AL AL - J.B. Beasley, 17, & Tracie Hawlett, 17, Ozark, 31 July 1999 #2

[SavageMarkIII]

Something I picked up on after reading the Wiregrass 40-page thread, someone, and IIRC, it was Nicodemus, used the phrase, in referring to the murderer, "hiding in plain sight". The IMDB site for "Shined Rabbit" states " family members of JB and Tracie are coming forward to reveal the murderer may be hiding in plain sight". I find that interesting. (BBM)

 

[killarney rose]

Hey Killarney Rose, I just wanted to say that I respect your opinion very much; I know you have been looking at the case a long time, and it is very possible that you are correct. If it was random, then the offender must not be the DNA donor (possible!), or he has managed to stay out of trouble (that doesn't seem likely in my opinion). I'm assuming the DNA is still in CODIS and being actively checked. I am positive that V is a creep, but that doesn't necessarily mean he killed the girls. Thanks for your leadership in the sleuthing on this case.

Thank-you for respecting my opinion. I love that we can all come together on this forum with differing ideas and in the end respect for all of them is here.

 

[singularity]

Again, it has been verified they never met up with the boys.

Maybe so....with those specific boys.

I mean no offense to the victims when I say this but these weren't church girls going out for a sundae. They clearly liked to party and weren't going to tie themselves down to specific guys.

Carol Roberts (Tracie's mom) said that Tracie was never late. She apparently never acted out and kept her mother informed of what she was doing. I believe she knew she couldn't make it back to Dothan by 11:30 so she simply called her mom to tell her they were on the way home.

Maybe it would be out of character for Tracie but there's a first time for everything.

Also....JB basically lived the life of an adult. No real parental supervision and a world without curfews or any consequences to such actions. A girl who doesn't break the rules gets mixed up with such a type, she will follow her down the same path eventually. Happens all the time.

Agreed. I think they were killed by someone they knew or at a minimum, at least one of them knew. This person was someone they did not fear or never thought would do them harm.

My money would be on JB. It may have been a situation where she knows the guy and Tracie is going along for a double date and/or to occupy whoever else is there while JB is with the guy in question.

I can't help but think that the killer was there waiting for J.B. If he was outside, they wouldn't have had to get out of the car. I have often wondered if J.B. didn't contact him sometime during the night and let him know she would be by later.

THis was the late 90s....before cell phones went mainstream and everyone felt the need to call/text someone their every movement every five minutes. Young people used to do all kinds of things back then without the need for calls. Teen girls can show up at a guy's house unannounced any time they feel like it. Its not like the guy(s) are going to turn them away. Even if it was a planned hookup, phone calls throughout the evening weren't required.

Where do you think the killer lives in town? Or was he from outside town? If he was someone they knew he would have to know their car by sight.

IMO this was just the area for the meetup and yeah he/they more than likely knew their car. Just because they were killed there doesn't mean the killer(s) lived in town.

Glad you brought up the baseball cap had forgotten that it was missing. The person or person(s) took mementos very twisted mind.

I had forgot that as well. It also doesn't mean the killer(s) took a souvenir. One of the girls could've been wearing it and it fell off wherever a struggle took place.

The IMDB site for "Shined Rabbit" states " family members of JB and Tracie are coming forward to reveal the murderer may be hiding in plain sight"

Wouldn't the killer(s) hiding in plain sight insinuate it was someone close to them?

 

[TedMac]

Maybe so....with those specific boys.

I mean no offense to the victims when I say this but these weren't church girls going out for a sundae. They clearly liked to party and weren't going to tie themselves down to specific guys.


Maybe it would be out of character for Tracie but there's a first time for everything.

Also....JB basically lived the life of an adult. No real parental supervision and a world without curfews or any consequences to such actions. A girl who doesn't break the rules gets mixed up with such a type, she will follow her down the same path eventually. Happens all the time.


My money would be on JB. It may have been a situation where she knows the guy and Tracie is going along for a double date and/or to occupy whoever else is there while JB is with the guy in question.


THis was the late 90s....before cell phones went mainstream and everyone felt the need to call/text someone their every movement every five minutes. Young people used to do all kinds of things back then without the need for calls. Teen girls can show up at a guy's house unannounced any time they feel like it. Its not like the guy(s) are going to turn them away. Even if it was a planned hookup, phone calls throughout the evening weren't required.

IMO this was just the area for the meetup and yeah he/they more than likely knew their car. Just because they were killed there doesn't mean the killer(s) lived in town.


I had forgot that as well. It also doesn't mean the killer(s) took a souvenir. One of the girls could've been wearing it and it fell off wherever a struggle took place.


Wouldn't the killer(s) hiding in plain sight insinuate it was someone close to them?

Um, actually, they were Church-Going girls. J.B. had planned to spend the night at Tracie's house and go with her to Church the following day.

You mentioned how "they clearly liked to party"? What do you base that on?

"Also....JB basically lived the life of an adult. No real parental supervision and a world without curfews or any consequences to such actions. A girl who doesn't break the rules gets mixed up with such a type, she will follow her down the same path eventually. Happens all the time." J.B. had been removed from her mother's house and was living in foster care. Her foster-mother was also her dance instructor. J.B. had a curfew and would have faced repercussions if she had violated curfew. She was provided supervision by her foster mother.

I agree that J.B. was the one targeted and Tracie was killed because she simply was with J.B and couldn't be left alive to testify.

Shined Rabbit is exactly correct. The killer or killers is someone close-very close (in my opinion of course)!

 

[somequestions]

I look at the case of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett a little different. Because of the fact the killer did not try to hide the car or bodies or evidence, that tends to make me think it is someone unknown to them.

It is the same thing with them being lost. I tend to think they were lost in Ozark, AL. But according to her sister J.B. Beasley knew Ozark, AL well. The directions Ms. Merrit gave J.B. Beasley at the gas station were in the form of stoplights. She told them that 231 would be 6 stoplights ahead. This was wrong, but J.B. would have gotten to the intersection of 231 and saw the McDonalds and knew to turn left to south back to Dothan, AL. But you have to consider the possibility they were lost. Any dead end streets would be worth checking out.

There is one last thing concerning J.B. Beasley's body that may reveal a clue about what direction the killer drove the car from. J.B. Beasley's sister it looks like points to J.B.'s left leg when describing where the bullet was found. Now lets suppose that J.B. Beasley's body position in the trunk was her feet pointing west and her head pointing east. The driver makes a right hand turn onto Herring and the centrifugal force(sorry I am not a physics person) causes the bullet to roll up the leg and end up where it did. It is the same idea as when you buy groceries like bottled water and put the bag in the passenger side wheel well. When you make a turn what happens to the bottles? Of course this is based on my guess about body position and which leg the bullet was found on. In the video of J.B.'s sister it looks like she points to her left leg although I cannot tell for sure because the camera does not show. The clue changes based on body position and which leg.

Maybe this small clue gives an indication whether the killer came from the west or the east when he turned onto Herring. I know I read a lot into things and someone will read this and think all that from a bullet.

 

[Goldfinch]

Vft ?

 

[TedMac]

post deleted

 

[Bulldog23]

In response to Goldfinch:

Venus Fly Trap (VTF) is a poster from the Wiregrass dot com boards. For anyone that really cares about this case and hasn't taken the time to read the JB and Tracie (murdered in ozark) thread on Wiregrass.com, it really is quite an interesting read. Venus Fly Trap, Southern Bama, Nicodemus, Taser, Devil's Advocate, and of course...Veritas..plus other posters discussed the murders for some length of time. There are some theories on that board that have not been discussed on Websleuths. (Anyone remember Kricket M?) I read the whole thread when my plane was delayed one time. A lot of it is obviously guesses and junk, but the totality of the thread points to one guy who knew JB and seemed to have an infatuation with her.

 

[CoolJ]

In response to Goldfinch:

Venus Fly Trap (VTF) is a poster from the Wiregrass dot com boards. For anyone that really cares about this case and hasn't taken the time to read the JB and Tracie (murdered in ozark) thread on Wiregrass.com, it really is quite an interesting read. Venus Fly Trap, Southern Bama, Nicodemus, Taser, Devil's Advocate, and of course...Veritas..plus other posters discussed the murders for some length of time. There are some theories on that board that have not been discussed on Websleuths. (Anyone remember Kricket M?) I read the whole thread when my plane was delayed one time. A lot of it is obviously guesses and junk, but the totality of the thread points to one guy who knew JB and seemed to have an infatuation with her.

There is a lot more interesting info on that forum. That particular thread is a good one, but there are many others.

 

[Bulldog23]

Just saw this article today. It came up when I searched Beasley/ Hawlett homicide. Interesting! It said Chester Hickman entered the home of a stranger and assaulted her. I hope they check his DNA against the DNA left at the scene of the murders.
http://www.wsfa.com/story/33766221/ozark-man-charged-for-walking-into-womans-home-assaulting-her

 

[somequestions]

There is one other possibility in the case of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett. When driving through Ozark, AL they might not have been lost and once they were on 231 they were stopped by someone who was walking late that night of July 31, 1999. I think the general consensus in this case is that most people believe the killer lives or lived close to where their car was found on Herring Road on August 1, 1999. Whether it was someone they knew or did not know is up for debate. Most I think tend to agree that trying to control two cars, his car and their car would be difficult, the farther away J.B. Beasley's car is from any place that is suspected as being the place they first ran into their killer. This is why the question of them being lost is such a difficult question to answer. Maybe the killer did not have a driver's license and that is why he was walking?

As with any murder case, we can all come up with suspects about who we think the killer is, but until we know certain information, especially alibis for time frame, about all you have is speculation when you do not have the information that police have or know what they know regarding the crime. You have to think police investigate thoroughly.

I tend to think the bullet or bullet casing found on J.B. Beasley's leg was not put there by the killer because if he had opened the trunk, he might have noticed her in the sleeping position she was found in and then thought maybe she might still be alive. Where the bullet was found would be important because I think it would have either been found between her legs or off the body somewhere in the trunk the longer the car was driven. Or maybe when J.B. Beasley moved in the trunk the bullet found its way into that position.

The turn onto Herring(if they turned from James) would be the absolute LAST part of the trip. If the killer drove the car from the north he would have to make a complete U-turn in order to park the car facing north again. That seems rather unnecessary and this Herring Road looks kind of narrow.

So for example if you theorize that the assault happened at a location north of where J.B. Beasley's car was eventually found, you would have to ask yourself why the killer would take a roundabout way of getting to the Herring Road spot if the car was found facing north(which is what it looks like in pictures)? Or why not just park the car facing south? It is important because I read that Depot Lane was thought to be one of the locations where the girls might have been assaulted but according to the map I looked at it looks like it is north of where the car was found. Maybe the person did not know Ozark, AL or maybe the quickest way to get to that spot on Herring is to not come down from the north. But I am not familiar with Ozark, AL so I could be wrong about the mapping. It helps if you have driven in the area. Is it easier to get to that spot on Herring by going south to James street and driving over to Herring? Most people tend to follow the motto that the easiest way to get between two points is a straight line so they take the most direct route.

The simple answer in this case is that killer is someone who lives or lived close to where J.B. Beasley's car was found on Herring. There might also be water on that property. How many times did it rain in Ozark, AL in the two weeks leading up to the crime?

I have always found it kind of strange to even consider that the killer moved the car due to evidence that might connect him to the crime unless the evidence is the property itself. If the girls were assaulted in a remote location and possibly shot in that same location, why drive the car to Herring at all unless he is using it as transportation because he does not want to walk. The fact that you have to consider that they were already in a remote location when they were shot and that the killer possibly did not even care about leaving fingerprints really is puzzling as to why he would then move the vehicle after assaulting and shooting them. What is the reason for that?

If the killer still lives somewhere in Ozark, Al(if he was a local) that would be surprising to me as well. In every murder case, there is always one person that knows who did it.

 

[SavageMarkIII]

How many times did it rain in Ozark, AL in the two weeks leading up to the crime?

According to Weather Underground, it rained on the following days at Cairns Field, Ft. Rucker between July 17 and 31, 1999: 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25 and 29. The most significant amount of rain was on the 19th with 2.58 inches.

You make some really good points. I too wish we knew more about what the police know or don't know. Especially, definitively what was collected/learned at the scene around the car and in the car. Particularly, the blood spatter underneath the car on the undercarriage....did it leave a blood trail on the road? If yes, was it enough to follow?

 

[somequestions]

Recently I had a driving experience that later on made me think about how we drive. It might be useful so I thought I would relay it.

I went to a grocerty store at night that I have gone to many times before. I pulled out of the parking lot turning onto the main street. I was looking for a street I thought was north of where I was but ended up seeing another street that was south. This was no big deal because both streets lead directly back to where I live. If I had found the original street I would have made my right hand turn and followed it back to my city. I found the other street instead which also led directly back to my town so I made my right hand turn and followed it back.

After about a mile I noticed the scenery on either side of the road looked different and I was confused. It was at that point I realized I was going the opposite direction of where I should be headed. So I made a right hand turn on the first street I saw. Why I did not just make a U-turn is beyond me since that would have been smartest. After making another right hand turn I knew I would need one more to complete the loop. Ironically I ran into the original road I wanted to take to go straight home. I made a right hand turn on that road, the first one I was looking for, and headed home.

Later on I tried to figure out where I made my mistake and it is in the explanation I wrote above. When I usually go home I make a right hand turn, but I forgot I was going in a different direction than the one I usually head in.

So when J.B. Beasley leaves Ozark, AL to visit Dothan from which direction does she approach 231? We will never actually know the route taken but I thought about my directional confusion and thought maybe the same thing happened.

My theory is that they ended up on someone's property which I know does not make a lot of sense if the property was north of town because the car was left on Herring. That would be quite a walk. Whoever it is in my opinion would have to have a gun on them because it is their job or they are insecure. What type of person would be that insecure about their property?

Whatever the answer is maybe they were not lost, but still made a wrong turn anyway? Would that make sense?

 

[killarney rose]

I've always thought that possible theory made sense.

 

[Bulldog23]

While I've always thought it was possible that they took a wrong turn and met a random stranger, according to JB's sister, they had already run into 2 guys with their shirts off who began following them and pinned them in, in a threatening way. What are the odds they would run into another completely separate threatening situation the same night. According to Jacqui, they were on their way to Haleburg when they ran into the first 2 threatening guys (who they didn't know). I would like to know who invited them to the party in Haleburg. Were they "set up?" I don't buy the vast police conspiracy theory, but I think it is possible someone hired someone else to accost, threaten, or injure JB and the situation got out of control.

 

[somequestions]

My theory basically is that because J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were driving at night when they got to 231, they made a right hand turn instead of a left. A mile down the road they realize they turned the wrong direction. It would probably would be near the last road that is within walking distance of town, Roy Parker Road and instead of making a U-turn they made another right to start a loop to go back around 231. Or they simply turned around in the hotel parking lots, but we have to remember this was 1999. Maybe those were not there. There is some type of business back there with some ponds. I thought about relaying this information to the police but I am sure everyone has a theory about where they ended up that night.

I cannot imagine that looking for dead end roads or driveways with water near the end of them was not on the list of things Ozark, Al police did back in 1999. There seem to be a lot of ponds and rivers in that area of Alabama. My theory is a guess as much as any other theory.

 

[SavageMarkIII]

My opinion is that, JB Beasley had a specific reason for going to Ozark that night. Find out who/what she wanted to see/do in Ozark and that will lead closer to the killer/s. I think the call to Tracie's mom was to buy more time and not let her worry too much. I think JB knew exactly where 231 was and how to get back to Dothan. But she was lost trying to find who/what she was looking for.

 

[lciaccia]

Um, actually, they were Church-Going girls. J.B. had planned to spend the night at Tracie's house and go with her to Church the following day.

You mentioned how "they clearly liked to party"? What do you base that on?

"Also....JB basically lived the life of an adult. No real parental supervision and a world without curfews or any consequences to such actions. A girl who doesn't break the rules gets mixed up with such a type, she will follow her down the same path eventually. Happens all the time." J.B. had been removed from her mother's house and was living in foster care. Her foster-mother was also her dance instructor. J.B. had a curfew and would have faced repercussions if she had violated curfew. She was provided supervision by her foster mother.

Thanks for this. I think people are over a little bit "oversexing" this case, wanting to assume that these girls are practically living double lives, because the wild teenage girl trope is so dominant in entertainment.

From everything I've read they were pretty normal range "good" teens, not angels, but not exactly "wild child" rebels either. I think the prime scenario that everyone keeps going back to that they were out to meet some unknown or barely known boys in some area for a sexy rendezvous or drug buy is a little bit of overspeculation. That absolutely could have been the case, that's within the realm of teenage behavior, but I think buy the insistence that they couldn't have found themselves there for more mundane reasons.

I still tend to believe this was a crime of opportunity rather than a setup. I think it's just impossible that we'll ever know exactly where and why they were there, because people just don't remember what it was like to be a teenager with a car in the days before cell phones and texting was ubiquitous. Plans were always being hatched and changed, nobody was particularly disturbed if you didn't show up here or there, you might try to track down a party you heard of on a whim, or you might just be driving and talking. That same condition means that a true organized setup/ambush would have been pretty difficult to set up and count on coming together.

I think it could have been someone that knew her, even someone with a motive, or it could have been a random killer, but I really suspect that one way or another is was a fairly spontaneous crime. I just don't think a perfectly planned and executed ambush ends like this, with he crime scene that was left behind.

 

[TedMac]

Seeing an arrest made in the Tara Grinstead case, gives me hope that J.B. & Tracie's murders will someday be solved. All it took was for one witness to come forward. It should also be noted that several POI had been named in the case and the person arrested was not one of them. The GBI admitted that he was not even on their radar and his name had not come up in the investigation until the witness provided the tip. That goes to show that we should always keep an open mind in an unsolved case and not have "tunnel vision". I'm the first to admit that I am often guilty of that. It also goes to show that sometimes when we least to expect it, that key break presents itself. That is why we should never give up!

 

[lciaccia]

Seeing an arrest made in the Tara Grinstead case, gives me hope that J.B. & Tracie's murders will someday be solved. All it took was for one witness to come forward. It should also be noted that several POI had been named in the case and the person arrested was not one of them. The GBI admitted that he was not even on their radar and his name had not come up in the investigation until the witness provided the tip. That goes to show that we should always keep an open mind in an unsolved case and not have "tunnel vision". I'm the first to admit that I am often guilty of that. It also goes to show that sometimes when we least to expect it, that key break presents itself. That is why we should never give up!

I thought the exact same thing when the Grinstead case was solved.

We may never know for sure, but I think it's quite reasonable that the Up and Vanished podcast, while it never even came close to zeroing in on the perp, might have contributed to the resolution. With interest in the case so renewed, and someone new snooping around in a very high profile way, I have to imagine someone with information had to start feeling a little queasy. If you have info on who did it, if you start to panic that the truth will eventually be found, I have to imagine you start thinking hard about coming forward, rather than being implicated later.

I believe the Up and Vanished creator would consider taking on this case next...it's only about 40 minutes further than the Tara Grinstead case from his home base in Atlanta. It shares a lot of similar characteristics to that case, in terms of small town, etc. It is several years colder though.

Considering this case will probably be solved the same way the Grinstead case was, it would be nice to see the focus/pressure ramped up...