it's quite possible that not a lot of people knew. There's a myriad of possibilities of why someone who "left" the DNA might not have come out and reported the unrelated consensual nature of it, whether they were in another relationship, were of an inappropriate age, etc. To me, if it's just deposited and left there, especially post mortem, that's something that would be most likely pretty apparent on an early inspection when it dries. I picture a scenario where the victim "cleans up" from an earlier unrelated encounter...but not clean enough that residue isn't picked up in the lab.
I also think the entire party/lost/not really lost thing is pretty nebulous, and might not even have a definitive answer. When I was that age (about ten years before the murders), having "plans" just doesn't mean what it does as an adult. In addition, in the days before ubiquitous cell phones and texting, this kind of stuff happened all the time with teenagers...saying you're going to be somewhere really meant more like you "might" be there.
The timing of having so little time before curfew to go to the party (or anywhere all that specific) implies to me that the main thing is the girls just wanted to get together...they might have gotten in the car, got in a conversation, and just started driving around. They might have had a destination in mind, or not really. That was something that was actually quite common for me (a male) at that age...you start driving, you get in a conversation, you're ambivalent about the party, decide to maybe check out another place where you heard about a party, maybe not...you're really just hanging out with your friends listening to music...and being a teenager, driving around in a car is one of the places you can do that. Back in that day before texting and being in 24/7 contact with all your friends, just getting together was a big deal, and often times more important than any given destination or activity.
I guess I'm just hesitant to put an overly huge amount of emphasis on their plans and the timeline...given they barely had time to go to a party, I think there's a good chance they just wanted to get together, maybe talk about something or someone, and just drove around. That would explain the gas used. They might have circled around and back the the same route multiple times. Maybe they eventually got lost, maybe they weren't lost, but had to call and give their mom and excuse. If you're going to get out and call your mom to tell them you're lost (as an excuse), and there are people standing there concerned, you pretty much would ask them for directions just to fit the story. You're not likely to tell them "Oh we're not really lost, we're just lying to our mom".
Just a long way of saying, I'm not sure they had to be lost OR had to be in Ozark for intentional clandestine purposes. Could just be teenage cruising.
As for the murder...I can't help but think it was something that got out of hand...that the murderer never intended to murder them whenever it started. I still think, driver's license or not, that a police impersonation is the easiest explanation of how they got stopped. Maybe he was a guy with a police fixation, who was rejected from the career. It's possible that he got his jollies by impersonating a cop and pulling over pretty women. Just that feeling of power and fear over a woman might have been enough for a guy who felt powerless with women in real life.
Somehow, I feel like it escalated...they realized he was a fake cop, maybe threatened to call the police, took off and ran. Not sure how it happened, but I think they ended up dead because the perpetrator got scared and didn't know what else to do. I think he was used to just harassing women and walking away, and it broke bad this time. I think it's possible that they were alive for awhile, while he tried to figure out another way out.
While I think he did get a sexual high from harassing women drivers in his normal game, I don't think he left his DNA or murdering them was directly a sexual act like that. I think he left the car where it did so they would be discovered because he felt bad about what happened and wanted them to be found. I don't think he considers himself a murderer who would hide bodies, and he doesn't think what happened was his fault. I think it's possible he hasn't killed again.
For those of you familiar with the area, how out of the way is it from major highways? I tend to think that he's not local, and either came into the area from out of town to play his little fake cop game, or was possibly just passing through, stopped for gas, and saw an opportunity to play. I think he could be from anywhere in the country.
I would be looking hard at anyone nationwide who might have been caught impersonating a cop, especially doing so and asking inappropriate questions of women.
A quick google search turns up a perfect example of what I'm talking about. This is obviously not the murderer, but this is not at all uncommon...this just happened recently...
http://www.wpbf.com/news/man-accused-of-impersonating-cop/38854092
And another nut getting his jollies from impersonating a cop to women:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/n...onating-a-police-officer/stories/201602250132
And yet another...this is super common...
http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...6/4/1/largo_man_charged_wi.html?cmpid=bluebar
If I was on the cold case, I'd be methodically tracking down each and every one of these guys that's gotten caught in the last 15 years and trying to check them against being in Alabama on these dates.
http://www.wpbf.com/news/man-accused-of-impersonating-cop/38854092
And another nut getting his jollies from impersonating a cop to women:
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/n...onating-a-police-officer/stories/201602250132
And yet another...this is super common...
http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...6/4/1/largo_man_charged_wi.html?cmpid=bluebar
If I was on the cold case, I'd be methodically tracking down each and every one of these guys that's gotten caught in the last 15 years and trying to check them against being in Alabama on these dates.
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This case is kind of all over the place, but I believe this much is definite:
1. They got into the trunk.
2. They were shot.
3. The car was driven to where it was left on Herring.
4. The car keys are missing.
1. They got into the trunk.
2. They were shot.
3. The car was driven to where it was left on Herring.
4. The car keys are missing.
December
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From what I have read, police first saw the car parked on Herring at 3 a.m. I don't think there was any missing person report yet. After that, they come back to it at 8 a.m. The girls were found at 2 p.m.
Sometime after that, the car was towed. About a month later, it was turned over to the insurance company and destroyed.
I wonder about the front seat position. Was it the way J.B. left it? Or did the murderer have to adjust it?
Also, I have been thinking about the valuables. What if it WAS a robbery and something (like say the police driving by) made the murderer leave those items. Maybe intending to go back and try to get them?
Sometime after that, the car was towed. About a month later, it was turned over to the insurance company and destroyed.
I wonder about the front seat position. Was it the way J.B. left it? Or did the murderer have to adjust it?
Also, I have been thinking about the valuables. What if it WAS a robbery and something (like say the police driving by) made the murderer leave those items. Maybe intending to go back and try to get them?
iron_angel
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So the police came back at 8am and found the bodies at 2pm meaning they spent 6hrs handling items inside and checking/touching/standing beside the car etc.... A lot of ppl are wondering if the girls had been shot while being inside the trunk or not. I think the 6hrs frame might help with the answer because, if the cops were looking at the car wouldn't they be first, able to see the bullets hole and secondly knowing that it was shot from someone standing outside the car instead of gunshots coming from inside the trunk? It might not be something important but it would be interesting to know!
easongt
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Bullet holes only if shot through closed trunk. Otherwise holes in bottom
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This.
Also, I always figured the shooter was standing outside the open trunk, shooting down into it.
Jacqui says the bullet that killed J.B. went through the bottom of the trunk.
From some other reports I have read that blood was on the undercarriage (car was driven while blood leaked).
People from the area... What color is the mud there? Maybe the mud made the blood less obvious to the cops who weren't really looking for blood? (This is not to excuse the handling of the car.)
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