TX TX - Terri 'Missy' Bevers, 45, killed in church/suspect in SWAT gear, Midlothian, 18 Apr 2016 #48

[drmrgrl]

Will take this top page opportunity to present my opinions.

I believe the intruder was a local or semi-local person playing pretend. Probably alone in their head but it might be worth researching organized events from the time.

I believe the intruder was just as bumbling as they appear in the released video. I don't think they had any plan at all in mind and were wandering aimlessly and I think they chose the church because it was convenient - although them being an "angry atheist" is a possibility.

I think Missy and the intruder surprised one another and the police costume caused the power dynamic to go from the intruder initially over to Missy when she realized this was not a police officer and was, in fact, someone weak enough she felt she might verbally and/or physically confront him and that shift of the power dynamic from our <modsnip - NO NAMECALLING> over to Missy made them angry AND desperate enough to kill

I think afterward they fled home and destroyed every bit of their costume, never again to prowl - but I think their parent might have noticed a big shift in their behavior coincidental with the murder

Despite giving up prowling, I think this person still is heavily into pretend/fantasy type stuff that makes them feel more powerful than they are

I think somebody went there to kill Bevers. The SWAT tactical gear was worn as a disguise.

 

[drmrgrl]

I believe the perp had a hammer and nails. The nails caused the puncture wounds, although, it could have been a real ice pick.

 

[5W's]

Yes at 19 the perp could be leveredging. But what for? Whatever that object is that the perp is leveredging (IMO it looks like a baton) it doesn't make sense. Perhaps to get something out of one of thier pockets? But it doesn't look like the perp got something out though. Could it just be that the perp is just levredging for the sake of levredging? That levredging action just makes me think that the perp is getting their kicks. That kind of gives an idea that the kicks/non chalantness is for thier own entertainment.

Yes I'm replying to myself. Actually its not at 19 second mark its 27. Sorry.

 

[5W's]

Oh!

Two things I also want to note:

This sounds so crazy to say out loud, but has anyone ever considered the possibility that someone (a woman) had an obsession with Brandon? Eliminating Missy to have him to herself? I’ve never heard the possibility mentioned, but it’s not impossible

Also, I have heard/read before that Missy may have had a gun of her own. Maybe that is they the intruder not only disguised their identity, but wore some sort of (at least perceived) armor/protection. Ambushing Missy while she was setting up a fitness class seems pretty smart too, as she is very highly unlikely to be armed at that time.

This is really abstract, but I keep thinking about it for some reason. If Missy had a gun, could it have been stolen/taken from her vehicle without her noticing, used to commit the crime, then returned to the vehicle as if it was not taken out? I don’t know why, but this thought comes to my mind often.

I see your point but it would have to be someone who has access to her vehicle. But it would be tedious for one thingbecause after the murder of Missy the perp would have to leave quickly so it wouldn't be her gun. But the idea of someone known to her, wow. To think that if it was they still aren't caught. This case boggles the mind. Because it could be anyone. That also puts this case as very disturbing IMO, not just the violence which was unnecessary. I mean the perp is hidden well. I'm sure the perp didn't talk so Missy didn't hear the voice. IMO the perp would have diabled Missy before she had a chance to attack them. That also adds another level of disturbing.

 

[5W's]

Imagine you need to load batteries into a big wonky device you needed both hands and a surface to do so with. Instead of placing it on the ground or a table, you pin it against the wall and load the batteries into the device.

I am not saying that is what they are doing, but it is an example of how to use leverage that way.

I think they were doing something with a tool (such as a cattle prod) and saw the crack in the door was perfect to put the end into as they performed the work.

I can see that its too bad the video stops and restarts so it distorts what we are seeing. I wonder if such tool marks were found in betwwen the door cracks. I just wish LE would say if it was an attempted robbery or not. I realize they gave a statement initially, but may have changed thier opinion in the years following.

 

[lonewanderer]

I still wonder why Missy's family never seems to speak out about the murder.

Everything always seems to revolve around Brandon and his parents.

There was an interview with Missy's "sister-in-law" which I assume is Brandon's sister. She comes off as very, VERY defensive and irritatated that her father and stepmother were ever considered to be persons of interest.

I lean towards the theory that Missy was targeted and her murder was planned. With that in mind, I wonder if there is some kind of significance behind the fact the Missy was murdered inside the church. Was it strategic to sneak up on her knowing she was unarmed? Did they want her to die inside of a church for religious reasons? Otherwise, they could have just gunned her down in the parking lot, right?

 

[lonewanderer]

I can see that its too bad the video stops and restarts so it distorts what we are seeing. I wonder if such tool marks were found in betwwen the door cracks. I just wish LE would say if it was an attempted robbery or not. I realize they gave a statement initially, but may have changed thier opinion in the years following.

Re-listening to the podcasts and re-reading the case info available, the police did not notice anything missing or stolen and believe it was a planned murder.

 

[evilwise]

I have tried multiple times to imagine being the person in the SWAT gear and wonder what their motivations where.

There's no shame in not being able to imagine yourself with the motivations of someone who spends all their time watching TV and playing video games.

 

[iamnotagolem]

I believe the perp had a hammer and nails. The nails caused the puncture wounds, although, it could have been a real ice pick.

She was shot.

 

[lonewanderer]

She was shot.

I am under the impression she was both shot AND received puncture wounds

 

[evilwise]

I am under the impression she was both shot AND received puncture wounds

Both of those data points are from unverified, presumptive information. If I recall correctly, the "multiple puncture wounds" comes from an early local news story quoting an unnamed source, so probably a cop or medical worker speaking off the record about something he peripherally observed or something he heard (third hand information).

The data about her being shot is something that has been presumed working backward from FBI crime statistics, which record a gunshot homicide for that county that has dates that line up. That one not only relies on FBI violent crime data being entirely accurate (it's only intended to track trends) it also presumes there were no other gunshot homicides that went unreported in the county in that window.

I personally assume that the claw end of the hammer we see Butterball walking around with is what they killed Missy with - but there's really no official info to support that. The investigators seem to be the type that keep everything about the case secret so as to have more info that can be cross-verified against theories, tips and suspects but it has been so long now that in my opinion "new" info should be trickled out to keep it on the public radar and, especially if my theory that it was done by a psychologically fragile person is correct, to pressure the perpetrator to confess.

 

[SteveS]

Both of those data points are from unverified, presumptive information. If I recall correctly, the "multiple puncture wounds" comes from an early local news story quoting an unnamed source, so probably a cop or medical worker speaking off the record about something he peripherally observed or something he heard (third hand information).

The data about her being shot is something that has been presumed working backward from FBI crime statistics, which record a gunshot homicide for that county that has dates that line up. That one not only relies on FBI violent crime data being entirely accurate (it's only intended to track trends) it also presumes there were no other gunshot homicides that went unreported in the county in that window.

Respectfully, all of that is not really accurate.

To start, you will find in the early threads on this case, where some in that town and very local contributed to this forum early on, here and there, and the word on the ground was she was shot. I live in a nearby small town and that wasn't wrong.

All of those who were there that day - campers, EMTs, LE, etc - would know cause of death, of course, as well as any with access to the autopsy, so it's not info that was truly unknown and murky. The general public just deliberately hasn't been told.

From the first day, LE was tight-lipped. The question was asked in a PC of how she was killed and whether she was shot and LE deflected from giving any answer to how she was killed.

The "puncture wounds" wording was not actually given by LE to the public, ever, but instead it emerged a few weeks later by a FOIA request where it appeared in a solitary SW. It never appeared again.

That turned the forum discussion on its head.

The FBI records were not discovered until a few years later, and with the prior perception being that she had been stabbed by something, there's been confusion ever since.

The fact that MB had to be the one in the FBI records is easy to know, as it's a small town, such incidents there are super rare (easily known by the community, and confirmed by LE's own words), and by the fact that all the records point to exactly 1 homicide of a female in her 40s in that city in 2016 -- which is transparently obvious to anyone who lives in the area. Every item within that FBI record points perfectly to the MB murder, and it is not one in a pile of many to try to figure out. Trying to make it into a mytery of who the records may be talking about, when none exists, is just a road to nowhere.

The question has been one of trying to align those two pieces of info, and there are two plausible explanations, and one that would seem possible but less likely -
1 One idea is that the bullet holes in MB that caused her death were called "puncture" wounds, as they technically would have punctured her skin, and LE was using obtuse wording in a searchable warrant to try to keep the details of her death away from the public. (It's a fact that LE was asked in multiple PCs about the details of MB's death, and each time either deferred to later, or just refused to answer at all. They have never told us anything.)
2 Another idea is that MB was killed by gunshot, but also received puncture wounds by some unknown weapon or item.
3 The less likely explanation is that FBI's records are botched OR the wording in the SW was a mistake, but dismissing inconvenient facts that emerge and are hard to understand as "mistakes" is usually an exercise that is a mistake in itself and only muddies what could otherwise be clearer.

 

[Hexe]

The "puncture wounds" wording was not actually given by LE to the public, ever, but instead it emerged a few weeks later by a FOIA request where it appeared in a solitary SW. It never appeared again.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2822749/BEVERS-SW16-060.pdf

Terri Bevers had multiple puncture wounds found on her head and chest are consistent with the tools the suspect was carrying around the building

It is an official police document. Why would they lie in it?

 

[lonewanderer]

To add to this discussion of puncture wounds and gunshots, I have heard the suggestion that maybe the puncture wounds were present due to the bullets being removed from her body.

 

[darring21]

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2822749/BEVERS-SW16-060.pdf



It is an official police document. Why would they lie in it?

They didn't. Puncture wounds could have been caused from being shot by a gun the <modsnip - NO NAMECALLING> was carrying. Or being shot and hit with a hammer.

 

[evilwise]

I'm not at all sure that everyone there that day would know the cause of death. Small caliber gunshot wounds look pretty much identical to "puncture wounds". I guess I subconsciously didn't point that out in my post as it goes contrary to my own pet theory that the perp is some spaz and I like the "wounds were consistent with the tools suspect was seen carrying" for that reason - but it could all be true if, say, Missy brandished her handgun and the killer reacted by hitting her with the hammer then recovered the gun and shot her with it. Then she would have wounds that were consistent with the tools and gunshot wounds that (assuming she had a typical "lady gun") might have appeared to many observers to be puncture wounds.

The person I'm imagining would be scared of guns but that just comes from my first hand experience with dorky play-actors. From my broader experience socializing online with a much wider variety of dorks I should know that "gun nerds" are definitely a thing and that they're probably exactly the type of people who would own fake riot police outfits

 

[iamnotagolem]

I'm not at all sure that everyone there that day would know the cause of death. Small caliber gunshot wounds look pretty much identical to "puncture wounds". I guess I subconsciously didn't point that out in my post as it goes contrary to my own pet theory that the perp is some spaz and I like the "wounds were consistent with the tools suspect was seen carrying" for that reason - but it could all be true if, say, Missy brandished her handgun and the killer reacted by hitting her with the hammer then recovered the gun and shot her with it. Then she would have wounds that were consistent with the tools and gunshot wounds that (assuming she had a typical "lady gun") might have appeared to many observers to be puncture wounds.

The person I'm imagining would be scared of guns but that just comes from my first hand experience with dorky play-actors. From my broader experience socializing online with a much wider variety of dorks I should know that "gun nerds" are definitely a thing and that they're probably exactly the type of people who would own fake riot police outfits

Wasn't Missy's gun in her car?

 

[evilwise]

Wasn't Missy's gun in her car?

Was it?

If there's verified insider posts in earlier threads with first hand accounting I would love if someone could link them - or even tell me the ID of the verified insider, I'm sure I could find them from there.

 

[SteveS]

Per early reporting, discussed thoroughly in early posts in an early thread, Missy's legally owned pistol was in her truck under the portico at the time of her murder. The pistol was recovered & examined by LE, and had not been fired recently. Ballistic tests would be preformed per protocol to ascertain if this pistol was used in the murder -- MB's pistol was not fired & was not used in her murder.

If you don't have experience with pistols, this perp did not have time to find MB's pistol, shoot her with it, then dismantle & clean & reassemble & return to her truck with no fingerprints anywhere. The complete cleaning process takes at least 10 minutes when you are familiar with the pistol you're cleaning. Was the perp stalking MB sufficiently to know what pistol she carried, and where it was stored in the truck, and practice cleaning an identical pistol in order to return said pistol to MB's truck before any of her students reached the parking lot? IMHO quite unlikely.

Eliminating perceived competition for Mr. Bevers was also discussed in early threads.

Not searching for links, you are certainly welcome to go back & read the early work here.

I don't mean to sound overly brusque here, keep in mind that some of us have followed these threads since the very beginning.

Bumping post 337, posted just a couple days ago in this thread, with all the details being wondered about now.

In particular, it says ---

"Per early reporting, discussed thoroughly in early posts in an early thread, Missy's legally owned pistol was in her truck under the portico at the time of her murder. The pistol was recovered & examined by LE, and had not been fired recently. Ballistic tests would be performed per protocol to ascertain if this pistol was used in the murder -- MB's pistol was not fired & was not used in her murder."

 

[5W's]

It looks like a gun may have been used to kill Missy. But my question is if officially the cause of her death is gunshot wounds then did the perp go with intent to kill. I know over the years MB's threads have been over this issue but if its the perp's gun that was used obviously the perp had it with them initially. Does it mean the perp had the gun for protection or something sinister? If what another Sleuther was mentioning about the door cracks and the perp trying to break in that way with a sharp tool to damage the door to get into the rooms/offices as we see in the video the putting of the baton looking item on the door handle/knob for levreging or ease then the motive maybe a robbery. But IMO if there are no tool marks in any of the door cracks then what is the perp doing there? I can't think of any reason for the perp to be putting that baton looking item on that door handle. Especially if it was multiple times. It doesn't look the perp is using force to break the door handle/knob. I mean we would see it if the perp was trying to break that door handle/knob. It just appears a casual very eerie action. Go figure. I really want to know what that action was maybe that may tell us what this perp was there in the church for that night. Robbery or intent to kill? IMO sometimes looking at small things such as the levereging gesture can tell us things.