TX - Terri 'Missy' Bevers, 45, killed in church/suspect in SWAT gear, Midlothian, 18 Apr 2016 #45

[Gumshoe Stories]

I am fairly new to this thread, so not sure if this has been brought up. The SWFA is basically a gun store, so it seems likely the perp may have been thinking of breaking in there before seeing the two vehicles that were parked there. Going on a theory that the perp could have come down from Fort Worth, I found this video of a Ft Worth gun store burglary that happened a year after Missy’s murder:

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/article148183184.html

The church is almost in Waxahachie, and there was a gun store burglary there less than three months after Missy’s murder.

Waxahachie Daily Light

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

The vehicle could only turn right when exiting. It was a one-way road.



Apparently there's no connection - it was reported that the exterior cameras' failure to work was normal, on-going, not unusual, etc. They were not turned off. They just didn't work (at least not properly all the time).

Correct. There was really just one outside camera that malfunctioned. It was a known problem and had been off for two weeks. It required hitting a reset button on the camera itself which required climbing a ladder, which no one had gotten around to doing. Which is unfortunate because it would have had a great view of the church driveway.

 

[SteveS]

Right, and if Missy drove to her parking spot by driving in front of the building, she wouldn't see a vehicle parked in the back by the kitchen door, from what I can tell by the looking at the layout.

jmo

The kitchen door is not in the "back" of the building (in relation to Hwy 287 and the driveway from it). That door is exactly in front of you, as you come down the drive.

See the attached picture. The door is at the "top" of the building.

As for exactly where perp's vehicle was parked, there are multiple possibilities. As I recall, it was raining, so that may have had a bearing on how far perp was willing to walk to enter and exit. At that hour, I doubt he/she would have felt limited to parking in a marked parking spot.

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

Right, and if Missy drove to her parking spot by driving in front of the building, she wouldn't see a vehicle parked in the back by the kitchen door, from what I can tell by the looking at the layout.

jmo

Here is a video I took at night, driving into the church and making the right turn.

 

[Inthedetails]

Here is a video I took at night, driving into the church and making the right turn.

Thank you. For some reason at the beginning of the case, I pictured her driving around the back. But looking at the layout of the church today, I realized she would've driven just as you did. It's totally possible that another vehicle could be on the property without her noticing it.

Spooky, isn't it.

jmo

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

Here is a video I took at night, driving into the church and making the right turn.

Yes, as you could see there, the stone Creekside sign partly obscures the area back there, plus there is an air conditioning unit that also makes it hard to see. It doesn’t help that there are no lamp posts on that side of the church, making it quite dark there.

 

[Inthedetails]

This is the layout of the building I've been looking at today, from the media thread, showing the "busted doors" in the back.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachments/my-vision-creekside-layout-5-5-2016-jpg.94108/

jmo

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

This is the layout of the building I've been looking at today, from the media thread, showing the "busted doors" in the back.

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachments/my-vision-creekside-layout-5-5-2016-jpg.94108/

jmo

Try this layout.

 

[Inthedetails]

Try this layout.

Thanks - I'll look at it!

Any insights you've gleaned from it?

jmo

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

Thanks - I'll look at it!

Any insights you've gleaned from it?

jmo

What’s helpful about this layout is the function of the rooms. And you can correlate the killer’s movements between layout and video. For example, the door they first emerge from is room 8. The door they attempt and give up on prying into is #1 which is a storage closet for janitorial supplies. Split door room is room 21. Room 10, the youth group meeting room, is where the killer emerges after having picked up the mystery object, and they then begin to hammer at the glass window to room 9, a storage room for folding tables, chairs and miscellaneous items.

 

[Inthedetails]

What’s helpful about this layout is the function of the rooms. And you can correlate the killer’s movements between layout and video. For example, the door they first emerge from is room 8. The door they attempt and give up on prying into is #1 which is a storage closet for janitorial supplies. Split door room is room 21. Room 10, the youth group meeting room, is where the killer emerges after having picked up the mystery object, and they then begin to hammer at the glass window to room 9, a storage room for folding tables, chairs and miscellaneous items.

Yes, it's great. Thanks for posting it!

jmo

 

[SteveS]

Try this layout.

That's a helpful chart.

Not that it really matters, but I think the perp's movement in the east-side hallway is placed at the wrong end of that hallway. And perhaps at least some of those east side rooms are mis-numbered in the chart.

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

That's a helpful chart.

Not that it really matters, but I think the perp's movement in the east-side hallway is placed at the wrong end of that hallway. And perhaps at least some of those east side rooms are mis-numbered in the chart.

I believe the layout to be accurate. I have additional photos and video from inside the church. What specifically are you having an issue with?

 

[SteveS]

I believe the layout to be accurate. I have additional photos and video from inside the church. What specifically are you having an issue with?

Doesn't match the video. Based on the video and the numbers seen there, it looks to me like perp apparently entered the main auditorium at its SW corner, and exited it at its SE corner.

To me that makes more sense to explain how perp happened to be in that room that they exited from. And it logically matches the numbers on the video (whereas the chart does not).

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

Doesn't match the video.

In what way?

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

Doesn't match the video. Based on the video and the numbers seen there, it looks to me like perp apparently entered the main auditorium at its SW corner, and exited it at its SE corner.

To me that makes more sense to explain how perp happened to be in that room that they exited from. And it logically matches the numbers on the video (whereas the chart does not).

We never see the perp exit the auditorium. We only see the perp enter the auditorium. That occurs at about 1:49 on the video. I believe that sequence to be out of order with what MPD presents to us as the next scene (exiting room 10, mystery object/hammering room 9). Those two scenes should be reversed.

I think that MPD sorted the footage in camera order. So the camera that points eastward along the south hallway had both of its scenes edited back to back, which is not how they chronologically happened. Take a look at my own edit in which I put the video in correct chronological order:

 

[Inthedetails]

We never see the perp exit the auditorium. We only see the perp enter the auditorium. That occurs at about 1:49 on the video. I believe that sequence to be out of order with what MPD presents to us as the next scene (exiting room 10, mystery object/hammering room 9). Those two scenes should be reversed.

I think that MPD sorted the footage in camera order. So the camera that points eastward along the south hallway had both of its scenes edited back to back, which is not how they chronologically happened. Take a look at my own edit in which I put the video in correct chronological order:

I think you're on to something. With this sequence, it seems much less like random ambling around the church and seems to follow a route that makes more sense.

Hmm....looking at this with fresh (and memory-stressed) eyes is really interesting.

jmo

 

[Gumshoe Stories]

I think you're on to something. With this sequence, it seems much less like random ambling around the church and seems to follow a route that makes more sense.

Hmm....looking at this with fresh (and memory-stressed) eyes is really interesting.

jmo

Exactly. I think knowing and understanding the killer’s movement within the church is important to understanding how their mind works. And understanding how their mind works is key to figuring out motive. This killer went counterclockwise systematically from each outside room to the next along the perimeter of the church, completing a circuit from room 8 around to room 10. Then they started back the way they had come and checked the inner rooms beginning with room 9 and continuing around to the auditorium entrance near the Dutch door room.

 

[SteveS]

We never see the perp exit the auditorium. We only see the perp enter the auditorium. That occurs at about 1:49 on the video. I believe that sequence to be out of order with what MPD presents to us as the next scene (exiting room 10, mystery object/hammering room 9). Those two scenes should be reversed.

"We never see the perp exit the auditorium. We only see the perp enter the auditorium." -- That's according to your view, but that doesn't have to be the case. Perp enters at SW, and exits at SE (in the scene in question, from what it appears to me). Simple as that.

If you ASSUME that isn't showing the SE corner of the auditorium, then you've already assumed the answer. But what you are assuming must be questioned by what we know - and that assumption doesn't fit what the video looks like to me (nor the room numbers, either, which to me is an important fact to observe and account for).

 

[Inthedetails]

Exactly. I think knowing and understanding the killer’s movement within the church is important to understanding how their mind works. And understanding how their mind works is key to figuring out motive. This killer went counterclockwise systematically from each outside room to the next along the perimeter of the church, completing a circuit from room 8 around to room 10. Then they started back the way they had come and checked the inner rooms beginning with room 9 and continuing around to the auditorium entrance near the Dutch door room.

The sloppiness of the wanderings always bugged me, but maybe the perp wasn't as sloppy as initially seemed.

jmo