TX TX - Terri 'Missy' Bevers, 45, killed in church/suspect in SWAT gear, Midlothian, 18 Apr 2016 #49

[SteveS]

It is only about 2 months until we arrive at the mile marker of "10 years since MB was murdered," so as we near that milestone, there will be a chorus of articles and TV docudramas and news "reports" on this case. If the past is any guide, in the middle of all this, LE will offer some vague "working hard" and "new eyes on the case" and "it's not a cold case, we work on it constantly" type of comments. I'm not saying those would not be true, but rather that none of it would be all that informative.

The last P/C where they answered questions to the public was about a month after the murder, when they revealed the video of the car at SWFA. But they have not been unilaterally offering any details of what they might have discovered. At that point, they said they had no real answer to whether the killing was random or not. They didn't say anything about how MB was murdered. (They were going to tell us more later, after the autopsy, supposedly, but never did. ~Ahem~ Will they ever?)

Personally I doubt MB was targeted. Part of that is because if she was targeted, that means the killer knew her, and that limits the possibilities to investigate. LE can sift through her life, figure out who she knew, and then investigate from those people who fits that possibility, and who would have been wanting her dead so much that they were willing to do so. But it's been almost 10 years, and they have found no one, working from that very narrow number to start with.

OTOH, if it's random, wrong-place wrong-time where a burglar happened to be burgling (or a deranged cosplayer happened to be doing his thing), and she interrupted them and got shot for doing so, there's no way to even begin to figure who that would be. The starting group is EVERYONE who could possibly have been there, not just the ones she knew previously. There's no place to even start. Ugh.

To me it's informative that in the hundreds of thousands of posts here over the years, the viewing of the crime and the video to decide whether she was targeted or not is ALWAYS being decided based on what someone wants to assume was in the killer's mind. What is the killer TRYING to do, in the video? What do they know? What are they thinking? What is happening when we don't see them? Do they know MB is going to arrive at some point? But unless we talk to the killer, we don't actually know any of that. The same actions can be seen as random burglar who is in no hurry (with no clue MB is coming) because the church won't be open for another 4-5 hours and then was interrupted, or a stalking killer knowing MB will come for class and walking the halls until MB arrives.

Of course, if it was a burglar trying to steal things, they weren't good at it. They apparently got nothing. And then killed someone (perhaps as they tried to get away).

OTOH we see no evidence they were looking outside, watching the doors and windows, etc. If this was a killer waiting for their prey, it was a very weird bad way to do it. It looks like the loser perp had no clue anyone was coming for hours.

So what was going on (burglary, or killing) depends on what the killer was attempting to do, when they broke through the door. And until we find who it was, we can't answer that question with any certainty. We can only guess. LE in the last PC they gave said they have no idea which it is, and it's not even 51/49 to either direction. (I think it's been so long with no success on who they knew, that it might now be leaning a bit towards random, but what do I know?) If they have no answer, we have even less. imo

 

[Marie A]

Hi. Do you think, as many do, that he has a prosthetic leg?

I don’t think he has a prosthetic leg but it’s possible.
I think it’s more a pigeon-toed or awkward meandering walk by a mainly sedentary and somewhat overweight young man.

 

[moonglow123]

It is only about 2 months until we arrive at the mile marker of "10 years since MB was murdered," so as we near that milestone, there will be a chorus of articles and TV docudramas and news "reports" on this case. If the past is any guide, in the middle of all this, LE will offer some vague "working hard" and "new eyes on the case" and "it's not a cold case, we work on it constantly" type of comments. I'm not saying those would not be true, but rather that none of it would be all that informative.

The last P/C where they answered questions to the public was about a month after the murder, when they revealed the video of the car at SWFA. But they have not been unilaterally offering any details of what they might have discovered. At that point, they said they had no real answer to whether the killing was random or not. They didn't say anything about how MB was murdered. (They were going to tell us more later, after the autopsy, supposedly, but never did. ~Ahem~ Will they ever?)

Personally I doubt MB was targeted. Part of that is because if she was targeted, that means the killer knew her, and that limits the possibilities to investigate. LE can sift through her life, figure out who she knew, and then investigate from those people who fits that possibility, and who would have been wanting her dead so much that they were willing to do so. But it's been almost 10 years, and they have found no one, working from that very narrow number to start with.

OTOH, if it's random, wrong-place wrong-time where a burglar happened to be burgling (or a deranged cosplayer happened to be doing his thing), and she interrupted them and got shot for doing so, there's no way to even begin to figure who that would be. The starting group is EVERYONE who could possibly have been there, not just the ones she knew previously. There's no place to even start. Ugh.

To me it's informative that in the hundreds of thousands of posts here over the years, the viewing of the crime and the video to decide whether she was targeted or not is ALWAYS being decided based on what someone wants to assume was in the killer's mind. What is the killer TRYING to do, in the video? What do they know? What are they thinking? What is happening when we don't see them? Do they know MB is going to arrive at some point? But unless we talk to the killer, we don't actually know any of that. The same actions can be seen as random burglar who is in no hurry (with no clue MB is coming) because the church won't be open for another 4-5 hours and then was interrupted, or a stalking killer knowing MB will come for class and walking the halls until MB arrives.

Of course, if it was a burglar trying to steal things, they weren't good at it. They apparently got nothing. And then killed someone (perhaps as they tried to get away).

OTOH we see no evidence they were looking outside, watching the doors and windows, etc. If this was a killer waiting for their prey, it was a very weird bad way to do it. It looks like the loser perp had no clue anyone was coming for hours.

So what was going on (burglary, or killing) depends on what the killer was attempting to do, when they broke through the door. And until we find who it was, we can't answer that question with any certainty. We can only guess. LE in the last PC they gave said they have no idea which it is, and it's not even 51/49 to either direction. (I think it's been so long with no success on who they knew, that it might now be leaning a bit towards random, but what do I know?) If they have no answer, we have even less. imo

Utterly crazy it's been almost 10 years with no movement.. I remember when it first happened, figured it'd be solved somewhat quickly due to the footage. No such luck.

Sad they could kill her in such a brutal way and be caught on camera and get away with it.

I used to think it was someone that knew her, now I really don't know. Bumbling and bored robber that killed her in a panic seems just as possible now.

 

[SteveS]

Missy was not shot. She was bludgeoned to death with a hammer or similar tool.
I think this is public information now through records that were pulled by the press/ unsealed.

You have been misinformed. Missy was killed by being shot. The Weapon that caused Missy's death was "Handgun - pistol, revolver, etc" according to the FBI crime files (screenshot below).

FULL EXPLANATION
Those files are available to the public (in a massive file, and the search engine is very User UN-friendly to try to navigate).

(I did the journey several times, and shared the info with others here who also found it, and we posted what was found multiple times with screenshots. That was years ago. There was no URL to share because it was buried behind search engine layered on search engine to find it, taking trial-and-error and luck, and several hours of frustration when successful. They have changed the system more than once since then. Even with notes, the path varies, and it's a trial-and-error journey that may end with no success. I don't bother anymore, but I have a picture below.)

In the initial PC on DOD, LE explicitly declined to say how she was killed ("we're not releasing any information on her injuries right now") and deferred to the ME's upcoming examination. A few SW's became available in a week or so to the media, and released to the public, and one (originally dated on the day after death) included this snippet: "Terri Bevers’ had multiple puncture wounds found on her head and chest are consistent with the tools the suspect was carrying throughout the building." That was all that was ever "said" about her wounds - after that, nowhere (in any PC or SW) did they say anything at all about wounds.

That oddly worded sentence was the basis for our belief she was killed in some other manner. After that, until we had the FBI info, we assumed any mention of a gun was weirdly off-base, or just a rabbit trail where LE was chasing just-in-case things. We thought the SW had told us she was probably bludgeoned with a hammer or crowbar or flashlight or the like.

Of course, looking closer, that wording does NOT say she was bludgeoned. It says "puncture wounds." That's not a bludgeoning.

After we learned more via the FBI file, it seems like LE might have been trying to obscure with technically accurate - but "likely to be misunderstood" - wording. The SW does not define "puncture wounds" or "tools" or say that they necessarily killed her. TECHNICALLY - bullets puncture the body so they can make puncture wounds, and a gun is a tool for shooting someone or something, and loser perp certainly must have been carrying it in order to use it. It is possible that she was ALSO wounded by hammer/crowbar/whatever that did not kill her, but personally I doubt it. In any event, LE was certainly trying to obscure the public from generally knowing she was killed by a gun.

They accomplished their goal, it seems. It's been 10 years, and still that fact is not widely known.

There's more that tells us LE was actually chasing a GUN death. From records obtained by FOIA release (which we didn't have for quite some time, several months or more iirc, well after initial impressions had been been formed), we learned in the hours immediately after her death, LE was conducting searches for suspicious retail handgun sales and ammo sales in the surrounding area, for the days immediately prior to the murder. They also got a SW for her truck, in part to find and/or seize any possible gun (with the idea she may have been killed by her own gun). There was a big FOIA tussle over the gun's S/N that was in the picture (which in hindsight must have been MB's, known to them).

Anyhow, in light of all that, it is my belief that LE carefully worded their SW info that spoke of wounds to obscure her actual cause of death from the public. And then decided in later SWs that wasn't necessary anyhow, and said nothing. Why? I don't know.

TL;DR/ MB was killed by a gun.

 

[Kaley Smith]

I am 99.9% sure this was a targeted attack and staged to appear otherwise.

It was planned and staged so well we are all still scratching our heads why there has not been an arrest.

I agree. Targeted by someone who was jealous of her and hated her.

 

[crazychris]

I don’t think he has a prosthetic leg but it’s possible.
I think it’s more a pigeon-toed or awkward meandering walk by a mainly sedentary and somewhat overweight young man.

Yes I agree.

 

[GMG1999]

I am really surprised they have not been able to find the killer in this case. Living in the DFW area it was relatively close and I think about this case a lot when other cases come up.

 

[joe jones]

I check in every now and then to see if anything new has happened, the NG masked intruder video reminded me of Missy and how the video from her crime scene hasn't helped to solver her crime yet, I do hope her case is still being investigated, and I hope the 10 year anniversary prompts some renewed publicity and hopefully some leads which lead to an arrest,

 

[CrimeTheorist]

At 2:23 into this video Kimberly Kessler’s trail of faces, names ... and deaths? it shows some of Kimberly Kessler's iPhone messages. She writes about dreams she's been having and it ends with "all this came after woman at church laid hands on me"

I really believe Joleen Cumming's convicted killer, Kimberly Kessler, is also Missy's killer.

 

[SteveS]

At 2:23 into this video Kimberly Kessler’s trail of faces, names ... and deaths? it shows some of Kimberly Kessler's iPhone messages. She writes about dreams she's been having and it ends with "all this came after woman at church laid hands on me"

I really believe Joleen Cumming's convicted killer, Kimberly Kessler, is also Missy's killer.

I don't.

A comment about a woman at church "laying hands on" someone is not a comment about an assault, but about a ritual in some churches that is meant to confer authority or honor, and in this case she is apparently thinking it may have caused weird dreams to follow. The term is used multiple times in the Bible.

We still don't have ANYTHING that actually connects KK to MB or her murder. She walks somewhat (but not really) like the person in the video, but that outward-pointed walk is not rare (maybe 15-25 MILLION Americans do the same). She drove a dark car but about HALF of vehicles in the US are dark (black, grey, silver) which would be over 100 MILLION. She was in Texas in general at some point, but Texas is massive, and there is no evidence she was ever in Midlothian, no evidence she was in Texas in spring 2016, much less both of those.

We have nothing that connects KK to
1 MB
2 anyone MB knew
3 that church
4 a SWAT outfit
5 a gun
6 burglaries
7 Midlothian or even the massive DFW Texas area
8 being anywhere in Texas in spring 2016

 

[CrimeTheorist]

I don't.

A comment about a woman at church "laying hands on" someone is not a comment about an assault, but about a ritual in some churches that is meant to confer authority or honor, and in this case she is apparently thinking it may have caused weird dreams to follow. The term is used multiple times in the Bible.

We still don't have ANYTHING that actually connects KK to MB or her murder. She walks somewhat (but not really) like the person in the video, but that outward-pointed walk is not rare (maybe 15-25 MILLION Americans do the same). She drove a dark car but about HALF of vehicles in the US are dark (black, grey, silver) which would be over 100 MILLION. She was in Texas in general at some point, but Texas is massive, and there is no evidence she was ever in Midlothian, no evidence she was in Texas in spring 2016, much less both of those.

We have nothing that connects KK to
1 MB
2 anyone MB knew
3 that church
4 a SWAT outfit
5 a gun
6 burglaries
7 Midlothian or even the massive DFW Texas area
8 being anywhere in Texas in spring 2016

Ok. I just think she seems like someone that's killed before and she fits my theory of it being a woman who had no connection to Missy. I think whoever did this was completely out of there mind and if it's not KK I believe it is someone very similar to her. There are some coincidences though like her owning a dark SUV (not sure if she owned it at the time) and she rode motorcycles (the helmet looked like a motorcycle helmet to me). I believe they are looking at other murders that KK may have committed so if she did do it I hope they find something that ties her to the crime.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

I really believe Joleen Cumming's convicted killer, Kimberly Kessler, is also Missy's killer.

Ok. I just think she seems like someone that's killed before and she fits my theory of it being a woman who had no connection to Missy. I think whoever did this was completely out of there mind and if it's not KK I believe it is someone very similar to her.

You went from "I really believe" Kessler killed Missy, to "she fits my theory" and "if it's not KK it is someone very similar to her". It seems you didn't know of any evidence to accuse her of murder, just as all the people that post "I think her husband/sister in law/father in law did it" made accusation based on "feelings". MOO

 

[CrimeTheorist]

You went from "I really believe" Kessler killed Missy, to "she fits my theory" and "if it's not KK it is someone very similar to her". It seems you didn't know of any evidence to accuse her of murder, just as all the people that post "I think her husband/sister in law/father in law did it" made accusation based on "feelings". MOO

Because I didn't know that laying hands on someone is used in the bible, I took it as her saying that she was grabbed in a church by a woman. There's a big difference from accusing family members to accusing someone that lived under like 17 different aliases and has a history of extreme violence.

 

[FromGermany1]

At 2:23 into this video Kimberly Kessler’s trail of faces, names ... and deaths? it shows some of Kimberly Kessler's iPhone messages. She writes about dreams she's been having and it ends with "all this came after woman at church laid hands on me"

I really believe Joleen Cumming's convicted killer, Kimberly Kessler, is also Missy's killer.

Who knows or will ever know, what all KK did in her troubled life.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

Because I didn't know that laying hands on someone is used in the bible, I took it as her saying that she was grabbed in a church by a woman. There's a big difference from accusing family members to accusing someone that lived under like 17 different aliases and has a history of extreme violence.

I'm not finding the information you quoted on the video you linked.

Repectfully, accusations of murder, statements that one believes a person is the murderer in a specific case, shouldn't be based on interpreting a reference to laying on of hands as a physical confrontation alone. When and where did it happen? Even with thinking an altercation happened, with no other information, does not equal evidence of being the murderer of MB. There is a difference, however, satistically one is less likely to be killed by a person with a history of extreme violence, more likely to be killed by someone they know. Family members are indeed the usual suspects and routinely accused in social media, based on "beliefs/feelings" with no supporting evidence and even with the knowledge that LE would investigate family members first, if initially there is no suspect that points away from them. MOO

 

[fsngruv]

I think Kessler has also been mentioned in the Jennifer Kesse thread as a possible perp.

 

[Detective Willy]

I stumbled across this article shortly after Missy was murdered for those wanting to debate if the attack was targeted or not:

"Sources tell News 8 that investigators are certain that Bevers was the target, and did not stumble into a burglary gone bad. They further believe that the scene was staged to make it look like there had been a burglary."

Sources: Police believe slain Midlothian mom was targeted

Eight days after fitness instructor Missy Bevers was killed inside a Midlothian church, there are no answers about who killed her or wh...

www.wfaa.com

 

[Pyrite]

I stumbled across this article shortly after Missy was murdered for those wanting to debate if the attack was targeted or not:

"Sources tell News 8 that investigators are certain that Bevers was the target, and did not stumble into a burglary gone bad. They further believe that the scene was staged to make it look like there had been a burglary."

Sources: Police believe slain Midlothian mom was targeted

Eight days after fitness instructor Missy Bevers was killed inside a Midlothian church, there are no answers about who killed her or wh...

www.wfaa.com

Since the perpetrator of Missy’s death has not been caught, I consider early theories by LE were quite possibly wrong.

From following many cases here, I have noticed that the easiest murderers for LE to catch are those closest to the victim, followed by those with some sort of connection to the victim and the hardest are those with no know prior connections to the victim.

After so many years have passed, I won’t be surprised if her killer was some random person who was drunk/high and thought it would be fun to break in to a church to steal or vandalize. When Missy showed up, the murderer panicked and killed her.

MOO

 

[SteveS]

Since the perpetrator of Missy’s death has not been caught, I consider early theories by LE were quite possibly wrong.

From following many cases here, I have noticed that the easiest murderers for LE to catch are those closest to the victim, followed by those with some sort of connection to the victim and the hardest are those with no know prior connections to the victim.

After so many years have passed, I won’t be surprised if her killer was some random person who was drunk/high and thought it would be fun to break in to a church to steal or vandalize. When Missy showed up, the murderer panicked and killed her.

MOO

This ^ is very much on target.

Those early statements by LE, taken out of context, aren't really informative at all. We have to recognize that in the first days, they wanted to get the public active in sharing with them Anyone Missy Knew that might have had a motive to do this. So they talked about targeting, with a focus on hearing about and chasing down people around MB to try to find someone who stands out as having a reason to do this.

But there was nothing in the evidence itself - the video, etc - that actually pointed to a person lying in wait for MB. It looks way more like a burglary, and a search for things of value.

And as you point out, over time LE was able to examine each of those people that knew MB and could have had a reason to target her, to see if any of them did.

So LE started with those around MB. But they made it clear a few weeks later (PC on May 20) that they had already gotten to the point where they DO NOT think MB was necessarily targeted. They said they don't lean in any particular direction, not even 51%-49%. That was the last PC they had, but it would not surprise me if by now, after about 10 years of looking, they think this is very likely random, like you say, just because they have looked at the limited category of Anyone MB Knew and have not found someone who could have done it. So they are left with the impossibly broad category of Any Random Person instead (which would not have targeted MB because they didn't even know her).

One note about the idea that the loser perp was drunk or high -- I think that's demonstrably wrong. The problem with that idea is that the perp had to do a lot of work to be there. It was not a spur-of-the-moment thing -- they drove there, in the rain, they gathered together/put on that costume, they brought tools to break in, they tried one entrance with no success then another where they were finally able to gain access. I can't see someone who is drunk or high having the planning, focus, and perseverance to do all of that. As for WHY they were there, burglary is the obvious main guess, but without talking to the perp, we can't be sure.

 

[Detective Willy]

I think the person who planned the "staged" hit on Missy (multiple puncture wounds to head and chest), created an air-tight alibi distancing themselves from the crime scene.

In many cases like this, LE know or strongly suspect who is behind the crime but they cannot prove it. This is why LE will often say they are missing the one piece of crucial evidence that can bring the rest of the case together.

If the perpetrator was drunk or high, how did they escape the crime scene without being captured on the CCTV after the attack inside or outside the building or be seen by anybody arriving?

Good planning, good acting and great covering up before, during and after the crime.