February 27, 2025 • 42 mins
Bob and Lauren return to Marion, knocking on doors once again. This time, however, they uncover crucial footage that reveals significant flaws in the investigation’s hasty rush to judgment.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Previously on Murder on Songbird Road, I received an email
approving my request for surveillance footage from Huck's gas station.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
What we were told that she did is exactly what
it appears that she's doing. Does that mean that she
didn't do it? Not necessarily in and of itself. Does
it mean that I don't think there's any way in
hell that that's what she was disposing of? There absolutely,
one hundred percent like I would die on that hill.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
The prosecution contends this was after the murder. She would
have been covered with bloody scratches and bleeding hands. Why
would she have been out and about in a T shirt?
My name is Katie, and your relationship to Julie.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I would consider her best friend. She didn't like blood,
she didn't like violence.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Having murderers.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're going to be talking about a man nine out.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Of fun time, at least in the United States.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We want to address a misconception that many people had
or continue to have, regarding what was actually found at
Hucks as opposed to the Southern Illinois Regional Landfill.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's the thing that upsets me the most about this
entire trial, that any of this evidence was admissible in
any way, shape or form.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
I was removed from the courtroom because I was threatening
the jury by sitting in the front.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Row, the all white jury. They were intimidated because I'm black.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
I couldn't do this.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Renee High Tower Jason Flomp Chicago based attorney Kathleen Zelner
is one of the most formidable forces in wrongful conviction advocacy.
Speaker 8 (01:46):
I'll flip the bill for that, because if anyone can
get Julie out, it's her.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm Lauren brad Pacheco, and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(02:18):
For over a year, Bob Matta and I have been
deeply immersed in a murder that has only grown more
controversial the further we've investigated. We've scrutinized the prosecution's case
against Julia Beverly and her conviction for the stabbing death
of eleven year old Jade Beasley, a child she considered
a daughter. Along the way, we've encountered moments that challenged
(02:40):
our assumptions, shifted our perspectives, and stirred emotions we never anticipated.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I think probably what struck me the most, frankly, more
than any thing that we may have uncovered or run into.
Is meeting Julie and person the first time, because going
into it, we had dug into the case a bit
as much as we could in terms of what was
(03:08):
out there online, but really, until I met her to
kind of get a sense and a feel for who
she was and is, I really didn't know, And that
for me was so important because I think we all
kind of think that we can look somebody in the
eyes and kind of be able to discern whether or
(03:31):
not they're being truthful with us and deciding if this
is somebody that you want to go to bat for.
You know, I had an attorney visit, so we weren't
being monitored, so I knew that she was going to
be as truthful as she was going to allow herself
to be, which I felt she was very truthful to
me about everything that I asked her. And if I
(03:52):
subtract that out, it makes a big difference on how
I think I would have construed things that we ran
into instead of it just being somebody that I'm reading
about or hearing about, but having my own experience with
that person. It changed everything for me in the sense
that I was able to think about her and what
(04:15):
I thought she would be capable of or not capable of.
And I don't think that I would have been able
to do that effectively or with any substance had I
not actually had that meeting with her the first time.
I found her to be just an extremely genuine person.
I really got the sense that I wasn't being snowed,
(04:36):
she wasn't a fraud. And I walked out of that
jail that day pretty firmly convinced that this just doesn't
add up. I mean, for me, that was really an
AHA moment.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
One of the most impactful interviews for me is one
you've yet to hear, one that took place many months
after we began our investigation. I'm always exceedingly sensitive comes
to questioning miners, which is why, despite interacting with Julia
Beverly's eldest son, Jaden since our first trip to Marian,
you haven't heard from him until now. It's crucial to
(05:12):
recognize the ripple effect of Beverly's conviction on her immediate family,
and in Jaden's case, those ripples were more like shock waves.
His entire life as he knew it was torn apart.
Can you tell me, just in terms of the day
to day, how much your life changed after December fifth,
(05:34):
twenty twenty.
Speaker 9 (05:36):
A lot because I had to move schools, move in
with my dad, miss Jade, missed my mom, miss a
lot of people. I basically just flipped a lot of
things upside down, but it completely flipped upside out every
now and then with Mom, always with Dad, I miss
a lot of people though, like old friends.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Jaden is a thoughtful, intelligent young man with a slender
frame and wide expressive eyes, eyes that, at just fifteen,
have witnessed far too much heartbreak. He's endured this sudden
loss of Jade, his entire immediate family and the only
home he ever knew. And you never got to walk
(06:16):
back into your bedroom? No, and how did it alter
your relationship with your little sisters?
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Well, I didn't get to see him anymore, so I'd
say it was more just like as if I one
day you stop and left.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I guess his choice of words is interesting given the
people who have abandoned him. So would you have considered
Mike before this happened as a stepfather or just as
your mom's boyfriend? What kind of family life did you
guys have?
Speaker 7 (06:47):
I'd consider him a stepfather looking back at it.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
You may remember this detail Renee High Tower shared from
the day of Julia Beverly's arrest.
Speaker 10 (06:57):
There was that knock at the door. I came man,
and Julie immediately started crying. She had her promise ring
from Mike that she immediately took off and handed to me.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That ring now hangs around Jaden's slim neck. Something I
didn't realize when I inquired about its significance.
Speaker 9 (07:16):
It was a promise ring for Mike and Mom, like
a little promise they had between each other, where Grandma
gave it to me as like a gift from Mom.
It's just really nice to have something from mom. It's
like a gift from Mom inside the jail and stuff
it stands for, like like I made Mom promise to
(07:37):
like stay strong in the jail and I'll stay strong
for her and stuff like that. Yeah, it's just really
nice to have something between us and stuff, like a
promise ring.
Speaker 7 (07:47):
She's always near your heart, so that ring means a
lot to you. It does.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, And why don't you bring it to school.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Because I'm more just afraid if it gets lost, someone's
gonna take it and I'd rather just keep it by
my bad at night.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Just having it with me is pretty comforting.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Now a freshman in high school, there is something heartbreakingly
stoic about Jaden. You get the feeling he doesn't ask
for much because he's learned not to expect it.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
High school has been going well, though it would be
a lot better if Jade was here, and stuff and Mom,
it's harder for me to comprehend certain things, like for
stuff like death.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
It's for me, it's it feels harder.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Bob and I were both tremendously impacted by our exchange
with Jaden, the fact that that kid wears the ring
Mike gave Julie as a promise ring, and now the
promise has become that poor little Jaden will stay strong
for Julie, and Julie has to stay strong for him.
Speaker 11 (08:51):
Yeah, and it rests right above his heart with his
Shane that's hanging on, you know, significant And you can
tell that it's not just a meetingless momanteau because he
was fumbling with it and playing with it the entire time.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
It gives him comfort.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And he doesn't bring it to school because he's afraid
somebody will steal it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, he's a sweet kid.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Renee high Tower's fight for access to her grandchildren was
very much fought for Jaden's sake too. Here she is
in an interview from July of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 10 (09:29):
I've been fighting this for three plus years.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And they will know how hard you fought to be
a part of their lives.
Speaker 12 (09:35):
And they need to be reacquainted with their brother, who
hasn't seen them in just amount of times I have.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, you know he's being.
Speaker 13 (09:43):
Kept from them as well.
Speaker 12 (09:44):
Absolutely, I am asking for one day out of a
weekend every other weekend, and I wanted to coincide with
the days that Jaden is there visiting with me, so
he can visit with his siblings and in all.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Guest of twenty twenty four, nearly four years after Jade's murder,
Renee and Jaden were reunited with Beverly's three youngest children
at a local McDonald's. It was the first time high
Tower had ever met the son Beverly gave birth to
while in custody of Williamson County. Oh my gosh, what
was it like to see Thomas for the first time.
Speaker 14 (10:22):
It was amazing and you still feel that connection, even
though that's my first time medium, and I thought, well,
that's my grandchild, you know, and it was just amazing
and just trying to get to know him right there,
and it's almost like it instantly takes.
Speaker 10 (10:43):
Over from me and what to do.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The girls Beverly and High Tower had last seen as toddlers,
were now seven and five years old, were not using
their names. How have they changed?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Well, it's like a complete different person because she's got
a head full hair now and she's moving around and
she's talking and she's you know, the last time I
seen her, she was a year and a half and
she barely had any little peacha claws on her head,
you know, And just to see her all grown up
with a little personality, it was just.
Speaker 10 (11:18):
I'm sitting there listening to them talk and watching them
interact with each other and how they answer my questions,
and I can already see Julie and every single one
of them.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Before that reunion, Jaden was a bit on edge, unsure
of what to expect.
Speaker 10 (11:36):
Jaden was getting a little anxious. He couldn't he didn't
even eat his food. He ate his French fries while
he was waiting. And then once they got there, he
couldn't touch the rest of his meal. He said, I'll
take it home, so he couldn't finish his food, but
wanted to give him a hug immediately, which was really
She remembers him.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
She remembers him, and she's looking up and she's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Like, I have a tall baby brother.
Speaker 10 (12:00):
Oh it was it was nice.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
It was nice.
Speaker 10 (12:05):
She wanted to hug him immediately.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Renee shared a picture of the kids, the three youngest
grinning ear to ear as they clutched the giant squishmellow
stuffed animals Nikki sent to mark the occasion. Jaden smiles too,
but his carries a weight the others don't. His mother's
promise ring hangs prominently over his gaming T shirt, a
quiet reminder of her absence. Oh my gosh, they're beautiful,
(12:32):
cheesy grins. Oh my goodness, But she can see the
happiness in the Oh my gosh, I can see Julie
and all of them, but yes, particularly high Tower has
continued visiting her grandchildren as aloud, helping them reconnect with
their eldest brother and gradually reintroducing information about their mother.
(12:54):
To date, Julie Beverly has yet to see her three
youngest children in person. She hasn't held her daughter since
the murder, and has only held her son once for
a single hour after his birth.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I have already sent those pictures on the pictures of
the kids.
Speaker 10 (13:09):
To Julie so.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
She can have that.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Yeah, they are priceless.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
They are priceless.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Murder on Songbird Road, We'll be back after the break
here again is murder on Songbird Road. It is difficult
(13:38):
to process what Renee let alone, Jaden, the three youngest children,
and Julia Beverly have lost, especially in light of the
issues Bob and I have uncovered in this investigation so far.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
It's hard to fathom. We're both parents, and we're both
very interactive, loving parents, were very involved in our kids' lives,
and the concept of having that stripped away with no
recourse or no seeming recourse or the recourse that exists
could take decades is incredibly, incredibly powerful in terms of
(14:14):
trying to wrap your mind around what that might feel like.
Would I be sitting in there if I was wrongfully convicted,
if I knew that I didn't do this, Would I
be getting bitter? Would I be filled with rage? It's
probably like the steps of grief, like when you learn
(14:35):
that you're dying, and I don't even know how I
would function. I've dealt with enough people that have been
wrongfully convicted to where they always inspire me every time
that I talk to one of these individuals at length,
and to see their strength and their ability to persevere
(14:56):
and to turn negatives into positives is just mind blowing
to me, really is. And it's like when you sit
there and you think about Julia and everything that she's lost.
Both times that we've met with her in person, me
the first time and then ausin when we went together,
her positivity just kind of blew me away both times.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You know who I credit for that, Renee, Because Renee
has not missed a visit, has not missed a call.
Her entire life is dedicated to fixing this.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
One hundred percent, and that bolsters her daughter in a
way that she desperately needs it.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I used to say, I didn't know what my kryptonite
was until I had children, and it's the biggest fear
in the world because suddenly your heart is walking around
outside your body. And I've always said that, you know,
if anybody wanted to destroy me all they have to
(16:07):
do is get to my children. That has weighed heavily
on me when I process how this tragic ordeal and
questionable investigation has impacted a potentially innocent mother. I look
at her children and think of what they've missed. How
important it is to have your mother there in those
(16:29):
early years. I mean, Renee didn't meet Thomas until he
was three years old. Those girls didn't, you know, have
any interaction with their mother or their grandmother.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, Renee has just been a rock, an absolute rock.
She just has never faltered.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And then you have the flip side of it as well,
which is the loss of Jade and how that has
impacted Julia's family as well. But most definitely just the
devastation that's caused to Michael Beasley and his family. There's
no shortage of victims in this and the fact that
(17:14):
this wasn't properly investigated to begin with the additional layers
of heartbreak that heaps on top of this tragedy. It's
freaking daunting. It's just daunting. Wrongful convictions not only devastate
the lives of the innocent, but also compound the suffering
(17:36):
of the victims, families and friends. When the justice system
fails to ensure accuracy the first time, it creates a
ripple effect of dysfunction and harm, a misery onion with
layers of pain and injustice that only grow increasingly rotten
over time. And when Bob and I were finally able
to access Jade's autopsy, we faced even more layers to
(17:58):
that onions. How the then Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon
Zenati reference to the autopsy in the same press conference
in which he announced Jade's murder and Beverly's arrest.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
An autopsy was performed on Sunday, and while we are
awaiting the final autopsy report, initial information from the pathologist
indicates that Jay Beasley died as a result of blood
loss from multiple stab wounds. Numerous search warrants have been
issued and evidence collected during the investigation. A lot of
(18:32):
evidence has been sent to the Illenwich State Police Crime
Lab in Belleville for testing, and we will be awaiting
all of those results.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We now know a substantial amount of evidence, seemingly anything
that could have supported Beverly's innocence was not tested, but
the autopsy also revealed evidence that may have been mishandled,
and it involved a towel that was apparently tossed into
the body bag used to transport Jade to the morgue.
In the autopsy verbatim, a blue beach towel accompanies the body.
(19:05):
Renee high Tower was unaware of any such towel until
we shared the report with her.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
I hadn't seen the autopsy report, so I didn't even
know anything about that, and I have not seen the crime.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
Scene photos because I wasn't allowed in court.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
She then questioned Beverly as to whether she recalled seeing
that towel at any point.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
I was talking to her about the autopsy reports and
I said that there was a towel in the body
bag with Jade.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
She asked, was it a beach towel?
Speaker 10 (19:41):
And I said, I think that's what it stated in there,
And that's when she said that she's seen that towel
in the pictures, in the crime scene photos on the
floor in the bathroom. She said, the thing about it,
it looked like it was used to clean up with,
like someone clean themselves off from blood. So she said
(20:05):
it didn't look like it was laying on the floor
and got blood on it, like everything else, did you
know just sitting there and got blood on it. It looked
like it was picked up and used to wipe blood
off and then dropped on the floor. The police could
have used it, who knows, But for it to be
put in the body bag with Jade is crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I don't understand that at all.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
When reading through the autopsy report, former Kentucky crime scene
investigator Katie Hartman, who worked in law enforcement for over
two decades, was also a bit baffled by the presence
of the beach towel within the body bag.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Correct if I'm wrong. You said that they said the
towel was on the floor of the bag, Yes, yep.
Do you think maybe when they pulled her out of
the tub that they included it in there? Maybe because
she landed on top of it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
See, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm trying to be good advocate here and think of
ways that it could have occurred. A med unit who's
not in forensics could have picked it up and thrown
it in the body bag with her, But still that
towel should have still been collected. I've had things put
in body bags by med units that I had to
collect even though they really had nothing to do with it.
(21:20):
So I can only tell you what I would have
done if I was at the scene. The blue towel
would have been collected separately.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Not with the body.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Never I would You don't throw things in the body bag.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This blue towel was saturated with blood. So could it
have been something that Jade had used to try to
stop the blood or.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Would it have been someone who did it trying to
stop their blood from their own wounds? Because it's with
this many sad wounds, it's not one hundred percent, but
it's pretty common for the assailants to cook themselves, you know,
with their hands slipping down. I'm looking at the evidence.
They did say the clothing that says here a beach towel. Yep,
(22:06):
Now could that be.
Speaker 12 (22:07):
The blue towel?
Speaker 1 (22:07):
That's the blue towel?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Okay, So at least it was collected.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Which conceivably means the towel, along with many other things
like Beverly's clothing, her nail scrapings, and Jade's electronics, could
have been and could still be tested. Here's Bob's take.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's unbelievable. I've said that word.
Speaker 15 (22:30):
I don't know how many episodes that I've listened to
during this world saying that something's unbelievable or unfathomable. But
every time I say it, I'm here to tell you
I mean it to me. To have that particular piece
of evidence jammed in the body bag is beyond comprehension.
(22:52):
I just don't understand what person that was at that
crime scene that thought that that was the right thing
to do. I have never processed the crime scene. I've
never done it.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
But you know what I wouldn't do is I wouldn't
jam a bloody towel that was found in the same
room the victim was killed, at least theoretically, into a
body bag that was with that victim and then transported
to wherever she was transported. It's it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
What else is crazy? The amount of time it took
for the then forensic pathologists to turn around Jade Beasley's autopsy.
Here's Renee high Tower.
Speaker 10 (23:36):
The scene was asking for discovery and that took a
while in itself as well, and then going through the discovery,
she's seen that the autopsy was not in there. Scene
had to file emotion to compel.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
So while the autopsy was performed the day after the
murder on December sixth, twenty twenty. It wasn't completed and
filed for another fourteen months on February fourth, twenty twenty two,
so it took over a year to turn around the autopsy. Yes,
did you ever get any reason as to why.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I did not?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And whatever happened to the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy.
Speaker 10 (24:16):
From what scene was telling me she was moving on
to a new career to be an attorney.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
So another person who has either retired or changed careers. Yes,
it's really interesting because there's no hypothesis as to how
tall the assailant would have been, or the trajectory of
the stab wounds or anything.
Speaker 10 (24:40):
Right, she couldn't tell the order of the wounds, nothing.
It's like she could tell how she died and that
was it. No time of death, no order the wounds,
no type of weapon explaining to nothing, no heights of
the assailant.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Nothing interesting. Murder on Songbird Road will return after the
break back to Murder on Songbird Road now, going back
to another line from the press conference with the then
(25:18):
Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Sonati.
Speaker 8 (25:22):
When the incident occurred. The suspect gave law enforcement an
initial report that the unidentified mail ran from the residence
upon her arriving home. She said that she left the
residence with Jade alone in the home for a short
time and return home to find an unidentified male fleeing.
(25:44):
The investigation has proven this story to be false.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Given the investigation had lasted all of four days at
this point, it's interesting to note numerous knife related crimes
happened before and after Jade's murder and Beverly's arrest. Williamson
County deputies responded to a call yesterday on Napoleon Lane.
Speaker 15 (26:04):
They found a woman with severe last rations to her neck, shoulder,
and hands.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
A Chester man is in police custody tonight after officials
say he stabbed a person in Christopher early yesterday morning.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well May I suspected the stabbing someone in Carbondell, now
behind bars police. A forty two year old aggressively approached
a woman at Arrowhead Lake this afternoon, wrapped his arms
around her, told her to be quiet, and that he
had a knife.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
In Episode three, I mentioned this exchange, which took place
at the scene of the murder, as one that would
come back to haunt us.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I mean, this is rural. We're in farmland here, there's
no question about it. So if we're looking at Sombird Road,
we're not close to any kind of main thoroughfare. So
like the concept of somebody walking back here seems remote
to me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You're not getting like casual foot traffic or somebody who
is zero chains to rob because they think that there
is something of great value.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and the zero chance of somebody just wandering around back.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Here this exchange, also from the same initial visit would
do more than haunt us. It would end up serving
as a premonition of sorts. Yeah, And unfortunately this is
not the kind of neighborhood where you would have ring
cameras or no way. Yeah, hindsight is sometimes twenty twenty
(27:31):
and sometimes it comes with receipts. At the end of
August twenty twenty four, Bob and I were back and
Marion again knocking on doors on or around Songbird Road.
My attempt to reach out by phone to a specific
address wasn't exactly successful, so the in person attempt fell
on Bob.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Corey Lee grow all right, so am I going this way?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
How we get to the.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yep, that's songbird. This is exciting now since I'm the
female who called them, do you want to be the
one who walks up to the door.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sure, I'm gonna lose the shade.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
So I think that's a good idea. Mata and sunglasses
definitely leans towards a law enforcement state trooper vibe.
Speaker 7 (28:18):
It's this house.
Speaker 11 (28:19):
Where is the right?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It's here?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Okay, all right, lose the glasses. So it is a
one floor trailer modular. He's walking up. I would have
(28:42):
walked up on this one, but I actually called and
they were not too happy to speak with me. He's knocking,
he's waiting. There's a car in the driveway, so yeah,
they may have seen us on the property up the
doors opening. Gentleman's out of shirt just answered, let's see
(29:03):
what Bob's got while they're talking, which is good. Up
the gentleman sitting down and talking. It's a one floor
trailer that has been reinforced with the foundation string lights
dangling from the front porch, faded American flag. He's calling
somebody in from the house. This may be where he
(29:26):
meets his resistance. Because I called and spoke to I
believe the daughter gentlemen's lighting up cigarette. I am waiting.
If he gestures, I will walk over. But up there
seems to be a woman who's come to the door.
Maybe it's just a flag blowing catching in the window
(29:47):
when a pause. At this point, we didn't realize we'd
driven up to the wrong address. Yeah, there definitely seems
to be somebody who is on the other side of
that glass door that they're conversing with as well. That
is definitely longer than I have no information to give
you a kind of conversation. Bob would wave me up,
(30:08):
gesturing that I could bring the microphone. As I walked
up to join them, the woman who was actually the
man's wife, was sharing details of an encounter she'd had
with a stranger on the very porch we were standing on.
Speaker 16 (30:20):
Knocking, and he kept kind of like he was had
both hands on either side of the door, and he
kept going like this, you know, not banging his set
on the door, just making emotion and just talking and
jibber jabbering and talking like he was talking into the door,
and he wasn't talking to nobody, you know, because I
was too afraid to answer the door, and I was
(30:40):
looking out the window, and then the camera was videotaping him,
and he just kept knocking and knocking and waiting, and
I was an answering.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
So a shirtless guy, and he looked like he was
under the influence of drugs or mental health.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Was yeah, he just he didn't look like he was.
Speaker 16 (30:58):
All with it.
Speaker 14 (31:00):
They were able to observe it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Do you remember what he looked like? About how tall
he would have been.
Speaker 16 (31:08):
He's probably a little taller than me. I'm five to three.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
I stayed five to five something like that, kind of.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Shaved head, kind of like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
You say he was the twenties, thirties.
Speaker 16 (31:23):
Maybe probably thirties, early thirties, early to mid thirties.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, what kind of build?
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Medium build?
Speaker 13 (31:33):
Yeah, medium build, yeah my size. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
That it scared me really bad. So, I mean, I
didn't really know what to do about it. We didn't
really call the sharp or nothing, because.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
He just left after that. You know, I didn't know
what to do.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
So he did not and never seen him since since.
Speaker 16 (32:00):
I've every time we leave or go somewhere, I always
look out because I would somewhat remember his face, you know,
But I haven't seen him since.
Speaker 13 (32:10):
He definitely looked to be on drug any I'm ashamed
of it, but I was a former of Matthews with myself,
and I know a lot of the characteristics of Matthews,
and thank Jesus, he'd got me a work on it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
You know, we were standing on a porch that directly
bordered the property where Jade Beasley was murdered, speaking to
people who'd bought the house just four days after her murder,
on the very day that Julie Beverly was arrested.
Speaker 16 (32:39):
We've purchased the house the ninth of December and moved
in shortly after that the tenth.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, did anybody ever come and talk to you about
what happened?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
No, we didn't even know anything about it. I just
seen the signing anything.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, did you call the police after someone came to
your door?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (32:58):
No, she was just herself and you know, she was
too scared to probably and it didn't really know that.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
He didn't do anything, so he left.
Speaker 13 (33:06):
Knocked on the door.
Speaker 16 (33:07):
Yeah, he only knocked on the door, So it wasn't
like he damaged anything or banged on the door recklessly
or you know, he just kept knocking you know, so.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
Acting violent, but he was acting very very strange.
Speaker 13 (33:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Have any of the neighbors told you about the family
that lived there or anything.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
That had happened.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
Yes, the neighbors told us.
Speaker 13 (33:28):
Plus we looked it up, you.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Know, I looked it up online to see.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
What was about it. It was very, very tragic, and
it was like, you know, don't.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Worried that it might be even more tragic than.
Speaker 13 (33:44):
We bought the place.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
We found out about it because.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Beverly was arrested so soon after the murder. No officers,
no detectives, no official anyone ever interacted with the new
homeowners about the brutal murder that occurred next door less
than a week before they moved in, which is why
they didn't think to contact anyone when just weeks later,
on February eighth, twenty twenty one, a shirtless, strung out
(34:10):
man matching the basic description Beverly gave of her alleged intruder,
appeared on their porch and started pounding on their door.
I know that that's the problem everywhere, but.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Particularly around Yes, it is. He was killing people, killing people,
and it's an absolute epidemic.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So was she still had that video because that matches
the description of the man that Julie Beverly says, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, like you and I aren't tall men, but like
five five five six is a short man, right, you
know what.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
I really wish we knew something about.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It has been very helpful and I'm very thankful for
you folks allowing us to int sure. Absolutely absolutely, we're
happy you were willing to talk to us.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it,
and honestly, it can be very very useful. As we
continued to talk, the wife excused herself, going inside briefly
before returning. When she did, she was holding an iPad
and on that iPad was the video of the interaction
and the man she just described, Oh my gosh, you
(35:24):
have it. Hello, Oh my gosh, he has tattoos, he
would be identifiable.
Speaker 7 (35:35):
Hello, I have a question.
Speaker 16 (35:36):
And he said, oh my god, I remembered I emailed
it to him.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, just remembered it. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
May I give you my email? Could you forward that
to me?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
That's like, yeah, I don't even know. See, that's why, like,
that's why we're knocking on all the new Ones.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
In the video, a shirtless man clad in dark jeans
and obviously under the influence of serious drugs and or
mental illness, walks onto the porch, speaking to himself as
he appears to be working himself up to knock on
the door. I have question, Hello, Hello, He seems troubled,
(36:20):
wrestling with an internal conflict. He vocalizes as he paces.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I have not been here in thirty years and more.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
His right foot swivels out after each knock, as if
attached by some sort of invisible string to his right
fist as he knocks. Then he scratches his tattoo covered
upper left arm as he says this. He then raises
both hands up as if responding to drawn weapons as
he leaves the porch, exiting down the stairs and walking
(37:00):
towards Beverly's former home as he mumbles, I heard after
exchanging emails and contact info, Bob and I returned to
the car our mind's racing. Oh my god, Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
My god, wow, Okay, holy moly, that was something else
that's huge.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It was February eighth, she said, February eighth, but still
he said, I haven't been here for thirty years. Is
what he said he has tattoos that are identifiables.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Shirtless in February.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Do we tell Renee?
Speaker 7 (37:48):
I think I think we tell Renee.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I mean that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Hold On, let me pull over because I got you
on speaker with the boys. Okay, hold on, give me
one second.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Okay, okay. So we did some knocking on doors. I
spoke to Butch's sister. I left my information, but she
didn't want to talk. Then we spoke to the backyard neighbor,
who suggested we go to the bar. We thought we
were at the house, but we were at the house
to the right, and they answered the door, and the
(38:32):
gentleman spoke to Bob.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Very nice, very nice folks, and you know, I just
start shooting the shit, telling him a little bit about
what we're doing. And you know, it turns out that
he bought right right after five days after the thing happens,
and you know, but I'm still I'm plugging away, right
And then then he tells me, oh, yeah, I heard
it had something to do with meth. And I'm like,
oh my god, I'm like, okay, where'd you hear that?
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
He's like oh, He's like, I don't know I just
heard it around. I'm like, well, I'm like, it's it's funny.
They say that, you know, we're kind of looking into
that angle a little bit. And so as we're progressing,
his wife comes up to the door and they tell
me a story.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
They bought the house the ninth of December twenty twenty,
so four days after this all happened, and they have
a ring camera. And on February eighth, a man who
matches the height and build of the gentleman that Julie
says she encountered coming out of her house is banging
(39:31):
on their door. And keep in mind, when we spoke
to Julie, she said, no, this guy was like five six.
Guess how tall this guy was kind shakes yep, and
the same kind of build, but this time he's not
wearing a mask. He's obviously out of his mind and
on drugs or both, and he's shirtless. He has identifiable tattoos,
(39:54):
and he's banging and saying, excuse me, excuse me, I
have a question. And then he says, I haven't been
here for thirty years, but he is irrational. He seems
like potentially unhinged. And guess what renee? They still have
the video, really really wow and guess who now has
(40:21):
the video?
Speaker 3 (40:22):
You yep.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
On the next and for now final episode of Murder
on Songbird Road, our long investigation leads to shifting presumptions.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Yeah, I don't get while you can prosecute or have
a prosecution without and I'll ask you for.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
And changing viewpoints.
Speaker 13 (40:51):
After listening to the podcast, I've definitely got a different
perspective of reasonable doubt.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
As Beverly's appeal finds its way to a panel of judges.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
It's just sad to kind of realize, all these years
later that you know, we may have been misled.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Our executive producers are Taylor Chaqoine and Lauren Bright Pacheco.
Research writing and hosting by Lauren Bright Pacheco. Investigative reporting
by Bob Matta and Lauren Bright Pacheco, editing, sound design
and original music by Evan Tyer and Taylor Chackoine. Additional
(41:34):
music by Asher Kurtz. Archival elements courtesy of WSIL News three.
Please like, subscribe, and leave us a review. Wherever you're listening.
You can follow me on all platforms at Lauren Bright
Pacheco and email the show with thought, suggestions or tips
at Investigating Murder at iHeartMedia dot com. For more iHeart podcasts,
(42:14):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Previously on Murder on Songbird Road, I received an email
approving my request for surveillance footage from Huck's gas station.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
What we were told that she did is exactly what
it appears that she's doing. Does that mean that she
didn't do it? Not necessarily in and of itself. Does
it mean that I don't think there's any way in
hell that that's what she was disposing of? There absolutely,
one hundred percent like I would die on that hill.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
The prosecution contends this was after the murder. She would
have been covered with bloody scratches and bleeding hands. Why
would she have been out and about in a T shirt?
My name is Katie, and your relationship to Julie.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I would consider her best friend. She didn't like blood,
she didn't like violence.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Having murderers.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You're going to be talking about a man nine out.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Of fun time, at least in the United States.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We want to address a misconception that many people had
or continue to have, regarding what was actually found at
Hucks as opposed to the Southern Illinois Regional Landfill.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's the thing that upsets me the most about this
entire trial, that any of this evidence was admissible in
any way, shape or form.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
I was removed from the courtroom because I was threatening
the jury by sitting in the front.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Row, the all white jury. They were intimidated because I'm black.
Speaker 7 (01:30):
I couldn't do this.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Renee High Tower Jason Flomp Chicago based attorney Kathleen Zelner
is one of the most formidable forces in wrongful conviction advocacy.
Speaker 8 (01:46):
I'll flip the bill for that, because if anyone can
get Julie out, it's her.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm Lauren brad Pacheco, and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(02:18):
For over a year, Bob Matta and I have been
deeply immersed in a murder that has only grown more
controversial the further we've investigated. We've scrutinized the prosecution's case
against Julia Beverly and her conviction for the stabbing death
of eleven year old Jade Beasley, a child she considered
a daughter. Along the way, we've encountered moments that challenged
(02:40):
our assumptions, shifted our perspectives, and stirred emotions we never anticipated.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I think probably what struck me the most, frankly, more
than any thing that we may have uncovered or run into.
Is meeting Julie and person the first time, because going
into it, we had dug into the case a bit
as much as we could in terms of what was
(03:08):
out there online, but really, until I met her to
kind of get a sense and a feel for who
she was and is, I really didn't know, And that
for me was so important because I think we all
kind of think that we can look somebody in the
eyes and kind of be able to discern whether or
(03:31):
not they're being truthful with us and deciding if this
is somebody that you want to go to bat for.
You know, I had an attorney visit, so we weren't
being monitored, so I knew that she was going to
be as truthful as she was going to allow herself
to be, which I felt she was very truthful to
me about everything that I asked her. And if I
(03:52):
subtract that out, it makes a big difference on how
I think I would have construed things that we ran
into instead of it just being somebody that I'm reading
about or hearing about, but having my own experience with
that person. It changed everything for me in the sense
that I was able to think about her and what
(04:15):
I thought she would be capable of or not capable of.
And I don't think that I would have been able
to do that effectively or with any substance had I
not actually had that meeting with her the first time.
I found her to be just an extremely genuine person.
I really got the sense that I wasn't being snowed,
(04:36):
she wasn't a fraud. And I walked out of that
jail that day pretty firmly convinced that this just doesn't
add up. I mean, for me, that was really an
AHA moment.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
One of the most impactful interviews for me is one
you've yet to hear, one that took place many months
after we began our investigation. I'm always exceedingly sensitive comes
to questioning miners, which is why, despite interacting with Julia
Beverly's eldest son, Jaden since our first trip to Marian,
you haven't heard from him until now. It's crucial to
(05:12):
recognize the ripple effect of Beverly's conviction on her immediate family,
and in Jaden's case, those ripples were more like shock waves.
His entire life as he knew it was torn apart.
Can you tell me, just in terms of the day
to day, how much your life changed after December fifth,
(05:34):
twenty twenty.
Speaker 9 (05:36):
A lot because I had to move schools, move in
with my dad, miss Jade, missed my mom, miss a
lot of people. I basically just flipped a lot of
things upside down, but it completely flipped upside out every
now and then with Mom, always with Dad, I miss
a lot of people though, like old friends.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Jaden is a thoughtful, intelligent young man with a slender
frame and wide expressive eyes, eyes that, at just fifteen,
have witnessed far too much heartbreak. He's endured this sudden
loss of Jade, his entire immediate family and the only
home he ever knew. And you never got to walk
(06:16):
back into your bedroom? No, and how did it alter
your relationship with your little sisters?
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Well, I didn't get to see him anymore, so I'd
say it was more just like as if I one
day you stop and left.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
I guess his choice of words is interesting given the
people who have abandoned him. So would you have considered
Mike before this happened as a stepfather or just as
your mom's boyfriend? What kind of family life did you
guys have?
Speaker 7 (06:47):
I'd consider him a stepfather looking back at it.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
You may remember this detail Renee High Tower shared from
the day of Julia Beverly's arrest.
Speaker 10 (06:57):
There was that knock at the door. I came man,
and Julie immediately started crying. She had her promise ring
from Mike that she immediately took off and handed to me.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
That ring now hangs around Jaden's slim neck. Something I
didn't realize when I inquired about its significance.
Speaker 9 (07:16):
It was a promise ring for Mike and Mom, like
a little promise they had between each other, where Grandma
gave it to me as like a gift from Mom.
It's just really nice to have something from mom. It's
like a gift from Mom inside the jail and stuff
it stands for, like like I made Mom promise to
(07:37):
like stay strong in the jail and I'll stay strong
for her and stuff like that. Yeah, it's just really
nice to have something between us and stuff, like a
promise ring.
Speaker 7 (07:47):
She's always near your heart, so that ring means a
lot to you. It does.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, And why don't you bring it to school.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Because I'm more just afraid if it gets lost, someone's
gonna take it and I'd rather just keep it by
my bad at night.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Just having it with me is pretty comforting.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Now a freshman in high school, there is something heartbreakingly
stoic about Jaden. You get the feeling he doesn't ask
for much because he's learned not to expect it.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
High school has been going well, though it would be
a lot better if Jade was here, and stuff and Mom,
it's harder for me to comprehend certain things, like for
stuff like death.
Speaker 7 (08:25):
It's for me, it's it feels harder.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Bob and I were both tremendously impacted by our exchange
with Jaden, the fact that that kid wears the ring
Mike gave Julie as a promise ring, and now the
promise has become that poor little Jaden will stay strong
for Julie, and Julie has to stay strong for him.
Speaker 11 (08:51):
Yeah, and it rests right above his heart with his
Shane that's hanging on, you know, significant And you can
tell that it's not just a meetingless momanteau because he
was fumbling with it and playing with it the entire time.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
It gives him comfort.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And he doesn't bring it to school because he's afraid
somebody will steal it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, he's a sweet kid.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Renee high Tower's fight for access to her grandchildren was
very much fought for Jaden's sake too. Here she is
in an interview from July of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 10 (09:29):
I've been fighting this for three plus years.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And they will know how hard you fought to be
a part of their lives.
Speaker 12 (09:35):
And they need to be reacquainted with their brother, who
hasn't seen them in just amount of times I have.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, you know he's being.
Speaker 13 (09:43):
Kept from them as well.
Speaker 12 (09:44):
Absolutely, I am asking for one day out of a
weekend every other weekend, and I wanted to coincide with
the days that Jaden is there visiting with me, so
he can visit with his siblings and in all.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Guest of twenty twenty four, nearly four years after Jade's murder,
Renee and Jaden were reunited with Beverly's three youngest children
at a local McDonald's. It was the first time high
Tower had ever met the son Beverly gave birth to
while in custody of Williamson County. Oh my gosh, what
was it like to see Thomas for the first time.
Speaker 14 (10:22):
It was amazing and you still feel that connection, even
though that's my first time medium, and I thought, well,
that's my grandchild, you know, and it was just amazing
and just trying to get to know him right there,
and it's almost like it instantly takes.
Speaker 10 (10:43):
Over from me and what to do.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The girls Beverly and High Tower had last seen as toddlers,
were now seven and five years old, were not using
their names. How have they changed?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
Well, it's like a complete different person because she's got
a head full hair now and she's moving around and
she's talking and she's you know, the last time I
seen her, she was a year and a half and
she barely had any little peacha claws on her head,
you know, And just to see her all grown up
with a little personality, it was just.
Speaker 10 (11:18):
I'm sitting there listening to them talk and watching them
interact with each other and how they answer my questions,
and I can already see Julie and every single one
of them.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Before that reunion, Jaden was a bit on edge, unsure
of what to expect.
Speaker 10 (11:36):
Jaden was getting a little anxious. He couldn't he didn't
even eat his food. He ate his French fries while
he was waiting. And then once they got there, he
couldn't touch the rest of his meal. He said, I'll
take it home, so he couldn't finish his food, but
wanted to give him a hug immediately, which was really
She remembers him.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
She remembers him, and she's looking up and she's.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Like, I have a tall baby brother.
Speaker 10 (12:00):
Oh it was it was nice.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
It was nice.
Speaker 10 (12:05):
She wanted to hug him immediately.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
That was great.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Renee shared a picture of the kids, the three youngest
grinning ear to ear as they clutched the giant squishmellow
stuffed animals Nikki sent to mark the occasion. Jaden smiles too,
but his carries a weight the others don't. His mother's
promise ring hangs prominently over his gaming T shirt, a
quiet reminder of her absence. Oh my gosh, they're beautiful,
(12:32):
cheesy grins. Oh my goodness, But she can see the
happiness in the Oh my gosh, I can see Julie
and all of them, but yes, particularly high Tower has
continued visiting her grandchildren as aloud, helping them reconnect with
their eldest brother and gradually reintroducing information about their mother.
(12:54):
To date, Julie Beverly has yet to see her three
youngest children in person. She hasn't held her daughter since
the murder, and has only held her son once for
a single hour after his birth.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I have already sent those pictures on the pictures of
the kids.
Speaker 10 (13:09):
To Julie so.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
She can have that.
Speaker 7 (13:12):
Yeah, they are priceless.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
They are priceless.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Murder on Songbird Road, We'll be back after the break
here again is murder on Songbird Road. It is difficult
(13:38):
to process what Renee let alone, Jaden, the three youngest children,
and Julia Beverly have lost, especially in light of the
issues Bob and I have uncovered in this investigation so far.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
It's hard to fathom. We're both parents, and we're both
very interactive, loving parents, were very involved in our kids' lives,
and the concept of having that stripped away with no
recourse or no seeming recourse or the recourse that exists
could take decades is incredibly, incredibly powerful in terms of
(14:14):
trying to wrap your mind around what that might feel like.
Would I be sitting in there if I was wrongfully convicted,
if I knew that I didn't do this, Would I
be getting bitter? Would I be filled with rage? It's
probably like the steps of grief, like when you learn
(14:35):
that you're dying, and I don't even know how I
would function. I've dealt with enough people that have been
wrongfully convicted to where they always inspire me every time
that I talk to one of these individuals at length,
and to see their strength and their ability to persevere
(14:56):
and to turn negatives into positives is just mind blowing
to me, really is. And it's like when you sit
there and you think about Julia and everything that she's lost.
Both times that we've met with her in person, me
the first time and then ausin when we went together,
her positivity just kind of blew me away both times.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You know who I credit for that, Renee, Because Renee
has not missed a visit, has not missed a call.
Her entire life is dedicated to fixing this.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
One hundred percent, and that bolsters her daughter in a
way that she desperately needs it.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I used to say, I didn't know what my kryptonite
was until I had children, and it's the biggest fear
in the world because suddenly your heart is walking around
outside your body. And I've always said that, you know,
if anybody wanted to destroy me all they have to
(16:07):
do is get to my children. That has weighed heavily
on me when I process how this tragic ordeal and
questionable investigation has impacted a potentially innocent mother. I look
at her children and think of what they've missed. How
important it is to have your mother there in those
(16:29):
early years. I mean, Renee didn't meet Thomas until he
was three years old. Those girls didn't, you know, have
any interaction with their mother or their grandmother.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, Renee has just been a rock, an absolute rock.
She just has never faltered.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
And then you have the flip side of it as well,
which is the loss of Jade and how that has
impacted Julia's family as well. But most definitely just the
devastation that's caused to Michael Beasley and his family. There's
no shortage of victims in this and the fact that
(17:14):
this wasn't properly investigated to begin with the additional layers
of heartbreak that heaps on top of this tragedy. It's
freaking daunting. It's just daunting. Wrongful convictions not only devastate
the lives of the innocent, but also compound the suffering
(17:36):
of the victims, families and friends. When the justice system
fails to ensure accuracy the first time, it creates a
ripple effect of dysfunction and harm, a misery onion with
layers of pain and injustice that only grow increasingly rotten
over time. And when Bob and I were finally able
to access Jade's autopsy, we faced even more layers to
(17:58):
that onions. How the then Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon
Zenati reference to the autopsy in the same press conference
in which he announced Jade's murder and Beverly's arrest.
Speaker 8 (18:10):
An autopsy was performed on Sunday, and while we are
awaiting the final autopsy report, initial information from the pathologist
indicates that Jay Beasley died as a result of blood
loss from multiple stab wounds. Numerous search warrants have been
issued and evidence collected during the investigation. A lot of
(18:32):
evidence has been sent to the Illenwich State Police Crime
Lab in Belleville for testing, and we will be awaiting
all of those results.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We now know a substantial amount of evidence, seemingly anything
that could have supported Beverly's innocence was not tested, but
the autopsy also revealed evidence that may have been mishandled,
and it involved a towel that was apparently tossed into
the body bag used to transport Jade to the morgue.
In the autopsy verbatim, a blue beach towel accompanies the body.
(19:05):
Renee high Tower was unaware of any such towel until
we shared the report with her.
Speaker 10 (19:11):
I hadn't seen the autopsy report, so I didn't even
know anything about that, and I have not seen the crime.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
Scene photos because I wasn't allowed in court.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
She then questioned Beverly as to whether she recalled seeing
that towel at any point.
Speaker 10 (19:26):
I was talking to her about the autopsy reports and
I said that there was a towel in the body
bag with Jade.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
She asked, was it a beach towel?
Speaker 10 (19:41):
And I said, I think that's what it stated in there,
And that's when she said that she's seen that towel
in the pictures, in the crime scene photos on the
floor in the bathroom. She said, the thing about it,
it looked like it was used to clean up with,
like someone clean themselves off from blood. So she said
(20:05):
it didn't look like it was laying on the floor
and got blood on it, like everything else, did you
know just sitting there and got blood on it. It looked
like it was picked up and used to wipe blood
off and then dropped on the floor. The police could
have used it, who knows, But for it to be
put in the body bag with Jade is crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I don't understand that at all.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
When reading through the autopsy report, former Kentucky crime scene
investigator Katie Hartman, who worked in law enforcement for over
two decades, was also a bit baffled by the presence
of the beach towel within the body bag.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Correct if I'm wrong. You said that they said the
towel was on the floor of the bag, Yes, yep.
Do you think maybe when they pulled her out of
the tub that they included it in there? Maybe because
she landed on top of it.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
See, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
I'm trying to be good advocate here and think of
ways that it could have occurred. A med unit who's
not in forensics could have picked it up and thrown
it in the body bag with her, But still that
towel should have still been collected. I've had things put
in body bags by med units that I had to
collect even though they really had nothing to do with it.
(21:20):
So I can only tell you what I would have
done if I was at the scene. The blue towel
would have been collected separately.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Not with the body.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
Never I would You don't throw things in the body bag.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
This blue towel was saturated with blood. So could it
have been something that Jade had used to try to
stop the blood or.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Would it have been someone who did it trying to
stop their blood from their own wounds? Because it's with
this many sad wounds, it's not one hundred percent, but
it's pretty common for the assailants to cook themselves, you know,
with their hands slipping down. I'm looking at the evidence.
They did say the clothing that says here a beach towel. Yep,
(22:06):
Now could that be.
Speaker 12 (22:07):
The blue towel?
Speaker 1 (22:07):
That's the blue towel?
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Okay, So at least it was collected.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Which conceivably means the towel, along with many other things
like Beverly's clothing, her nail scrapings, and Jade's electronics, could
have been and could still be tested. Here's Bob's take.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's unbelievable. I've said that word.
Speaker 15 (22:30):
I don't know how many episodes that I've listened to
during this world saying that something's unbelievable or unfathomable. But
every time I say it, I'm here to tell you
I mean it to me. To have that particular piece
of evidence jammed in the body bag is beyond comprehension.
(22:52):
I just don't understand what person that was at that
crime scene that thought that that was the right thing
to do. I have never processed the crime scene. I've
never done it.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
But you know what I wouldn't do is I wouldn't
jam a bloody towel that was found in the same
room the victim was killed, at least theoretically, into a
body bag that was with that victim and then transported
to wherever she was transported. It's it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
What else is crazy? The amount of time it took
for the then forensic pathologists to turn around Jade Beasley's autopsy.
Here's Renee high Tower.
Speaker 10 (23:36):
The scene was asking for discovery and that took a
while in itself as well, and then going through the discovery,
she's seen that the autopsy was not in there. Scene
had to file emotion to compel.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
So while the autopsy was performed the day after the
murder on December sixth, twenty twenty. It wasn't completed and
filed for another fourteen months on February fourth, twenty twenty two,
so it took over a year to turn around the autopsy. Yes,
did you ever get any reason as to why.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
I did not?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And whatever happened to the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy.
Speaker 10 (24:16):
From what scene was telling me she was moving on
to a new career to be an attorney.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
So another person who has either retired or changed careers. Yes,
it's really interesting because there's no hypothesis as to how
tall the assailant would have been, or the trajectory of
the stab wounds or anything.
Speaker 10 (24:40):
Right, she couldn't tell the order of the wounds, nothing.
It's like she could tell how she died and that
was it. No time of death, no order the wounds,
no type of weapon explaining to nothing, no heights of
the assailant.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Nothing interesting. Murder on Songbird Road will return after the
break back to Murder on Songbird Road now, going back
to another line from the press conference with the then
(25:18):
Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Sonati.
Speaker 8 (25:22):
When the incident occurred. The suspect gave law enforcement an
initial report that the unidentified mail ran from the residence
upon her arriving home. She said that she left the
residence with Jade alone in the home for a short
time and return home to find an unidentified male fleeing.
(25:44):
The investigation has proven this story to be false.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Given the investigation had lasted all of four days at
this point, it's interesting to note numerous knife related crimes
happened before and after Jade's murder and Beverly's arrest. Williamson
County deputies responded to a call yesterday on Napoleon Lane.
Speaker 15 (26:04):
They found a woman with severe last rations to her neck, shoulder,
and hands.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
A Chester man is in police custody tonight after officials
say he stabbed a person in Christopher early yesterday morning.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Well May I suspected the stabbing someone in Carbondell, now
behind bars police. A forty two year old aggressively approached
a woman at Arrowhead Lake this afternoon, wrapped his arms
around her, told her to be quiet, and that he
had a knife.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
In Episode three, I mentioned this exchange, which took place
at the scene of the murder, as one that would
come back to haunt us.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I mean, this is rural. We're in farmland here, there's
no question about it. So if we're looking at Sombird Road,
we're not close to any kind of main thoroughfare. So
like the concept of somebody walking back here seems remote
to me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
You're not getting like casual foot traffic or somebody who
is zero chains to rob because they think that there
is something of great value.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and the zero chance of somebody just wandering around back.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Here this exchange, also from the same initial visit would
do more than haunt us. It would end up serving
as a premonition of sorts. Yeah, And unfortunately this is
not the kind of neighborhood where you would have ring
cameras or no way. Yeah, hindsight is sometimes twenty twenty
(27:31):
and sometimes it comes with receipts. At the end of
August twenty twenty four, Bob and I were back and
Marion again knocking on doors on or around Songbird Road.
My attempt to reach out by phone to a specific
address wasn't exactly successful, so the in person attempt fell
on Bob.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Corey Lee grow all right, so am I going this way?
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:54):
How we get to the.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yep, that's songbird. This is exciting now since I'm the
female who called them, do you want to be the
one who walks up to the door.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sure, I'm gonna lose the shade.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
So I think that's a good idea. Mata and sunglasses
definitely leans towards a law enforcement state trooper vibe.
Speaker 7 (28:18):
It's this house.
Speaker 11 (28:19):
Where is the right?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
It's here?
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Okay, all right, lose the glasses. So it is a
one floor trailer modular. He's walking up. I would have
(28:42):
walked up on this one, but I actually called and
they were not too happy to speak with me. He's knocking,
he's waiting. There's a car in the driveway, so yeah,
they may have seen us on the property up the
doors opening. Gentleman's out of shirt just answered, let's see
(29:03):
what Bob's got while they're talking, which is good. Up
the gentleman sitting down and talking. It's a one floor
trailer that has been reinforced with the foundation string lights
dangling from the front porch, faded American flag. He's calling
somebody in from the house. This may be where he
(29:26):
meets his resistance. Because I called and spoke to I
believe the daughter gentlemen's lighting up cigarette. I am waiting.
If he gestures, I will walk over. But up there
seems to be a woman who's come to the door.
Maybe it's just a flag blowing catching in the window
(29:47):
when a pause. At this point, we didn't realize we'd
driven up to the wrong address. Yeah, there definitely seems
to be somebody who is on the other side of
that glass door that they're conversing with as well. That
is definitely longer than I have no information to give
you a kind of conversation. Bob would wave me up,
(30:08):
gesturing that I could bring the microphone. As I walked
up to join them, the woman who was actually the
man's wife, was sharing details of an encounter she'd had
with a stranger on the very porch we were standing on.
Speaker 16 (30:20):
Knocking, and he kept kind of like he was had
both hands on either side of the door, and he
kept going like this, you know, not banging his set
on the door, just making emotion and just talking and
jibber jabbering and talking like he was talking into the door,
and he wasn't talking to nobody, you know, because I
was too afraid to answer the door, and I was
(30:40):
looking out the window, and then the camera was videotaping him,
and he just kept knocking and knocking and waiting, and
I was an answering.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
So a shirtless guy, and he looked like he was
under the influence of drugs or mental health.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Was yeah, he just he didn't look like he was.
Speaker 16 (30:58):
All with it.
Speaker 14 (31:00):
They were able to observe it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Do you remember what he looked like? About how tall
he would have been.
Speaker 16 (31:08):
He's probably a little taller than me. I'm five to three.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
I stayed five to five something like that, kind of.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Shaved head, kind of like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
You say he was the twenties, thirties.
Speaker 16 (31:23):
Maybe probably thirties, early thirties, early to mid thirties.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, what kind of build?
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Medium build?
Speaker 13 (31:33):
Yeah, medium build, yeah my size. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
That it scared me really bad. So, I mean, I
didn't really know what to do about it. We didn't
really call the sharp or nothing, because.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
He just left after that. You know, I didn't know
what to do.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
But yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
So he did not and never seen him since since.
Speaker 16 (32:00):
I've every time we leave or go somewhere, I always
look out because I would somewhat remember his face, you know,
But I haven't seen him since.
Speaker 13 (32:10):
He definitely looked to be on drug any I'm ashamed
of it, but I was a former of Matthews with myself,
and I know a lot of the characteristics of Matthews,
and thank Jesus, he'd got me a work on it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
You know, we were standing on a porch that directly
bordered the property where Jade Beasley was murdered, speaking to
people who'd bought the house just four days after her murder,
on the very day that Julie Beverly was arrested.
Speaker 16 (32:39):
We've purchased the house the ninth of December and moved
in shortly after that the tenth.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, did anybody ever come and talk to you about
what happened?
Speaker 3 (32:50):
No, we didn't even know anything about it. I just
seen the signing anything.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, did you call the police after someone came to
your door?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (32:58):
No, she was just herself and you know, she was
too scared to probably and it didn't really know that.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
He didn't do anything, so he left.
Speaker 13 (33:06):
Knocked on the door.
Speaker 16 (33:07):
Yeah, he only knocked on the door, So it wasn't
like he damaged anything or banged on the door recklessly
or you know, he just kept knocking you know, so.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
Acting violent, but he was acting very very strange.
Speaker 13 (33:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Have any of the neighbors told you about the family
that lived there or anything.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
That had happened.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
Yes, the neighbors told us.
Speaker 13 (33:28):
Plus we looked it up, you.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Know, I looked it up online to see.
Speaker 5 (33:33):
What was about it. It was very, very tragic, and
it was like, you know, don't.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Worried that it might be even more tragic than.
Speaker 13 (33:44):
We bought the place.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
We found out about it because.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Beverly was arrested so soon after the murder. No officers,
no detectives, no official anyone ever interacted with the new
homeowners about the brutal murder that occurred next door less
than a week before they moved in, which is why
they didn't think to contact anyone when just weeks later,
on February eighth, twenty twenty one, a shirtless, strung out
(34:10):
man matching the basic description Beverly gave of her alleged intruder,
appeared on their porch and started pounding on their door.
I know that that's the problem everywhere, but.
Speaker 5 (34:23):
Particularly around Yes, it is. He was killing people, killing people,
and it's an absolute epidemic.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So was she still had that video because that matches
the description of the man that Julie Beverly says, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, like you and I aren't tall men, but like
five five five six is a short man, right, you
know what.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
I really wish we knew something about.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It has been very helpful and I'm very thankful for
you folks allowing us to int sure. Absolutely absolutely, we're
happy you were willing to talk to us.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it,
and honestly, it can be very very useful. As we
continued to talk, the wife excused herself, going inside briefly
before returning. When she did, she was holding an iPad
and on that iPad was the video of the interaction
and the man she just described, Oh my gosh, you
(35:24):
have it. Hello, Oh my gosh, he has tattoos, he
would be identifiable.
Speaker 7 (35:35):
Hello, I have a question.
Speaker 16 (35:36):
And he said, oh my god, I remembered I emailed
it to him.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, just remembered it. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
May I give you my email? Could you forward that
to me?
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
That's like, yeah, I don't even know. See, that's why, like,
that's why we're knocking on all the new Ones.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
In the video, a shirtless man clad in dark jeans
and obviously under the influence of serious drugs and or
mental illness, walks onto the porch, speaking to himself as
he appears to be working himself up to knock on
the door. I have question, Hello, Hello, He seems troubled,
(36:20):
wrestling with an internal conflict. He vocalizes as he paces.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I have not been here in thirty years and more.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
His right foot swivels out after each knock, as if
attached by some sort of invisible string to his right
fist as he knocks. Then he scratches his tattoo covered
upper left arm as he says this. He then raises
both hands up as if responding to drawn weapons as
he leaves the porch, exiting down the stairs and walking
(37:00):
towards Beverly's former home as he mumbles, I heard after
exchanging emails and contact info, Bob and I returned to
the car our mind's racing. Oh my god, Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
My god, wow, Okay, holy moly, that was something else
that's huge.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It was February eighth, she said, February eighth, but still
he said, I haven't been here for thirty years. Is
what he said he has tattoos that are identifiables.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Shirtless in February.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Do we tell Renee?
Speaker 7 (37:48):
I think I think we tell Renee.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I mean that's incredible.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Hold On, let me pull over because I got you
on speaker with the boys. Okay, hold on, give me
one second.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Okay, okay. So we did some knocking on doors. I
spoke to Butch's sister. I left my information, but she
didn't want to talk. Then we spoke to the backyard neighbor,
who suggested we go to the bar. We thought we
were at the house, but we were at the house
to the right, and they answered the door, and the
(38:32):
gentleman spoke to Bob.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Very nice, very nice folks, and you know, I just
start shooting the shit, telling him a little bit about
what we're doing. And you know, it turns out that
he bought right right after five days after the thing happens,
and you know, but I'm still I'm plugging away, right
And then then he tells me, oh, yeah, I heard
it had something to do with meth. And I'm like,
oh my god, I'm like, okay, where'd you hear that?
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
He's like oh, He's like, I don't know I just
heard it around. I'm like, well, I'm like, it's it's funny.
They say that, you know, we're kind of looking into
that angle a little bit. And so as we're progressing,
his wife comes up to the door and they tell
me a story.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
They bought the house the ninth of December twenty twenty,
so four days after this all happened, and they have
a ring camera. And on February eighth, a man who
matches the height and build of the gentleman that Julie
says she encountered coming out of her house is banging
(39:31):
on their door. And keep in mind, when we spoke
to Julie, she said, no, this guy was like five six.
Guess how tall this guy was kind shakes yep, and
the same kind of build, but this time he's not
wearing a mask. He's obviously out of his mind and
on drugs or both, and he's shirtless. He has identifiable tattoos,
(39:54):
and he's banging and saying, excuse me, excuse me, I
have a question. And then he says, I haven't been
here for thirty years, but he is irrational. He seems
like potentially unhinged. And guess what renee? They still have
the video, really really wow and guess who now has
(40:21):
the video?
Speaker 3 (40:22):
You yep.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
On the next and for now final episode of Murder
on Songbird Road, our long investigation leads to shifting presumptions.
Speaker 4 (40:41):
Yeah, I don't get while you can prosecute or have
a prosecution without and I'll ask you for.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
And changing viewpoints.
Speaker 13 (40:51):
After listening to the podcast, I've definitely got a different
perspective of reasonable doubt.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
As Beverly's appeal finds its way to a panel of judges.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
It's just sad to kind of realize, all these years
later that you know, we may have been misled.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Our executive producers are Taylor Chaqoine and Lauren Bright Pacheco.
Research writing and hosting by Lauren Bright Pacheco. Investigative reporting
by Bob Matta and Lauren Bright Pacheco, editing, sound design
and original music by Evan Tyer and Taylor Chackoine. Additional
(41:34):
music by Asher Kurtz. Archival elements courtesy of WSIL News three.
Please like, subscribe, and leave us a review. Wherever you're listening.
You can follow me on all platforms at Lauren Bright
Pacheco and email the show with thought, suggestions or tips
at Investigating Murder at iHeartMedia dot com. For more iHeart podcasts,
(42:14):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
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