rbbm.
By
David Lohr 2017
Who Killed Beverly Jaye Potter Mintz? Nearly Three Decades Later, Murder Remains Unsolved
''Dr. Maurice Godwin, a
criminal investigative psychologist who was recently granted access to the police files, described the murder scene to HuffPost.
"Her hands had been tied behind her back and a pillowcase covered her face," Godwin said. "When her mom removed the pillowcase, she saw her daughter's throat had been cut so deep that her head was nearly severed from her body. She had also been stabbed multiple times." Mintz had also been raped, Godwin said.
Investigators were puzzled from the start of the investigation.''
''Braswell said Potter questioned the child about her daughter's killer.
"One thing he remembered was a knock at the door," she said. "He told her Jaye looked out the peep hole and she didn't see anybody. She opened the door and the man immediately came in. He said it was a white male -- someone he didn't know."
''In the weeks following the homicide, investigators ruled out several people known to Mintz. Her estranged husband, a man she married in 1983 and separated from in 1986, had a solid alibi -- he was enlisted in the Army and stationed in Germany. The owner of a local restaurant whom she had recently started dating also had an alibi -- he was with at his house with a plumber. Others were also checked off the list, one by one.
No one who knew her, it seemed, had means or motive.
"She didn't have an enemy in the world," Braswell said. "She had a heart of gold. She was always nice to everyone and never said an unkind word. Talk to anyone who knew her and they all say the same things: She was a sweet, wonderful person. We don't understand how anybody could ever hurt someone like her."
''Cummings said the killer brought the nylon rope used to bind the victim and the knife used to kill her. Despite those actions,
he does not believe the killer was methodical or that the slaying was well-planned.
"There were some things that occurred that indicated, at some point in time during the commission of the crime,
the suspect may have been in control of himself, but then at another point, he was not," he continued.
Godwin, the criminal investigative psychologist, disagrees.
"I believe the individual had been stalking her," he said. "The person was comfortable watching the house and going in. He knew there was not an adult male in the home, so he had to be watching."
Godwin added, "The newspaper ad could be a ruse left at the crime scene to taunt [investigators]."
''The killer, both men said, also slid in and out of the home during a short window of opportunity, without anyone taking notice.''
"It is one of the things that stands out the most," Godwin said.
As Cummings explained, "[The slaying] happened during the day. Her house was on a well-traveled road -- there was a restaurant less than one-tenth of a mile east and a flower shop next door -- and
there was a roofing crew working on a house across the street. How did he get in, commit such a brutal crime, and be unseen and unknown?"
"This is not a sexual advance, turned rejection, turned anger, turned murder," Godwin said. "
It is a complex case, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible to solve."