TX - Terri 'Missy' Bevers,45, murdered in church/person in SWAT gear,18 Apr 2016 #30

[Batbrat]

I don't understand - which camera do you think filmed MB if not the SW camera that faces down the main hall to the NW BatBrat's Camera Two? Whichever door she entered the building (main-west to turn right into main hallway would capture her face OR porte cochere to walk straight down main hallway would capture her back) - that same camera should be the one that filmed her. She was filmed in the same area as SP. (JMO and assuming LE meant to say main hallway and not Dutch door hallway.)

I believe that the cameras in that corner both had pretty significant blind spots. Based on how many tiles are visible from both directions, the overlapped/combined blind spot (illustrated in purple) could be as much at 10' x 8' in size in that corner of the hallway alone, not counting the vestibule area. Taking both LE's released statement and the blind spot calculations into account, it's very possible this is the location of the murder.

Edit to update my theory: Graphic warning! Perhaps MB only had the keys to the Main Entry on the west. She parked on the SW under the porte cochère, but had to walk around the outer walk to the main entry in order to use those keys, entering there. Camera Two captured her walking south toward the SW doorways to her parked vehicle - presumably to unload her equipment and maybe prop open the doors under the patio from the inside for her CGers to have access to the restrooms. The murder occurred in in that corner, beneath the camera's blind spots. Reports said there were signs of a struggle and broken glass. There is a glass table nearby, which could have been broken during the attack, accounting for both, even if the doors nearby were intact.

 

[Tippy Lynn]

Here's a revised map based on everyone's help with photos, etc. Mimi, I have also based the hallway behind the stage/auditorium area and the kitchen hall area on your diagram, which is probably more accurate as far as those particular areas. My map is basically just for my estimations of three of the camera placements. I don't know the actual full layout of the church.

Thanks again for your map Batbrat.

Going off LE statement that MB was found in the SW interior corner of the bldg. MB had to have been in one of the following locations: Auditorium, Vestibule, or the ROOM across from auditorium (red hall). If there was another door on SE end of the red hall ROOM the SP could have exited that route without being on camera. I think it's likely that SP was captured exiting the bldg., after the murder, but only briefly. IMHO

 

[Tippy Lynn]

SW part of building is where Missy was found. That is exactly the area where perp was on camera by the bulletin board, attempting to get into room to left of bulletin board with prybar and hammer briefly, sees camera, walks across view of camera without looking at it again. A statement was made that after that, everything went black. I believe that perp disabled camera at that point which is why it was not caught on camera. Perp somehow knew Missy's routine and knew that she had to enter main set of doors with key to come down hallway and open the doors where her truck was parked. This routine was the same whether rain or shine to open bathrooms for campers. If you look at the tape, there is a dark hallway to the right of the bulletin board. If Missy came in the main entrance, she passed that hallway on her way to open the doors near where her truck was parked. Perp had an easy way to get to her once she walked past that hallway. Perp would not have been able to hide within the area of the doors near her truck as it was all glass. I believe perp struck her with the initial weapon right near the bulletin board and finished the job in that general vicinity. Campers would be able to see through those doors and a body laying down may look like a 'rolled up rug' through 2 sets of glass doors. The fact that campers could see her and camera did not says that perp disabled it. We saw 2 views from cameras in that area. In my opinion, perp disabled the one looking at the bulletin board. That being said, I think perp disabled most cameras if not all prior to leaving the property. The item that we keep discussing from part of the video appears to be a video camera in my opinion. And the force that was necessary to remove the lock on the kitchen door was insane. Not a woman. They may have disabled the cameras but they may not have realized that all prior footage was captured in my opinion. I also believe perp came very early before the murder and busted windows & doors quickly and left to see if cops responded. When coast was clear after a while, they knew they had time until Missy arrived which accounts for the casual nature of the perp walking around slowly etc. Perp knew exactly what time MB would be there, perp knew where she would enter and which direction she would be headed, perp knew she may be carrying a weapon, perp knew she may recognize them and/or that there were cameras. Definitely not random, not a burglary, not a spree or serial killer. Narrows it down quite a bit.

Your theory works for me.

 

[sdmike1974]

Sadly, it sure looks like we may be headed for the dreaded cold case file.

Although she hasn't posted in over a month I still give my vote to local Breck80 -- who works in the legal field -- for perhaps the most compelling piece of profiling/sleuthing so far...even if she has now changed her mind and I am not saying that she has.

Here is an excerpt from her excellent analysis in May.
*****************************************************************
Motive: Personal & Professional Jealousy

IMO...You have a possible perp where LE is aware of the home bc of possible past domestic violence issues where police were called out; wife might have been the aggressor. Husband is former military & self-defense expert. Wife likely has above knowledge capabilities in self-defense & combat, too. Missy was fit & tough, but female perp was likely skilled enough to surprise attack and drop to the ground.

Background: Wife makes all the money working 9 years as a budget analyst at an aviation company. She's smart & successful with an MBA. She leaves her job one year ago & 3 months later becomes pregnant. So now you have a tsunami of things occurring: loss of major income and your 4th child on the way. She starts doing Mary Kay, another likely stressor, bc now two parents rely on unsteady income.

Right before pregnancy, daughter falls from the home stairwell balcony and suffers a broken jaw & brain injuries and is in ICU. She ultimately survives but requires longer hospital stay. More stressors.

Mom gets pregnant. During pregnancy, she posts selfies constantly and speaks about losing weight as soon as the baby arrives. She seems determined. She talks about getting in shape and going to the gym. When baby arrives, she's soon all about losing weight. But as the months move into February, she's not going to the gym as much nor losing the weight.

Soon her husband finds a great new job with a vibrant woman as a partner in the next town over. This woman is also a mom & wife and also runs her own business and seems to be loved by everyone. She's fit, bubbly and outgoing. Her husband and MB are working a lot and just all about helping other people with their goals! So mom and dad split time with the kids, but dad's new job requires him to do many classes early and late.

Missy is just like CT in her eyes. Missy's also a mom & runs her own business...And she's successful, healthy and fit. And everyone admires her. Even CT's husband. She can't take it anymore. The rage & jealousy builds. An emotional affair derives in her mind. Since she's smarter than all of us, in her eyes, perp thinks she can get away with it. She knows the ends and outs of that location, surveillance cams, when Missy will arrive, when campers will arrive & it won't be suspicious to be out early in the morning bc that's when she usually works out anyway.

April 16-17 Missy & AJ are heading to Austin for a work event.

One day before, April 15, a creepy message arrives to Missy on LinkedIn by unknown person.

April 18 - Missy is murdered with wounds to her head and chest, meaning the perp likely sat on top of her so she could see her eyes.

Husband never knows.

All of this JMO & my amateur profiling
********************************************

 

[Tippy Lynn]

It looks like the rain may have stopped at that point or that those areas were protected. I'm positive that LE knows who did it. RIP Missy and if her daughters are here, you go do what your mom would have wanted. Have fun, be smart, keep trying new things, make new friends, make right decisions, be strong and no matter what, remember how much your mom loved you.

Your post brought tears to my eyes....SO SAD. I lost my mom when she was a few years older than MB and way too young and my father 10 years later, neither was due to criminal activity or violence, I can't imagine what this family is going through. My heart literally hurts to think of her girls. Prayers, peace and justice.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

I agree with your theory, but have two questions and would like the input of others. It was reported that she was found with shards of glass around her. Where in the vestibule would the glass come from? The doors?
Also, do you think Missy would have reacted strangely to seeing the inner doors propped open? I take everything that LE says very literally, and don't assume what they do not say is true. So they said they don't have video of the attack, but I wonder if they have video of Missy acting strangely before she encounters SP? If I were approaching some doors that are never open and they were propped open, I would probably look noticeably concerned.

Good question. I'm not sure if SP propped those doors open or not...in the earliest threads when discussed this, someone mentioned that it was possible the janitor propped the interior set open when the area rug needed drying during the night.

In that it had been raining the day before (Sunday), and there was both morning and evening foot traffic at the church (a lifegroup met there that night), it is conceivable that the janitor might have propped the door open for the carpet to dry. I believe that's a beige-toned, rounded vestibule carpet in this WFAA photo Nin posted to the thread:



All that to say, if this was commonly done when the rug got wet, it may not have fazed Missy at all to see the doors propped open like that. Just a thought...

 

[GeeEm]

I believe that the cameras in that corner both had pretty significant blind spots. Based on how many tiles are visible from both directions, the overlapped/combined blind spot (illustrated in purple) could be as much at 10' x 8' in size in that corner of the hallway alone, not counting the vestibule area. Taking both LE's released statement and the blind spot calculations into account, it's very possible this is the location of the murder.

Edit to update my theory: Graphic warning! Perhaps MB only had the keys to the Main Entry on the west. She parked on the SW under the porte cochère, but had to walk around the outer walk to the main entry in order to use those keys, entering there. Camera Two captured her walking south toward the SW doorways to her parked vehicle - presumably to unload her equipment and maybe prop open the doors under the patio from the inside for her CGers to have access to the restrooms. The murder occurred in in that corner, beneath the camera's blind spots. Reports said there were signs of a struggle and broken glass. There is a glass table nearby, which could have been broken during the attack, accounting for both, even if the doors nearby were intact.

Excellent illustration.
I'm thinking she hit a glass table from initial hit....and the final moments 😢 JMO

RIP Missy 🌹

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

LOL okay, the verbal description is kinda hard to follow. A picture being worth 1000 words, and so on, here ya go - the 4 video cam scenes plotted on a map, in sequence, to illustrate how it might have been an initial lap being shown us, more or less.

Very cool!! Now I can visualize the path. Thanks for labeling these halls N, S, E, and W, too! (I've been a little directionally confused tonight, concerning the east vs. west side of the building...)

 

[GeeEm]

Great sleuthing my fellow friends
Sorry if I responded to any posts late, was reading and trying to catch up 💤

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

I wonder why the cameras in the SW corner never picked up MB. She was walking toward them so it doesn't make sense that she would "get out of range."

JMO, but I think the SW camera is the one that captured her, as she walked from main entrance back to the SW entrance. So she 'got out of range' when she entered the blind spot and/or vestibule area. (Does that make sense?)

Batbrat, love your latest diagram and your blind spot idea is something to consider...though I still think it's cutting things a bit close for a perp who may have preferred to attack her off camera (and I get the sense he was purposefully avoiding the cams for the attack). Seems SP couldn't be sure Missy wouldn't struggle or fall back into range of one of the 2 hall cameras at that end of the hall if he attacked her in that corner blind spot...nor would he have the element of surprise in his favor waiting for an ambush there rather than hiding in the vestibule. I'm thinking she would likely see him as she approached the vestibule unless he was hiding IN the vestibule. The other advantage of a vestibule attack would be that the attack would more likely stay contained in that camera-free zone, even if she attempted to put up a fight at first.

Idk, just some musings...

Re the glass hall table - I keep reading about the theory of that breaking, but from pictures I've seen, it seems if that had been broken in the struggle, wouldn't it (and the struggle involving it) have been in the camera range?

 

[DeDee]

Sadly, it sure looks like we may be headed for the dreaded cold case file.

Although she hasn't posted in over a month I still give my vote to local Breck80 -- who works in the legal field -- for perhaps the most compelling piece of profiling/sleuthing so far...even if she has now changed her mind and I am not saying that she has.

Here is an excerpt from her excellent analysis in May.
*****************************************************************
Motive: Personal & Professional Jealousy

IMO...You have a possible perp where LE is aware of the home bc of possible past domestic violence issues where police were called out; wife might have been the aggressor. Husband is former military & self-defense expert. Wife likely has above knowledge capabilities in self-defense & combat, too. Missy was fit & tough, but female perp was likely skilled enough to surprise attack and drop to the ground.

Background: Wife makes all the money working 9 years as a budget analyst at an aviation company. She's smart & successful with an MBA. She leaves her job one year ago & 3 months later becomes pregnant. So now you have a tsunami of things occurring: loss of major income and your 4th child on the way. She starts doing Mary Kay, another likely stressor, bc now two parents rely on unsteady income.

Right before pregnancy, daughter falls from the home stairwell balcony and suffers a broken jaw & brain injuries and is in ICU. She ultimately survives but requires longer hospital stay. More stressors.

Mom gets pregnant. During pregnancy, she posts selfies constantly and speaks about losing weight as soon as the baby arrives. She seems determined. She talks about getting in shape and going to the gym. When baby arrives, she's soon all about losing weight. But as the months move into February, she's not going to the gym as much nor losing the weight.

Soon her husband finds a great new job with a vibrant woman as a partner in the next town over. This woman is also a mom & wife and also runs her own business and seems to be loved by everyone. She's fit, bubbly and outgoing. Her husband and MB are working a lot and just all about helping other people with their goals! So mom and dad split time with the kids, but dad's new job requires him to do many classes early and late.

Missy is just like CT in her eyes. Missy's also a mom & runs her own business...And she's successful, healthy and fit. And everyone admires her. Even CT's husband. She can't take it anymore. The rage & jealousy builds. An emotional affair derives in her mind. Since she's smarter than all of us, in her eyes, perp thinks she can get away with it. She knows the ends and outs of that location, surveillance cams, when Missy will arrive, when campers will arrive & it won't be suspicious to be out early in the morning bc that's when she usually works out anyway.

April 16-17 Missy & AJ are heading to Austin for a work event.

One day before, April 15, a creepy message arrives to Missy on LinkedIn by unknown person.

April 18 - Missy is murdered with wounds to her head and chest, meaning the perp likely sat on top of her so she could see her eyes.

Husband never knows.

All of this JMO & my amateur profiling
********************************************

Thank you for bumping this most interesting profile of a possible unsub in Missy's murder. MB is the one who got AJ involved in CG. Could postpartum blues have been an influence on her thoughts as I was unaware of the brain injury but thought there was also a foot injury as a result of the fall. She would have access to most of the tactical gear we've seen in her husband's photos while training self-defense classes. Can anyone match her eyes to the eyes seen on the CCTV?

Today (Sunday) and the evening's posts have been highly informative and productive. My favorite hat is off to everyone who contributed. I stand in awe of your amazing work.

 

[Potonian]

I think it's just a case of a burglary gone bad

 

[SteveS]

How can the various snippets of info by LE about what was seen after MB entered be reconciled into a single story? Here's my thinking, in diagram form.

I'm guessing (and all of this fits with what we have been told)
* MB entered via the SW doors.
* She went up the main hallway (blue arrows), where she was moving away from the camera
* Lying in wait around one of the corners was perp in one of the locations marked "P."
* He attacked her out of sight of the cams, on one of the paths marked with the red arrows
* As a result she ended up in one of the places marked with a red "X."
* Then perp exited via one of the paths marked with black arrows which are essentially out of vision field of the cams we know, or cams are far enough away where might not have sensed motion and triggered, ultimately to the kitchen door exit, and he went out that door and away.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

I think it's just a case of a burglary gone bad

Now I finally have read the SW for LinkedIn. There is mentioned:

"THE COURT HEREBY ORDERS THE ABOVE-LISTED PROVIDER NOT TO
DISCLOSE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SEARCH WARRANT, BECAUSE THE
EVIDENCE BEING SOUGHT IS EASILY DELETED OR DESTROYED.
ADDITION, AFFIANT’S INVESTIGATION IS NOT KNOWN TO THE SUSPECT AND
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVESTIGATION WILL LIKELY CAUSE IMMEDIATE
DANGER TO WITNESSES,DESTRUCTION OF OTHER PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AND
FLIGHT FROM PROSECUTION

BECAUSE OF THE EXIGENCY OF THIS INVESTIGATION AND THE BELIEF OF
AFFIANT THAT DELAY MAY POSE IMMEDIATE DANGER TO HUMAN LIFE
THIS COURT HEREBY ORDERS THAT LINKEDIN USE ALL REASONABLE
MEANS TO RESPOND TO THIS ORDER WITHIN THREE (3) DAYS FROM THE
DATE OFISSUANCE."

IMO that doesn't fit at all with some B&E but rather with more serious crime (ie like drugs/money laundring/?).

 

[Cannonball3804]

Here's a source for starters, though I'm sure some expert googling will come up with similar (you can check the media thread - I know I've read those articles):

"Missy Bevers, 45, was found dead inside Creekside Church of Christ last Monday. Police said she was ambushed and died from a blow to the head." http://www.fox4news.com/news/131273502-story



I agree, a shard is not necessarily lethal. And this conversation about what to call broken glass is getting needlessly long, probably. The dictionary defines the word (as tycla's post also did). The Wikipedia link I gave you explains the terminology specifically referencing the difference between the two types of glass, and how they each break. My only point (in response to your question) is that when discussing in here whether or not 'shards' of glass could've killed Missy during the struggle at the church, if the broken glass reported by police was from doors and windows being broken, then NO, she would not have died from a 'shard' OR a crumble of that door or window glass...because such glass by code is tempered glass designed to prevent that very hazard.

I mentioned this ( and building code requirements) in response to an earlier post by you that suggested this possibility of death by glass shards during her struggle with SP (I'm remembering the same earlier exchange as Arkansasmimi, I think), but I don't think you saw it. No problem; and I think however we want to refer to CC's broken door/window glass in here, we can all agree--it's not going to be lethal.

So...Kumbaya, and group hug, :grouphug: and I'm off to see a movie with my fella.

On the shards of glass, I'm in agreement with what you said. I'll just add that the past convo about glass (at least on my part) wasn't necessarily just about whether the glass could have been lethal, but whether some of her visible injuries and puncture wounds could have been from (non-safety) glass. Or if, in fact, it's possible that she might have fallen during the struggle and cracked her head on a glass table as she went down. This is all speculative, of course, with no basis so far in the evidence we know about (which isn't much, regarding the crime scene). Sure would like to see that autopsy report!

Now, back to the ambush part. I always take it with a healthy grain of salt when the local news stations indirectly quote police. They take such unprofessional liberties when doing so, it leaves me smh. For example, remember this one? "Police spent most of the night at the church measuring and performing video reconstruction, and now say they have a much better description of the suspect." That's a paraphrase, but the latter part of it is nearly verbatim. And once we heard from LE directly, what did we get? A height range that didn't get better; it got worse. And nothing more definitive regarding gender or body type. So that makes me wonder if the stations misrepresented whatever LE actually told them.

So when a local news station says, "Police say she was ambushed." I disregard that unless I hear something from LE directly that supports it. And in fact, what we've heard from LE as recently as the 5/20 presser is that they are not committed to any one theory. Remember also that in those early affidavits/SWs, LE stated that they believed the killer and MB had been in contact before the murder. Yet we have heard absolutely nothing from LE in later press conferences which would indicate that they still believe that to be the case.

Everyone is welcome to draw their own conclusions of course, but for me the jury is still out on whether the perp went to the church targeting MB, or even whether the perp knew MB was even in the church until the moment they encountered one another. And the jury is also still out on the true nature of the crime itself - whether it was particularly brutal or done with great rage and hate as many have suggested, or whether death occurred as perhaps an unintended consequence after a couple of swings of the tool the perp had in hand. I mean, we don't even know how many wounds she had, only that there were wounds to head and chest. We also don't know for sure that the wounds noted were definitely caused by a tool, only that the wounds appear to be "consistent with" items the perp is seen carrying in the video.

 

[Cannonball3804]

SW part of building is where Missy was found. That is exactly the area where perp was on camera by the bulletin board, attempting to get into room to left of bulletin board with prybar and hammer briefly, sees camera, walks across view of camera without looking at it again. A statement was made that after that, everything went black. I believe that perp disabled camera at that point which is why it was not caught on camera. Perp somehow knew Missy's routine and knew that she had to enter main set of doors with key to come down hallway and open the doors where her truck was parked. This routine was the same whether rain or shine to open bathrooms for campers. If you look at the tape, there is a dark hallway to the right of the bulletin board. If Missy came in the main entrance, she passed that hallway on her way to open the doors near where her truck was parked. Perp had an easy way to get to her once she walked past that hallway. Perp would not have been able to hide within the area of the doors near her truck as it was all glass. I believe perp struck her with the initial weapon right near the bulletin board and finished the job in that general vicinity. Campers would be able to see through those doors and a body laying down may look like a 'rolled up rug' through 2 sets of glass doors. The fact that campers could see her and camera did not says that perp disabled it. We saw 2 views from cameras in that area. In my opinion, perp disabled the one looking at the bulletin board. That being said, I think perp disabled most cameras if not all prior to leaving the property. The item that we keep discussing from part of the video appears to be a video camera in my opinion. And the force that was necessary to remove the lock on the kitchen door was insane. Not a woman. They may have disabled the cameras but they may not have realized that all prior footage was captured in my opinion. I also believe perp came very early before the murder and busted windows & doors quickly and left to see if cops responded. When coast was clear after a while, they knew they had time until Missy arrived which accounts for the casual nature of the perp walking around slowly etc. Perp knew exactly what time MB would be there, perp knew where she would enter and which direction she would be headed, perp knew she may be carrying a weapon, perp knew she may recognize them and/or that there were cameras. Definitely not random, not a burglary, not a spree or serial killer. Narrows it down quite a bit.

BBM. Respectfully, LE was asked specifically in a presser whether they believed cameras had been tampered with, and they said no. Although I think the context was specifically regarding outside cameras, I think it would be impossible for the perp to disable an interior camera without that camera at first recording the perp approaching the camera, pulling up something to stand on so that he can reach the camera, etc. LE was clear in saying that there were technological issues with the way the cameras were working - not with visible tampering.

Your reference to the SW corner and "exactly" where MB was found... We really only know she was found in the SW corner of the interior, which is basically 1/4 of the building. We don't know where the struggle started. We don't know if she was in front of the bulletin board, in a restroom, in an alcove, none of that. And we have nothing to support the belief that campers could see her from outside.

So IMHO, there's really nothing in what you said that eliminates random/burglary/serial killer scenarios.

 

[Camerabug]

LEAVING DOORS OPEN and why?

If perp is targeting Missy, it's odd he left (at least) two doors open near the entrances.
That coulda spooked her. I guess the police know it's a target, but things that make you wonder.

My theory is that the doors blocked the cameras from detecting movement and may help account for not seeing the perp leave the building..jmo

 

[Camerabug]

IF the murder scene was between those 2 sets of doors .. then LEO were walking through it back and for as they were entering and leaving the building from that area. Personally I just do not think that she was murdered between the inside exit and outside entry area of the Covered Awning area. I do respect to agree to disagree and respect others opinions I just don't see how with what we have to work with that could be there. JMHO

I don't think she was killed there either. I believe there is a bathroom or some other indentation (confined space) near the SW corner that she was killed in. I was just offering speculation as to why the crime scene was released seemingly so early

 

[Cannonball3804]

Now I finally have read the SW for LinkedIn. There is mentioned:

"THE COURT HEREBY ORDERS THE ABOVE-LISTED PROVIDER NOT TO
DISCLOSE THE EXISTENCE OF THIS SEARCH WARRANT, BECAUSE THE
EVIDENCE BEING SOUGHT IS EASILY DELETED OR DESTROYED.
ADDITION, AFFIANT’S INVESTIGATION IS NOT KNOWN TO THE SUSPECT AND
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVESTIGATION WILL LIKELY CAUSE IMMEDIATE
DANGER TO WITNESSES,DESTRUCTION OF OTHER PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AND
FLIGHT FROM PROSECUTION

BECAUSE OF THE EXIGENCY OF THIS INVESTIGATION AND THE BELIEF OF
AFFIANT THAT DELAY MAY POSE IMMEDIATE DANGER TO HUMAN LIFE
THIS COURT HEREBY ORDERS THAT LINKEDIN USE ALL REASONABLE
MEANS TO RESPOND TO THIS ORDER WITHIN THREE (3) DAYS FROM THE
DATE OFISSUANCE."

IMO that doesn't fit at all with some B&E but rather with more serious crime (ie like drugs/money laundring/?).

IMHO it's just legal speak that LE is going to use to make the strongest possible case for the judge to sign the order. Just like they also put in these documents a reference to "the killer may have video-recorded the crime" (we know of no basis for this and LE said that later on as well) and also a belief that "MB had been in contact with her killer" (which did have a basis, the creepy LinkedIn message) to bolster their argument for getting cell tower and other data via SW. It makes it hard to tell what they're serious about and what they're just throwing in there.

 

[Camerabug]

drove by last week. Midlothian PD sitting in driveway.

maybe using a Stingray? Did NYPD loan them one? somewhere I read that killers return to the scene of the crime..maybe they are scanning cell phones as people drive by. I'm also sure it helps keep curiosity seekers from trying to get a look at the place MB was killed.