January 2, 2025 • 39 mins
On December 5th of 2020, a blended family was ripped apart when police responded to a 911 call placed from a rural area in Marion, Illinois. At the scene, they would find an 11-year-old girl, brutally murdered and her hysterical 32-year old stepmother.
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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.
What follows is a nine one one call place by
a woman named Julia Beverly in December of twenty twenty.
Its content may be disturbing to some listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, Julie, okay, can over there?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Okay, okay listen content? What is listen to me?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Condent?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
What's your address?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Fourth?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
One three zero four is I'm Orderhodaria, Illinois?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Okay, okay listen? He said, one three zero four songbird and.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
One one there is zero four Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Sometimes you find a story, sometimes the story finds you.
The message request started coming in through Facebook February sixteenth,
of twenty twenty three. The first one was link to
an article with the headline jury finds Julia Beverly guilty
in the stabbing death of Jade Beasley. It was immediately
(01:09):
followed up with a message notification, which was immediately unsent,
and then this text, please prayer hand emoji if you
can help considering. The prosecution's ending argument was even though
we have no physical evidence, dot dot dot yet guilty.
And so began a steady stream of missed video calls
(01:31):
and links pertaining to this case.
Speaker 7 (01:34):
A jury trial for a Williamson County woman accused of
murdering a young girl starts tomorrow. Julia Beverley is set
to be in county court tomorrow morning at nine. She's
accused of murdering eleven year old Jade Beasley in December
of twenty twenty. Beasley died for multiple stab wounds. According
to investigators. Beverly pleaded not guilty in the wake of
Beasley's death.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
In Marion, Illinois, an eleven year old girl brutally stabbed
to death her father's longtime living girlfriend, maintaining innocence but
charged with her murder.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I ain't gonna life, you know, by the news articles,
I thought she was guilty at hers, aspiring what the
news said.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
That's Whitney Nicole, the woman behind my myriad of Facebook messages.
Speaker 8 (02:18):
I'm just a resident of this town and I can't
be quiet, and this eleven't innocent woman, but I believe
truly is innocent to just sit in write more of
her time behind ours.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Whitney speaks the way she communicated on Facebook, a bit
in bursts.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Marryan has always been a sweet stuff under the red
type of deal around here. They don't saw murders they cover,
and these journalists around here or news reporters are ridiculous.
They were lives. And it's not innocent. I've proven guilty
(03:05):
around here, it's you're guilty.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Her outreach seems sincerely motivated by her concern for Julia Beverly,
a woman she says she barely knows.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I don't only let her probably a couple of times.
Speaker 8 (03:20):
But I'm just.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Seeing all the Ronalds. I just this girl, it just
needs help. That's a sorry for her, like she does
not deserve this.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I'm Lauren Bret Pacheco, and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(03:57):
The nine one one call came in Saturday, December five,
twenty twenty, at twelve twenty four pm. It was an
unseasonably warm winter day in Illinois, sunny, with a high
of fifty four degrees.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
He said, someone had broken into your house.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, when I broke in, I know they were running
out as I was coming home.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Was okay, listen, listen to me. You gotta take a bit.
I can't understand what you're saying, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It originated from a somewhat rural section of Marion, Illinois,
a flat area of former farmland peppered with modest, mostly
ranch style homes.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
He said, someone came running out of your ass.
Speaker 8 (04:43):
D like thet running out wherever home?
Speaker 9 (04:46):
I know my door was over.
Speaker 10 (04:47):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The stretch of Songbird Road where the murder occurred is
dotted with Little League baseball fields, some still playable, most
overgrown by weeds and sectioned off by rusting chain link fences,
exuding an eerie air of time suspended and innocence lost.
Speaker 11 (05:07):
Which way did they go?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That is right out where all and I came into conte.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The call lasts for nearly twelve minutes. As a sobbing
Julia Beverley struggles to speak.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Who else is in the residence?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
This is me right?
Speaker 10 (05:28):
Al?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
But da is the being dead.
Speaker 8 (05:30):
Is in the bottom?
Speaker 6 (05:32):
We've got multiple one all over?
Speaker 7 (05:36):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Who is it in the bathtub?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Is much harder?
Speaker 12 (05:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How old is she?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
One?
Speaker 11 (05:50):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Is she awake?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Nohing, that's not moving?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Hold on, when that person left? Did they leave in
a vehicle or on foot?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
They were on boys?
Speaker 9 (06:12):
They just took over running.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Could you tell if there was a male or a female?
Speaker 11 (06:20):
It was a male?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Could you tell what color shirt?
Speaker 10 (06:28):
He was wearing.
Speaker 12 (06:31):
He wasn't all black.
Speaker 13 (06:33):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Police arrived on the scene at twelve thirty five.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Trouble, Okay, there's an author's tree pulling end. Okay, Joanna,
let you talk to them. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
They would find a still hysterical Julia Elaine Beverly, aged
twenty nine, inside the house in a bathtub with cold
running water. They would discover eleven year old Jade Marie Beasley.
Jade would be pronounced dead at the scene. The cause
of death was loss of blood from multiple stab wounds.
(07:18):
Through existing media coverage, I could quickly piece together that
Julia Beverly and Jade's father, Mike Beasley, had been a
couple for nearly eight years. They both had a child
from previous relationships who were about the same age. Jade
was eleven and Julius son Jaden, was ten years old
at the time of the murder. In addition, the couple
shared two young daughters together. One was three at the time,
(07:42):
the other was just one and a half years old.
That Saturday morning, Julia Beverly and Jade Beasley were the
only people in their one floor modular home. Mike was
at work as a cook at the local cracker barrel.
Julia's son, Jaden, was visiting his birth father, and the
couple's two young girls were spending the weekend with their grandmother, Sheila.
(08:02):
Mike's mom, Julia Beverly, was working the morning shift from
home as a remote customer service representative for Hyatt. Beverly
initially told police she had left Jade alone to do
holiday shopping at the local Walmart, but upon getting there,
realized she'd left her wallet at home when she switched
from her diaper bag to a smaller purse, so she
(08:24):
returned back home to the house. That's when, according to Beverly,
she encountered a knife wielding, masked man dressed in black
who tussled with her at the front door before fleeing
on foot. She then discovered blood throughout the house and
Jade in the bathtub before calling nine one one. Just
five days later, the now former Williamson County State's Attorney,
(08:48):
Brandon Sinati, held a press conference.
Speaker 9 (08:51):
A few hours ago. I charged Julia Beverley h twenty
nine of eleven three oh four Songbird Road, Marion, with
three counts a first degree murder the murder of Jade
Murray Beasley an eleven year old girl and arrest warrant
was issued and Julia Beverley was arrested within the past
(09:12):
hour and is being processed and held with the Williamson
County Jail. She's being held on a two million dollar bond.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Zanati would then hold up a photo of the victim,
Jade Beasley. It shows an adorable young girl with bob
strawberry blonde hair accented with pink streaks and a pink bow.
She's smiling broadly from behind pink rimmed glasses, dressed in
even more bright pink. The cropped photo and the larger
full body original of the small, pink clad girl would
(09:42):
be utilized by the media throughout the duration of the
investigation and trial.
Speaker 9 (09:46):
I recently was given a copy of the booking photo,
and I have those here for anyone that may want.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Then.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
In stark contrast, Julia Beverly appears haggard and drained in
her booking photo, her dark clothing and dark hair disheveled.
The grainy shot drab enough to almost appear black and white.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
These first degree murder charges carry with impossible penalties of
twenty to sixty years in the Department of corrections and
if determined, extended term eligible up to one hundred and
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Jade Beasley's murder and Julia Beverly's arrest were both announced
during that same press conference, but while no motive was given,
Zanati added this, when.
Speaker 9 (10:30):
The incident occurred, the suspect gave law enforcement an initial
report that 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. The investigation
(10:54):
has proven this story to be false.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Murder on Songbird Road will continue after the break. Now
back to Murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 7 (11:10):
What they had told us at the press conference was
that they had arrested Julie Beverly. They charged her with
murder and had said that she had told them a
story about a suspect that left the home and that
that was later proven to be false. That was the
first official word of that case. But they never explained
(11:31):
how that happened. I should have asked, you know, looking
back at it now in hindsight.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's Danny Vaie, who was a reporter and anchor at
local news station WSIL News three when the Beverly story broke.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Every town has its crime. Marian's no different than any
other towns. Marion gets a lot of theft, calls, burglaries.
Very few times that we've covered shootings in Marion, but
there have been. Not to say that there haven't been,
but to have a murderers gruesome as Jade Beasley's doesn't
happen very often down here, not at all. It's very rare.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And by down here, Vaya means south.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Marion is So if you know Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
it's about thirty minutes east of Carbondale en Route thirteen.
If you're more familiar with highways, it cuts right by
in their say fifty seven, it cuts through Marion.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And if you don't know any of the above, know
that Marion, Illinois is in extremely southern Illinois, closer to
Missouri than Chicago. Vya's recollection of Jade Beasley's murder remains
extremely clear.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Three years later, on December fifth, twenty twenty, it was
a Saturday. I was still the morning anchor. My shift
was over by around ten eleven o'clock am, so I
went home and I'm pure in rumblings that there's something
happening in Marion. Joe Rohanna was actually the first one
to go over there. He was our frotog reporter. He
(12:56):
actually shot the initial footage of the police response there
and he was just telling us, you know, that there
was a big presence. He went to go eventually here
back on the scanner that they were calling a METAVAC
helicopter to the home. But then later on we find
out that the call was rescinded, that the aravact was canceled. Immediately,
(13:16):
we were thinking someone died, but we just don't know who.
We just know that there's a lot of police. There's
so much activity going on, like this is a huge response.
I mean, it was insane the number of cars were there.
I think there were five, but it seemed like there
were more. Even in the days after when we followed up,
they were still there. But yeah, we first heard about
(13:36):
it on Saturday. We didn't get much information officially, and
we were slowly hearing little details on what may have happened.
We were hearing that it may have been a little girl.
We were hearing that it was the girl's mother. Then
we're hearing it wasn't the mother, it was a stepmother.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
The lack of information, especially during the isolation of the pandemic,
led to immediate speca and concern.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
People were calling us for five days asking what was
going on. People were wondering if the person was still
out there. There were so many questions. People were wondering
if there was a serial killer out there because there
was no hints of we need to find a suspect.
All we heard was that they were looking for surveillance
video of the area and that was it. They never
(14:24):
gave out a suspect description. They never said whether the
suspect was in custody or not. They never said if
there was a person of interest until the day's leading
up to the press conference. We didn't hear official word
until Wednesday, So literally five days later after the fact,
when something's happening the press conference, that was the first
(14:46):
official word of that case, and I was actually the
one filming that Vye.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Would go on to cover the case and the trial.
Reporting that would put him and the media in general
at odds with Renee high Tower, Beverly's mother since the
day of the murder, her belief in her daughter's innocence
has not wavered. The daughter who close friends and family,
called Julie.
Speaker 12 (15:09):
That morning, I was at work.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Renee was working at one of the gas stations she manages.
Speaker 12 (15:14):
I remember the ambulances going by my work because I
was in my Marion store.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Nothing clicked.
Speaker 12 (15:21):
Nothing was like, Oh my god, something's happened to one
of my children, you know, or one of my grandchildren.
Nothing clicked. I was just watching because they were going
like an extra speed. To my co worker, I was like,
oh my god, something really bad ness to happen. Probably
about four point thirty PM, my niece called me, who
lives in Salem, Massachusetts, and said she's seen something on
social media.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Nikki is the daughter of Berne's sister and lived in
Marion with her family before they moved to Massachusetts after
she graduated high school.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
I was just kind of doing my normal thing, chasing
the kids around, and I had a few moments to
pop on Facebook. And I still follow the local news
station Eaton, though are not there for a while. I
used to like to see what it goes on in
the community. And I thought the news story about murdered
in a little area in Marion, and I was like,
oh my god. That's so crazy, because nothing really like
(16:12):
that happened, at least whenever I was growing up there.
I clicked on the article and the picture just it
looked so familiar, and I didn't want it to look familiar,
but it did. And when I clicked on the article
it said Songbird Road. My heart sank because I knew
it that's the road that Julie lived on. It was
the tree in the front yard that did it, because
it's a very odd looking tree.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I called my aunt, Julie's mom, and I said, hey,
if we talked to Julie and she was like, no, no.
I was like, there's been a murder on her road,
and I think it here's her house.
Speaker 12 (16:45):
She sent me a picture and sure enough I recognized
it to be Julie's house.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You found out through a niece who lives halfway across
the country who saw it on social media. Yes, four
hours later, so I raced out there.
Speaker 12 (17:02):
I was about twelve to fifteen miles away, and I
think I got there in three minutes. Tel I and
sure enough, there's police vehicles everywhere and it's taped off,
and I'm in a panic, and there's an officer at
the kerb and I get out of my car and
I'm asking, are the kids okay? Ma'am you'll have to
go to the police station. I said, this is my
(17:22):
daughter's house. Is she okay? He would not answer, you
have to go a police sestion. In the meantime, I'm
calling Julie, no answer. I'm calling Mike, no answer. I'm
calling Sheila Jade, and nobody's answering the phone. So my
panic level is rising with every time I try to
call somebody.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Because at that point, anybody could have been dead.
Speaker 12 (17:42):
Yes, yes, And I finally get through to Sheila, Mike's mother,
and I asked, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
And is everybody okay?
Speaker 12 (17:52):
You know? And I had a many questions, and her
response to me, if you hold on, I'll tell you.
So I took a breath and she said to me, well,
Jade's with our heavenly father now, and I just lost it,
lost it, oh, screaming no. And I quickly have to
(18:13):
gather myself together again and ask what happened? And she said,
do you want to talk to Mike? I said yes,
So Mike tells me that she committed suicide, and I'm like,
what makes an eleven year old girl, do what was
going on? Was she depressed? No, not that I know of,
(18:35):
but Mom and Kim said she might have been feeling
a little bit depressed.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That initial confusion about the cause of death within the
immediate family and the fact that police only informed one
side of the family were just two of the issues
that would define the investigation of Jade's murder and the
case against Julia Beverly, as would what Renee recalls as
a notable disconnect between Mike and his fiance. I'm like,
(19:00):
where's Julie?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 12 (19:02):
Have you talked to her? No, he hasn't talked to her.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
He hasn't spoken to the woman he lives with, who
is the mother of two of his children. Yes, yeah,
Why how did he explain that.
Speaker 12 (19:22):
He didn't? He just said he hadn't talked to her. Now,
I'm sure by this time they had taken Julie's phone,
so she couldn't call or talk to anyone. But if
you were down to the police station like her, I mean,
did you ask about her?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
No?
Speaker 12 (19:36):
Nothing, I don't know. But he didn't even know where
she was, didn't know where she was, So I figured, well,
this officer was telling me go down to the police station.
So I go down to the Sheriff's office.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Which is indeed where Julia was having agreed to be questioned,
initially waiving her right to an attorney.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
I was asking if my daughter was there, and he
asked who I was, and he said, we'll be down
in a minute, and police officer Carl Gustantine came down
and talked to me.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Remember that name, Carl Gustantine will play a pivotal role
in Renee's issues with the investigation and Julia's arrest. At
this point, what time is it?
Speaker 12 (20:17):
Probably around five thirty pm going on six. He come
down and he said, we've got a lot of questions
that we're talking to her. It's going to be a while.
And I said, well, I'm not going anywhere. As he's
going back upstairs. I said, what would make an eleven
year old commit suicide? And he looked at me strange,
and he said, who told you that? And I said
(20:37):
her boyfriend, Mike, and he just said oh, and he
went on and finished questioning my daughter. It was crazy.
It was crazy. So I'm talking to my oldest son, Michael,
and he said, why do they still have her? In there.
It's been hours, and I was like, I don't know.
I guess they got a lot of things to talk,
(20:57):
you know, trying to figure this out. He's like, where's Mike.
I said, I think he's at home. He's like, Mom,
they're looking at her, at a suspect.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Julie Willingly submitted for questioning yes without representation, because it
didn't occur to her that she was a suspect.
Speaker 12 (21:18):
Correct now. Julia had told me later on that she
could feel a change in the wind within ten to
fifteen minutes of being there. But then she's trying to
brush it off. They're doing their job. They have to
exclude family members before they find you know, so this
is how she's playing it in her mind. This is
their job. They have to do this. I'm reading too
(21:39):
much into it, But she did say she could feel
a change withinmfe minutes of them being.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
There, of the police being at her home at the
crime scene.
Speaker 12 (21:47):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Much of this case seems to hinge on the fact.
Beverly initially told police she had made it to Walmart
before realizing she'd left her wallet at home, but surveillancege
established she had not completed that journey here again is
Whitney Nicole.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
They arrested her so fast, you know, and so I'm like,
she must have been drenched in blood and had all
this evidence, but come to find out, there was no
bloody clothing of hers found. There was no blood found
in her bedroom, or in her bathroom or even in
their drain. So if she even took a shower, where
(22:28):
did that bully go? Where did her bloody clothes go?
Where did weapon go? No, like witnesses, no, nothing, And
it's supposed to be beyond a reasonable doubt, you know,
And there is nothing to even prove she should have
even been arrested.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Whitney Nicole also brings up something that makes those photos
from the press conference with the Williamson County State's attorney
more interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Oh, Julie's fie. Juliet was shorter than Jade and she
way led like. Jade was one hundred and thirty pounds
in five tout three. Julia was for eighth in one
hundred and fifteen pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
A quick clarification, Beverly is actually four foot eleven.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Julia never even been in a fight before, And it
was actually said by the bio mother of Jaye that
she had taught Jade, So the fence so in that case,
like you know, Julia never being in a fight, why
it wasn't there more like the fence of wounds on her?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
You know when I mean the photo. Then Williamson County
State's Attorney Brandon Sonati released to the public of eleven
year old Jade Beasley was actually several years old, giving
the false impression that Jade was smaller than Julia Beverly
at the time of her death.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
We begin tonight with breaking news.
Speaker 10 (23:55):
A Williamson County jury has reached a verdict in the
Julia Beverly.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Two years later. It would take a jury just a
little over one and a half hours of deliberation to
deliver a verdict.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
She was found guilty of murdering eleven year old Jade Beasley.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
But many, including the prosecution and the victim's family, believe
justice was served. After the verdict, the Special prosecutor, Jennifer
Mudge spoke to local news.
Speaker 13 (24:21):
Any child murder case ns a lot and there's a
lot of stake and a lot of emotions involved, So
you have to, in a sense take it a little
bit personally. But we did our.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Jobs, as did Jade Beasley's mother, Jessica Bradley.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Being able to be here for justice to be served
to her was was a good ending.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
The concepts of justice and injustice are intertwined with crime
and punishment, but in the case of this murder, they
played heavily into the divisive aftermath that quickly seemed to
split the city of Marion and its social media activity.
According to Beverly's cousin Nick, so did Race absolutely.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
I remember within hours of her being arrested, there were
just people that had taken pictures from her Facebook profile
because she had attended a Black Lives Matter rally with
Mike a few weeks earlier, and it was in the
Marian town square, and they had a picture of her
holding up a sign that said no Jessice, no Keys,
and they were using that picture.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
To like walk her and then everybody.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Was dashing the whole Black Lives Matters movement. But they
did proceed to cut Mike out of the picture because Houston.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
And directly behind her.
Speaker 6 (25:37):
But Yere's two pictures and her race and her social
stances against her, I do feel that maybe that could
have also impacted the police from the get go, because
that stuff was in our house as well. I think
she still have her sign from that.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
So when responding officers came to the house, they would
have seen Black Lives Matter sign it right, Yes, I
think a poster board that she had at the rally.
I'm pretty sure it was in her living room. No Justice,
No Peace. Her booking photo wasn't the only thing that
appeared black and white. Julia Beverly is mixed race. For context,
(26:14):
according to the most recent census, Marion, Illinois is eighty
six percent white, while Renee high Tower, Julia's mother, is white.
Julia and her three brothers are all mixed race. Julia's cousin, Niki,
is the daughter of Renee's sister, and when she lived
in Marion, part of that white eighty six percent.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
That's one of the reasons why we relocated. I don't
want to bad mouth where I'm from and where we
grew up, but it is very much a predominantly white community,
very heavily religious. Some of the things that I have
growing up are a bit ridiculous. I remember an incident
in our high school. There was bearing hard game pictrina
(26:54):
bill as a family that had been relocated, and well,
a black boy who had been relocated to our school,
and within a day somebody had picked a fight with him.
They got into a physical altercation in his family life.
It is not a very inclusive community.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I would say Whitney Nicole is also part of that
white eighty six percent, but her children are not. Do
you think race played a role in.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The O Yes?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And sex Why?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Because I witnessed it firsthand. I w the racism, I
witnessed the sexism. Say, okay, me being a.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
White female and it was a dispute against a black individual,
they probably take my side.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
But say, if it was between me I am another
white male individual, take his side, which I have witness
and I have experienced.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Witness attended every day of Julia Beverly's trial which unfolded
in Marion. Do you think that Julie was judged by
a jury of her peers? Oh?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Now, I think it was set up just the way
they wanted it to be set up, Like it was
all white, all white individuals, there was nobody of color.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Renee high Tower is extremely aware of racial issues in Marion,
having raised four mixed children into adulthood there. It's also
interesting to note that two of Renee's three sons are
active military. In addition, the man Julia considered her stepfather,
Renee high Tower's ex husband, Angelo high Tower, was a
sergeant and longtime officer of the Marian Police Department when
(28:44):
he alleged discrimination due to his race when passed over
for promotion in twenty fourteen. That's the same police department
that assisted the Williamson County Sheriff's Office in the investigation
of Jade's murder.
Speaker 11 (28:57):
Another thing that I thought of before I forget is
when you're talking.
Speaker 12 (29:00):
About the shitty investigation here.
Speaker 11 (29:02):
When I was trying to get Julie's things out of
the house that were left after the investigation was over,
I called Carl Gustantine and I was talking to him.
They did not even know that Julie owned that house.
That's how deep that investigation went. Because he told me,
you're going to have to talk to the owner, and
I said, I did. She's sitting in jail right now,
(29:23):
and I've got the longest pause from him, and then
he said, well, they both own it, and I was like, no,
Julie owns.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
It and he's just sitting there.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
I'm not going to help you. Then I'm not going
to help you. That's still matter. You're going to have
to talk to him, and he hung.
Speaker 12 (29:38):
Up on me.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Murder on Songbird Road will return after the break. Now
back to Murder on Songbird Road. Could Julia Beverly have
been wrongfully convicted? Well, there does appear to be issues
of possible injustice worthy every visiting. There are also facts
that remain problematic. Why did Beverly initially say she went
(30:05):
to Walmart when her phone location and surveillance camera footage
apparently show she turned around well before completing that trip.
Why was there a significant delay according to the prosecution,
thirty one minutes between the time Beverly returned home and
found Jade before she called nine to one one. It
turns out I wasn't the only person with questions or
(30:28):
getting DMS about Julia Beverly. I just want to ask
you how this case came on your radar.
Speaker 10 (30:38):
Yeah, it's a funny story really because it was Renee
and Renee I think had run into I don't necessarily
know if she listened to My Gaycy season or she
was listening to My Garcia season.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That's Bob Mada, former criminal defense attorney turned prolific podcaster,
best known for his work as the host of the
podcast Defense Diaries, where, along with his wife Alice, also
a defense attorney, he discussed his high profile criminal cases
and the legal system from the perspective of his two
decades practicing law.
Speaker 10 (31:09):
I wouldn't be doing this if I hadn't done that
as miserable as I was at the end of my
legal career, because defense loitering is a gut wrenching profession.
You're fighting the power of the government like non stop,
never ending, and you're constantly losing. It's disheartening in a
really fundamental way because you go into that profession wanting
(31:31):
to really protect the rights of all of us, which
is really what defense attorneys do.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Turns out, Mata and I were drawn into the Beverly
case in a fairly similar fashion.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Renee reached out to me via email.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
Simultaneous to that, Whitney even Nichole was hitting me up
in my DMS.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
They were both sending me the same things.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Mada and I had initially connected in February of twenty three.
Speaker 10 (31:55):
Because you and I were talking about Christopher Vaughan. So
you and I had this thing going on completely seven.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
And apart his active community of defense Diary listeners wanted
his take on my take of Christopher Vaughn, who was
sentenced in twenty twelve to four consecutive life sentences for
the two thousand and seven shooting deaths of his wife
and three children. The case was the focus of the
Murder in Illinois podcast, which was released in twenty twenty one.
You hit me up on Twitter, and I thought, oh,
(32:23):
good God, here comes somebody wanting to attack me again
for my support of Vaughn. And then it very quickly
became obvious that you were intrigued. And that's when I
just sent you everything, the trial transcripts and just say,
come on, you know, let me know what you think.
Speaker 10 (32:42):
That gave me the answer in like the parallels between
Julie's case and Christopher's case.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
In terms of like, most people that kill.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Have a reason, a motive something.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
There's always a motive and it doesn't exist here.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You know, the outreach from with Nicole when she started
blowing up my DMS started over a year ago. I
didn't know what to think, but there was a very
real thread of wrongful conviction, red flags, the tunnel vision,
the trial by media, the confirmation bias, and in this
(33:20):
case racism racism for sure, but while race didn't play
a role in the Bond case. In addition to the
tragic loss of young life, there are some other striking
similarities with the case against Julia Beverly.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Julie's case, in Christopher's case. The things that they said
initially that were not truthful are always the hardest things
to overcome in your own mind, because then when you
start looking at the facts, especially with Julie's case in particular,
they just don't add up.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Murder in Illinois remains the most polarizing case I've personally covered.
Questioning the integrity of the investigation and conviction that landed
Vaughn in prison prompted some people to wish death on
my children. That wasn't lost on me. When I waged
looking into Julia Beverly's conviction, I was really wary of
it because of my experience with taking on a family
(34:20):
annihilator case in Illinois. So when I realized, oh no,
it's Illinois again, and that this is a stepmother who
has been arrested and ultimately convicted of the murder of
a step daughter, I said, you know who you should call, Bob.
(34:41):
I didn't know that you were already on Renee's radar.
Speaker 10 (34:44):
Renee hit me up and she's like, oh, I'm talking
to Lauren. I'm like what her and I have been
working on Christopher Vaughan and me doing something on Vaughn
for months, and I can't believe that this never came up.
And I just thought things are are meant to be
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Bob and I share a sense of pragmatic skepticism, but
also recognize the timeliness and responsibility of discovering issues with
this conviction before Beverly was even sentenced.
Speaker 10 (35:14):
You and I both know the stuff that we typically cover,
especially you with your wrongful conviction work. I mean defendants
that are in fifteen twenty years trying to get somebody
to take a look at their case, knowing just how
clogged the system is.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
You know, with this case, the more I learned.
Speaker 10 (35:31):
About it, the more I'm scratching my head and I'm like, man,
something stinks about it.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Something's not right, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Then you add the extra layer of the fact that yes,
she's a stepmother, but she's also a mother yes two
at the time, three other children, yes, two of them
toddler age. Yes, She's been taken away from all of
her children. And if she's in this, and I can't
(36:01):
think of a more horrifying thing to experience me either.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
As a father of four.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Julia Beverly has not seen the two daughters she shares
with Mike Beasley since Jade Beasley's murder nearly four years ago.
And there's an additional layer. Within weeks of her arrest,
Julia Beverly discovered she was pregnant with her third child
by Beasley, a pregnancy that ended in unfathomable cruelty, especially
(36:29):
if the conviction of Julia Beverly proves to be a
wrongful one. But there's another reason driving Beverly supporters. If
Julia Beverly is not the person who took Jade Beasley's life,
there has been no justice for Jade. Here's Beverly's cousin, Nikki.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
It's scary because the person hinted it is still out
there and nobody seems to care.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Well, that's not.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
True, we seem to care. What happened to Jade Beasley
is unfathomable and indefensible. And it is not our intention
to disparage anyone living or dead, but rather to re
examine this case with integrity and sensitivity while exploring whether
Julia Beverley was justly charged, tried, and convicted, or whether
(37:18):
pertinent facts and later developments that could have been utilized
in her defense were intentionally overlooked or ignored. On the
next Murder on Songbird Road, the ripple effect of Jade's
murder rips apart relationships.
Speaker 12 (37:33):
I said, Jade is no longer with us, and you
can see him kind of trying to swallow those tears and.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Siblings you wants.
Speaker 7 (37:41):
I'm living with his mom and his two younger sisters
to get to see his siblings.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
But did the investigation end before it even began?
Speaker 12 (37:52):
Within an hour and a half, they were knock at
our back door. They said they were there for Julie
and they had a warrant for her.
Speaker 11 (38:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Our executive producers are Taylor Chacoine 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 Tyre and Taylor Chaqoine additional
(38:22):
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,
(38:59):
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.
What follows is a nine one one call place by
a woman named Julia Beverly in December of twenty twenty.
Its content may be disturbing to some listeners.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, Julie, okay, can over there?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Okay, okay listen content? What is listen to me?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Condent?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
What's your address?
Speaker 5 (00:32):
Fourth?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
One three zero four is I'm Orderhodaria, Illinois?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Okay, okay listen? He said, one three zero four songbird and.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
One one there is zero four Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Sometimes you find a story, sometimes the story finds you.
The message request started coming in through Facebook February sixteenth,
of twenty twenty three. The first one was link to
an article with the headline jury finds Julia Beverly guilty
in the stabbing death of Jade Beasley. It was immediately
(01:09):
followed up with a message notification, which was immediately unsent,
and then this text, please prayer hand emoji if you
can help considering. The prosecution's ending argument was even though
we have no physical evidence, dot dot dot yet guilty.
And so began a steady stream of missed video calls
(01:31):
and links pertaining to this case.
Speaker 7 (01:34):
A jury trial for a Williamson County woman accused of
murdering a young girl starts tomorrow. Julia Beverley is set
to be in county court tomorrow morning at nine. She's
accused of murdering eleven year old Jade Beasley in December
of twenty twenty. Beasley died for multiple stab wounds. According
to investigators. Beverly pleaded not guilty in the wake of
Beasley's death.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
In Marion, Illinois, an eleven year old girl brutally stabbed
to death her father's longtime living girlfriend, maintaining innocence but
charged with her murder.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I ain't gonna life, you know, by the news articles,
I thought she was guilty at hers, aspiring what the
news said.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
That's Whitney Nicole, the woman behind my myriad of Facebook messages.
Speaker 8 (02:18):
I'm just a resident of this town and I can't
be quiet, and this eleven't innocent woman, but I believe
truly is innocent to just sit in write more of
her time behind ours.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Whitney speaks the way she communicated on Facebook, a bit
in bursts.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Marryan has always been a sweet stuff under the red
type of deal around here. They don't saw murders they cover,
and these journalists around here or news reporters are ridiculous.
They were lives. And it's not innocent. I've proven guilty
(03:05):
around here, it's you're guilty.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Her outreach seems sincerely motivated by her concern for Julia Beverly,
a woman she says she barely knows.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I don't only let her probably a couple of times.
Speaker 8 (03:20):
But I'm just.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Seeing all the Ronalds. I just this girl, it just
needs help. That's a sorry for her, like she does
not deserve this.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
I'm Lauren Bret Pacheco, and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(03:57):
The nine one one call came in Saturday, December five,
twenty twenty, at twelve twenty four pm. It was an
unseasonably warm winter day in Illinois, sunny, with a high
of fifty four degrees.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
He said, someone had broken into your house.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, when I broke in, I know they were running
out as I was coming home.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Was okay, listen, listen to me. You gotta take a bit.
I can't understand what you're saying, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It originated from a somewhat rural section of Marion, Illinois,
a flat area of former farmland peppered with modest, mostly
ranch style homes.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
He said, someone came running out of your ass.
Speaker 8 (04:43):
D like thet running out wherever home?
Speaker 9 (04:46):
I know my door was over.
Speaker 10 (04:47):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
The stretch of Songbird Road where the murder occurred is
dotted with Little League baseball fields, some still playable, most
overgrown by weeds and sectioned off by rusting chain link fences,
exuding an eerie air of time suspended and innocence lost.
Speaker 11 (05:07):
Which way did they go?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That is right out where all and I came into conte.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
The call lasts for nearly twelve minutes. As a sobbing
Julia Beverley struggles to speak.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Who else is in the residence?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
This is me right?
Speaker 10 (05:28):
Al?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
But da is the being dead.
Speaker 8 (05:30):
Is in the bottom?
Speaker 6 (05:32):
We've got multiple one all over?
Speaker 7 (05:36):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Who is it in the bathtub?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Is much harder?
Speaker 12 (05:46):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How old is she?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
One?
Speaker 11 (05:50):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Is she awake?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Nohing, that's not moving?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Hold on, when that person left? Did they leave in
a vehicle or on foot?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
They were on boys?
Speaker 9 (06:12):
They just took over running.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Could you tell if there was a male or a female?
Speaker 11 (06:20):
It was a male?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Could you tell what color shirt?
Speaker 10 (06:28):
He was wearing.
Speaker 12 (06:31):
He wasn't all black.
Speaker 13 (06:33):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Police arrived on the scene at twelve thirty five.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Trouble, Okay, there's an author's tree pulling end. Okay, Joanna,
let you talk to them. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
They would find a still hysterical Julia Elaine Beverly, aged
twenty nine, inside the house in a bathtub with cold
running water. They would discover eleven year old Jade Marie Beasley.
Jade would be pronounced dead at the scene. The cause
of death was loss of blood from multiple stab wounds.
(07:18):
Through existing media coverage, I could quickly piece together that
Julia Beverly and Jade's father, Mike Beasley, had been a
couple for nearly eight years. They both had a child
from previous relationships who were about the same age. Jade
was eleven and Julius son Jaden, was ten years old
at the time of the murder. In addition, the couple
shared two young daughters together. One was three at the time,
(07:42):
the other was just one and a half years old.
That Saturday morning, Julia Beverly and Jade Beasley were the
only people in their one floor modular home. Mike was
at work as a cook at the local cracker barrel.
Julia's son, Jaden, was visiting his birth father, and the
couple's two young girls were spending the weekend with their grandmother, Sheila.
(08:02):
Mike's mom, Julia Beverly, was working the morning shift from
home as a remote customer service representative for Hyatt. Beverly
initially told police she had left Jade alone to do
holiday shopping at the local Walmart, but upon getting there,
realized she'd left her wallet at home when she switched
from her diaper bag to a smaller purse, so she
(08:24):
returned back home to the house. That's when, according to Beverly,
she encountered a knife wielding, masked man dressed in black
who tussled with her at the front door before fleeing
on foot. She then discovered blood throughout the house and
Jade in the bathtub before calling nine one one. Just
five days later, the now former Williamson County State's Attorney,
(08:48):
Brandon Sinati, held a press conference.
Speaker 9 (08:51):
A few hours ago. I charged Julia Beverley h twenty
nine of eleven three oh four Songbird Road, Marion, with
three counts a first degree murder the murder of Jade
Murray Beasley an eleven year old girl and arrest warrant
was issued and Julia Beverley was arrested within the past
(09:12):
hour and is being processed and held with the Williamson
County Jail. She's being held on a two million dollar bond.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Zanati would then hold up a photo of the victim,
Jade Beasley. It shows an adorable young girl with bob
strawberry blonde hair accented with pink streaks and a pink bow.
She's smiling broadly from behind pink rimmed glasses, dressed in
even more bright pink. The cropped photo and the larger
full body original of the small, pink clad girl would
(09:42):
be utilized by the media throughout the duration of the
investigation and trial.
Speaker 9 (09:46):
I recently was given a copy of the booking photo,
and I have those here for anyone that may want.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Then.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
In stark contrast, Julia Beverly appears haggard and drained in
her booking photo, her dark clothing and dark hair disheveled.
The grainy shot drab enough to almost appear black and white.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
These first degree murder charges carry with impossible penalties of
twenty to sixty years in the Department of corrections and
if determined, extended term eligible up to one hundred and
twenty years.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Jade Beasley's murder and Julia Beverly's arrest were both announced
during that same press conference, but while no motive was given,
Zanati added this, when.
Speaker 9 (10:30):
The incident occurred, the suspect gave law enforcement an initial
report that 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. The investigation
(10:54):
has proven this story to be false.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Murder on Songbird Road will continue after the break. Now
back to Murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 7 (11:10):
What they had told us at the press conference was
that they had arrested Julie Beverly. They charged her with
murder and had said that she had told them a
story about a suspect that left the home and that
that was later proven to be false. That was the
first official word of that case. But they never explained
(11:31):
how that happened. I should have asked, you know, looking
back at it now in hindsight.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's Danny Vaie, who was a reporter and anchor at
local news station WSIL News three when the Beverly story broke.
Speaker 7 (11:45):
Every town has its crime. Marian's no different than any
other towns. Marion gets a lot of theft, calls, burglaries.
Very few times that we've covered shootings in Marion, but
there have been. Not to say that there haven't been,
but to have a murderers gruesome as Jade Beasley's doesn't
happen very often down here, not at all. It's very rare.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And by down here, Vaya means south.
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Marion is So if you know Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
it's about thirty minutes east of Carbondale en Route thirteen.
If you're more familiar with highways, it cuts right by
in their say fifty seven, it cuts through Marion.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And if you don't know any of the above, know
that Marion, Illinois is in extremely southern Illinois, closer to
Missouri than Chicago. Vya's recollection of Jade Beasley's murder remains
extremely clear.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
Three years later, on December fifth, twenty twenty, it was
a Saturday. I was still the morning anchor. My shift
was over by around ten eleven o'clock am, so I
went home and I'm pure in rumblings that there's something
happening in Marion. Joe Rohanna was actually the first one
to go over there. He was our frotog reporter. He
(12:56):
actually shot the initial footage of the police response there
and he was just telling us, you know, that there
was a big presence. He went to go eventually here
back on the scanner that they were calling a METAVAC
helicopter to the home. But then later on we find
out that the call was rescinded, that the aravact was canceled. Immediately,
(13:16):
we were thinking someone died, but we just don't know who.
We just know that there's a lot of police. There's
so much activity going on, like this is a huge response.
I mean, it was insane the number of cars were there.
I think there were five, but it seemed like there
were more. Even in the days after when we followed up,
they were still there. But yeah, we first heard about
(13:36):
it on Saturday. We didn't get much information officially, and
we were slowly hearing little details on what may have happened.
We were hearing that it may have been a little girl.
We were hearing that it was the girl's mother. Then
we're hearing it wasn't the mother, it was a stepmother.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
The lack of information, especially during the isolation of the pandemic,
led to immediate speca and concern.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
People were calling us for five days asking what was
going on. People were wondering if the person was still
out there. There were so many questions. People were wondering
if there was a serial killer out there because there
was no hints of we need to find a suspect.
All we heard was that they were looking for surveillance
video of the area and that was it. They never
(14:24):
gave out a suspect description. They never said whether the
suspect was in custody or not. They never said if
there was a person of interest until the day's leading
up to the press conference. We didn't hear official word
until Wednesday, So literally five days later after the fact,
when something's happening the press conference, that was the first
(14:46):
official word of that case, and I was actually the
one filming that Vye.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Would go on to cover the case and the trial.
Reporting that would put him and the media in general
at odds with Renee high Tower, Beverly's mother since the
day of the murder, her belief in her daughter's innocence
has not wavered. The daughter who close friends and family,
called Julie.
Speaker 12 (15:09):
That morning, I was at work.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Renee was working at one of the gas stations she manages.
Speaker 12 (15:14):
I remember the ambulances going by my work because I
was in my Marion store.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Nothing clicked.
Speaker 12 (15:21):
Nothing was like, Oh my god, something's happened to one
of my children, you know, or one of my grandchildren.
Nothing clicked. I was just watching because they were going
like an extra speed. To my co worker, I was like,
oh my god, something really bad ness to happen. Probably
about four point thirty PM, my niece called me, who
lives in Salem, Massachusetts, and said she's seen something on
social media.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Nikki is the daughter of Berne's sister and lived in
Marion with her family before they moved to Massachusetts after
she graduated high school.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
I was just kind of doing my normal thing, chasing
the kids around, and I had a few moments to
pop on Facebook. And I still follow the local news
station Eaton, though are not there for a while. I
used to like to see what it goes on in
the community. And I thought the news story about murdered
in a little area in Marion, and I was like,
oh my god. That's so crazy, because nothing really like
(16:12):
that happened, at least whenever I was growing up there.
I clicked on the article and the picture just it
looked so familiar, and I didn't want it to look familiar,
but it did. And when I clicked on the article
it said Songbird Road. My heart sank because I knew
it that's the road that Julie lived on. It was
the tree in the front yard that did it, because
it's a very odd looking tree.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I called my aunt, Julie's mom, and I said, hey,
if we talked to Julie and she was like, no, no.
I was like, there's been a murder on her road,
and I think it here's her house.
Speaker 12 (16:45):
She sent me a picture and sure enough I recognized
it to be Julie's house.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You found out through a niece who lives halfway across
the country who saw it on social media. Yes, four
hours later, so I raced out there.
Speaker 12 (17:02):
I was about twelve to fifteen miles away, and I
think I got there in three minutes. Tel I and
sure enough, there's police vehicles everywhere and it's taped off,
and I'm in a panic, and there's an officer at
the kerb and I get out of my car and
I'm asking, are the kids okay? Ma'am you'll have to
go to the police station. I said, this is my
(17:22):
daughter's house. Is she okay? He would not answer, you
have to go a police sestion. In the meantime, I'm
calling Julie, no answer. I'm calling Mike, no answer. I'm
calling Sheila Jade, and nobody's answering the phone. So my
panic level is rising with every time I try to
call somebody.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Because at that point, anybody could have been dead.
Speaker 12 (17:42):
Yes, yes, And I finally get through to Sheila, Mike's mother,
and I asked, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
And is everybody okay?
Speaker 12 (17:52):
You know? And I had a many questions, and her
response to me, if you hold on, I'll tell you.
So I took a breath and she said to me, well,
Jade's with our heavenly father now, and I just lost it,
lost it, oh, screaming no. And I quickly have to
(18:13):
gather myself together again and ask what happened? And she said,
do you want to talk to Mike? I said yes,
So Mike tells me that she committed suicide, and I'm like,
what makes an eleven year old girl, do what was
going on? Was she depressed? No, not that I know of,
(18:35):
but Mom and Kim said she might have been feeling
a little bit depressed.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That initial confusion about the cause of death within the
immediate family and the fact that police only informed one
side of the family were just two of the issues
that would define the investigation of Jade's murder and the
case against Julia Beverly, as would what Renee recalls as
a notable disconnect between Mike and his fiance. I'm like,
(19:00):
where's Julie?
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 12 (19:02):
Have you talked to her? No, he hasn't talked to her.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
He hasn't spoken to the woman he lives with, who
is the mother of two of his children. Yes, yeah,
Why how did he explain that.
Speaker 12 (19:22):
He didn't? He just said he hadn't talked to her. Now,
I'm sure by this time they had taken Julie's phone,
so she couldn't call or talk to anyone. But if
you were down to the police station like her, I mean,
did you ask about her?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
No?
Speaker 12 (19:36):
Nothing, I don't know. But he didn't even know where
she was, didn't know where she was, So I figured, well,
this officer was telling me go down to the police station.
So I go down to the Sheriff's office.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Which is indeed where Julia was having agreed to be questioned,
initially waiving her right to an attorney.
Speaker 12 (19:55):
I was asking if my daughter was there, and he
asked who I was, and he said, we'll be down
in a minute, and police officer Carl Gustantine came down
and talked to me.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Remember that name, Carl Gustantine will play a pivotal role
in Renee's issues with the investigation and Julia's arrest. At
this point, what time is it?
Speaker 12 (20:17):
Probably around five thirty pm going on six. He come
down and he said, we've got a lot of questions
that we're talking to her. It's going to be a while.
And I said, well, I'm not going anywhere. As he's
going back upstairs. I said, what would make an eleven
year old commit suicide? And he looked at me strange,
and he said, who told you that? And I said
(20:37):
her boyfriend, Mike, and he just said oh, and he
went on and finished questioning my daughter. It was crazy.
It was crazy. So I'm talking to my oldest son, Michael,
and he said, why do they still have her? In there.
It's been hours, and I was like, I don't know.
I guess they got a lot of things to talk,
(20:57):
you know, trying to figure this out. He's like, where's Mike.
I said, I think he's at home. He's like, Mom,
they're looking at her, at a suspect.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Julie Willingly submitted for questioning yes without representation, because it
didn't occur to her that she was a suspect.
Speaker 12 (21:18):
Correct now. Julia had told me later on that she
could feel a change in the wind within ten to
fifteen minutes of being there. But then she's trying to
brush it off. They're doing their job. They have to
exclude family members before they find you know, so this
is how she's playing it in her mind. This is
their job. They have to do this. I'm reading too
(21:39):
much into it, But she did say she could feel
a change withinmfe minutes of them being.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
There, of the police being at her home at the
crime scene.
Speaker 12 (21:47):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Much of this case seems to hinge on the fact.
Beverly initially told police she had made it to Walmart
before realizing she'd left her wallet at home, but surveillancege
established she had not completed that journey here again is
Whitney Nicole.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
They arrested her so fast, you know, and so I'm like,
she must have been drenched in blood and had all
this evidence, but come to find out, there was no
bloody clothing of hers found. There was no blood found
in her bedroom, or in her bathroom or even in
their drain. So if she even took a shower, where
(22:28):
did that bully go? Where did her bloody clothes go?
Where did weapon go? No, like witnesses, no, nothing, And
it's supposed to be beyond a reasonable doubt, you know,
And there is nothing to even prove she should have
even been arrested.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Whitney Nicole also brings up something that makes those photos
from the press conference with the Williamson County State's attorney
more interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Oh, Julie's fie. Juliet was shorter than Jade and she
way led like. Jade was one hundred and thirty pounds
in five tout three. Julia was for eighth in one
hundred and fifteen pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
A quick clarification, Beverly is actually four foot eleven.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Julia never even been in a fight before, And it
was actually said by the bio mother of Jaye that
she had taught Jade, So the fence so in that case,
like you know, Julia never being in a fight, why
it wasn't there more like the fence of wounds on her?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
You know when I mean the photo. Then Williamson County
State's Attorney Brandon Sonati released to the public of eleven
year old Jade Beasley was actually several years old, giving
the false impression that Jade was smaller than Julia Beverly
at the time of her death.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
We begin tonight with breaking news.
Speaker 10 (23:55):
A Williamson County jury has reached a verdict in the
Julia Beverly.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Two years later. It would take a jury just a
little over one and a half hours of deliberation to
deliver a verdict.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
She was found guilty of murdering eleven year old Jade Beasley.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
But many, including the prosecution and the victim's family, believe
justice was served. After the verdict, the Special prosecutor, Jennifer
Mudge spoke to local news.
Speaker 13 (24:21):
Any child murder case ns a lot and there's a
lot of stake and a lot of emotions involved, So
you have to, in a sense take it a little
bit personally. But we did our.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Jobs, as did Jade Beasley's mother, Jessica Bradley.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Being able to be here for justice to be served
to her was was a good ending.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
The concepts of justice and injustice are intertwined with crime
and punishment, but in the case of this murder, they
played heavily into the divisive aftermath that quickly seemed to
split the city of Marion and its social media activity.
According to Beverly's cousin Nick, so did Race absolutely.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
I remember within hours of her being arrested, there were
just people that had taken pictures from her Facebook profile
because she had attended a Black Lives Matter rally with
Mike a few weeks earlier, and it was in the
Marian town square, and they had a picture of her
holding up a sign that said no Jessice, no Keys,
and they were using that picture.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
To like walk her and then everybody.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Was dashing the whole Black Lives Matters movement. But they
did proceed to cut Mike out of the picture because Houston.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
And directly behind her.
Speaker 6 (25:37):
But Yere's two pictures and her race and her social
stances against her, I do feel that maybe that could
have also impacted the police from the get go, because
that stuff was in our house as well. I think
she still have her sign from that.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
So when responding officers came to the house, they would
have seen Black Lives Matter sign it right, Yes, I
think a poster board that she had at the rally.
I'm pretty sure it was in her living room. No Justice,
No Peace. Her booking photo wasn't the only thing that
appeared black and white. Julia Beverly is mixed race. For context,
(26:14):
according to the most recent census, Marion, Illinois is eighty
six percent white, while Renee high Tower, Julia's mother, is white.
Julia and her three brothers are all mixed race. Julia's cousin, Niki,
is the daughter of Renee's sister, and when she lived
in Marion, part of that white eighty six percent.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
That's one of the reasons why we relocated. I don't
want to bad mouth where I'm from and where we
grew up, but it is very much a predominantly white community,
very heavily religious. Some of the things that I have
growing up are a bit ridiculous. I remember an incident
in our high school. There was bearing hard game pictrina
(26:54):
bill as a family that had been relocated, and well,
a black boy who had been relocated to our school,
and within a day somebody had picked a fight with him.
They got into a physical altercation in his family life.
It is not a very inclusive community.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I would say Whitney Nicole is also part of that
white eighty six percent, but her children are not. Do
you think race played a role in.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The O Yes?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
And sex Why?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Because I witnessed it firsthand. I w the racism, I
witnessed the sexism. Say, okay, me being a.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
White female and it was a dispute against a black individual,
they probably take my side.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
But say, if it was between me I am another
white male individual, take his side, which I have witness
and I have experienced.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Witness attended every day of Julia Beverly's trial which unfolded
in Marion. Do you think that Julie was judged by
a jury of her peers? Oh?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Now, I think it was set up just the way
they wanted it to be set up, Like it was
all white, all white individuals, there was nobody of color.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Renee high Tower is extremely aware of racial issues in Marion,
having raised four mixed children into adulthood there. It's also
interesting to note that two of Renee's three sons are
active military. In addition, the man Julia considered her stepfather,
Renee high Tower's ex husband, Angelo high Tower, was a
sergeant and longtime officer of the Marian Police Department when
(28:44):
he alleged discrimination due to his race when passed over
for promotion in twenty fourteen. That's the same police department
that assisted the Williamson County Sheriff's Office in the investigation
of Jade's murder.
Speaker 11 (28:57):
Another thing that I thought of before I forget is
when you're talking.
Speaker 12 (29:00):
About the shitty investigation here.
Speaker 11 (29:02):
When I was trying to get Julie's things out of
the house that were left after the investigation was over,
I called Carl Gustantine and I was talking to him.
They did not even know that Julie owned that house.
That's how deep that investigation went. Because he told me,
you're going to have to talk to the owner, and
I said, I did. She's sitting in jail right now,
(29:23):
and I've got the longest pause from him, and then
he said, well, they both own it, and I was like, no,
Julie owns.
Speaker 12 (29:31):
It and he's just sitting there.
Speaker 11 (29:33):
I'm not going to help you. Then I'm not going
to help you. That's still matter. You're going to have
to talk to him, and he hung.
Speaker 12 (29:38):
Up on me.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Murder on Songbird Road will return after the break. Now
back to Murder on Songbird Road. Could Julia Beverly have
been wrongfully convicted? Well, there does appear to be issues
of possible injustice worthy every visiting. There are also facts
that remain problematic. Why did Beverly initially say she went
(30:05):
to Walmart when her phone location and surveillance camera footage
apparently show she turned around well before completing that trip.
Why was there a significant delay according to the prosecution,
thirty one minutes between the time Beverly returned home and
found Jade before she called nine to one one. It
turns out I wasn't the only person with questions or
(30:28):
getting DMS about Julia Beverly. I just want to ask
you how this case came on your radar.
Speaker 10 (30:38):
Yeah, it's a funny story really because it was Renee
and Renee I think had run into I don't necessarily
know if she listened to My Gaycy season or she
was listening to My Garcia season.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That's Bob Mada, former criminal defense attorney turned prolific podcaster,
best known for his work as the host of the
podcast Defense Diaries, where, along with his wife Alice, also
a defense attorney, he discussed his high profile criminal cases
and the legal system from the perspective of his two
decades practicing law.
Speaker 10 (31:09):
I wouldn't be doing this if I hadn't done that
as miserable as I was at the end of my
legal career, because defense loitering is a gut wrenching profession.
You're fighting the power of the government like non stop,
never ending, and you're constantly losing. It's disheartening in a
really fundamental way because you go into that profession wanting
(31:31):
to really protect the rights of all of us, which
is really what defense attorneys do.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Turns out, Mata and I were drawn into the Beverly
case in a fairly similar fashion.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Renee reached out to me via email.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
Simultaneous to that, Whitney even Nichole was hitting me up
in my DMS.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
They were both sending me the same things.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Mada and I had initially connected in February of twenty three.
Speaker 10 (31:55):
Because you and I were talking about Christopher Vaughan. So
you and I had this thing going on completely seven.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
And apart his active community of defense Diary listeners wanted
his take on my take of Christopher Vaughn, who was
sentenced in twenty twelve to four consecutive life sentences for
the two thousand and seven shooting deaths of his wife
and three children. The case was the focus of the
Murder in Illinois podcast, which was released in twenty twenty one.
You hit me up on Twitter, and I thought, oh,
(32:23):
good God, here comes somebody wanting to attack me again
for my support of Vaughn. And then it very quickly
became obvious that you were intrigued. And that's when I
just sent you everything, the trial transcripts and just say,
come on, you know, let me know what you think.
Speaker 10 (32:42):
That gave me the answer in like the parallels between
Julie's case and Christopher's case.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
In terms of like, most people that kill.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Have a reason, a motive something.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
There's always a motive and it doesn't exist here.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You know, the outreach from with Nicole when she started
blowing up my DMS started over a year ago. I
didn't know what to think, but there was a very
real thread of wrongful conviction, red flags, the tunnel vision,
the trial by media, the confirmation bias, and in this
(33:20):
case racism racism for sure, but while race didn't play
a role in the Bond case. In addition to the
tragic loss of young life, there are some other striking
similarities with the case against Julia Beverly.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
Julie's case, in Christopher's case. The things that they said
initially that were not truthful are always the hardest things
to overcome in your own mind, because then when you
start looking at the facts, especially with Julie's case in particular,
they just don't add up.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Murder in Illinois remains the most polarizing case I've personally covered.
Questioning the integrity of the investigation and conviction that landed
Vaughn in prison prompted some people to wish death on
my children. That wasn't lost on me. When I waged
looking into Julia Beverly's conviction, I was really wary of
it because of my experience with taking on a family
(34:20):
annihilator case in Illinois. So when I realized, oh no,
it's Illinois again, and that this is a stepmother who
has been arrested and ultimately convicted of the murder of
a step daughter, I said, you know who you should call, Bob.
(34:41):
I didn't know that you were already on Renee's radar.
Speaker 10 (34:44):
Renee hit me up and she's like, oh, I'm talking
to Lauren. I'm like what her and I have been
working on Christopher Vaughan and me doing something on Vaughn
for months, and I can't believe that this never came up.
And I just thought things are are meant to be
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Bob and I share a sense of pragmatic skepticism, but
also recognize the timeliness and responsibility of discovering issues with
this conviction before Beverly was even sentenced.
Speaker 10 (35:14):
You and I both know the stuff that we typically cover,
especially you with your wrongful conviction work. I mean defendants
that are in fifteen twenty years trying to get somebody
to take a look at their case, knowing just how
clogged the system is.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
You know, with this case, the more I learned.
Speaker 10 (35:31):
About it, the more I'm scratching my head and I'm like, man,
something stinks about it.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Something's not right, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Then you add the extra layer of the fact that yes,
she's a stepmother, but she's also a mother yes two
at the time, three other children, yes, two of them
toddler age. Yes, She's been taken away from all of
her children. And if she's in this, and I can't
(36:01):
think of a more horrifying thing to experience me either.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
As a father of four.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Julia Beverly has not seen the two daughters she shares
with Mike Beasley since Jade Beasley's murder nearly four years ago.
And there's an additional layer. Within weeks of her arrest,
Julia Beverly discovered she was pregnant with her third child
by Beasley, a pregnancy that ended in unfathomable cruelty, especially
(36:29):
if the conviction of Julia Beverly proves to be a
wrongful one. But there's another reason driving Beverly supporters. If
Julia Beverly is not the person who took Jade Beasley's life,
there has been no justice for Jade. Here's Beverly's cousin, Nikki.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
It's scary because the person hinted it is still out
there and nobody seems to care.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Well, that's not.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
True, we seem to care. What happened to Jade Beasley
is unfathomable and indefensible. And it is not our intention
to disparage anyone living or dead, but rather to re
examine this case with integrity and sensitivity while exploring whether
Julia Beverley was justly charged, tried, and convicted, or whether
(37:18):
pertinent facts and later developments that could have been utilized
in her defense were intentionally overlooked or ignored. On the
next Murder on Songbird Road, the ripple effect of Jade's
murder rips apart relationships.
Speaker 12 (37:33):
I said, Jade is no longer with us, and you
can see him kind of trying to swallow those tears and.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Siblings you wants.
Speaker 7 (37:41):
I'm living with his mom and his two younger sisters
to get to see his siblings.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
But did the investigation end before it even began?
Speaker 12 (37:52):
Within an hour and a half, they were knock at
our back door. They said they were there for Julie
and they had a warrant for her.
Speaker 11 (38:00):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Our executive producers are Taylor Chacoine 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 Tyre and Taylor Chaqoine additional
(38:22):
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,
(38:59):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
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