January 2, 2025 • 36 mins
Just days after the murder, the Williamson County State’s Attorney announced the death of Jade Beasley- and the arrest of Julia Bevely- in the same press conference. He claimed a thorough investigation had already been conducted, but glaring questions remain to this day.
Email us with thoughts, suggestions or tips at investigatingmurder@iheartmedia.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Previously on Murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I thought she was guilty at first, as I reading
what the news that.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
In Marion, Illinois, an eleven year old girl brutally stabbed
death her father's longtime living girlfriend, maintaining innocence, but charged
with her murder.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
A few hours ago, I charged Julia Beverley, aged twenty nine,
of eleven three or four Songbird Road, Marion, with three
counts a first degree murder the murder of Jade Murray Beasley,
an eleven year old girl.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Most people that kill have a reason, a motive. There's
always a motive something, and it doesn't exist here.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
It's scary because the person who did it is still
out there and nobody seems.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
To carened Pacheco and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(01:25):
According to Jade Marie Beasley's obituary, the sixth grader was
remembered as funny, smart and sassy, fond of playing outside
and swimming. She enjoyed art, drawing, painting, and video games.
The photo that accompanies the remembrance is the same one
used by the Williamson County States Attorney when he announced
her murder, showing a beaming young Jade bespeckled in pink frames,
(01:49):
her face framed with a golden bob accented with pink highlights.
She's sporting a pink beaded necklace and garments and a
matching hue. Jade's obituary goes on to state that she
loved her friends, adored her pets, and cherished her siblings
nut before listing surviving family. Missing from that list is
(02:10):
the woman who considered herself Jade's stepmother, Julia Beverly, although
Julia's son Jaden, is listed as Jade's brother, but from
the day of Jade's murder, Jaden's life would be forever altered.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
He wants in living with his mom and his two
younger sisters. He lived with me in Carverdale, which is
twenty miles away from Marriam. Pretty much, you know, we
get to see his siblings not being in the same house.
It was obviously bad sad for him that it was
in an entirely different situation.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That's Stuart, the biological father of Jaden, Julia Beverly's eldest son.
The weekend Jade Beasley was murdered. Jaden was staying with him.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Now, I was gonna have him for a weekend, and
then he was going to go back Sunday afternoon evening,
I got a call.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
From like DCFS.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
DCFS, for those not familiar, is the Department of Children
and Family Services in Illinois like.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Kings Custody right then, so pretty much, you know, he's
just visiting for the weekend.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Then he was with me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
As Will further explain, DCFS would basically prohibit Julia Beverley
from physically interacting with her children pending the investigation, so
Renee high Tower would be the one who broke the
news to her grandson Jaden in person. The night of
the murder.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I told his dad that I was coming over that
I wanted to tell him, and he said okay. And
I got there and I told him that something happened
at his house. I said, a man broke in and
his mom is okay. And I said, budd he hurt
your mom and he hurt Jade. And I said, but Jade,
he heard her too bad. So he's looking at me
(03:52):
and I said, he's looking a little confused, and I said,
Jade is no longer with us. You can see him
kind of trying to swallow those tears, you know, And
that's why I told him, I said, it's okay, it's priging,
you know. So that's when he just let it out
and hug me, and he was just crying his arms
for a little bit, and I told him that his
(04:15):
mom was going to call him and he could talk
to her, and they talked for a little bit. I'm
not one hundred percent on what Julie was saying to him,
but I could hear a little bit of it. How
much she loves him, and he's going to stay with
Stuart for a while until things get figured out, and
he said okay, and she calmed him down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We will dive much more deeply into this later, but
Julia Doveley wasn't the only one cut off from her
two youngest daughters and the son she was unknowingly carrying
at the time of the murder. Her eldest child, Jaden,
would lose not only his stepsister Jade and his mother,
but eventually all access to his younger siblings. So would
(04:58):
Renee high Tower, their maternal grind who had been petitioning
for visitation when we first connected back to Stuart. The
Department of Children and Family Services and Jaden.
Speaker 6 (05:09):
DCFS wanted to talk to him, and I'm like, well, yeah,
tell him truth, don't lie.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
But there wasn't anything, you know.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
TCFS talked him for like half hour and they were like, yeah, okay.
Speaker 7 (05:18):
Well we'd left to interview.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
But there's no signs or anything of abuse or neglect
or anything like those lines.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Which wasn't keeping with all the years Stuart had co
parented Jaden with Julia Beverly.
Speaker 7 (05:32):
They never had a bad thing to say about his mom.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
He was always you know, she was always nice and
loving and caring. There was no abuse. We never said anything,
no mark nothing. I mean even later on then when
he had his younger sisters and other stuff, he never
you know, he never had anything bad to say about her.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Suddenly the sole parent in terms of Jaden's day to day,
Stuart had to manage the passage of time with his
young son's relentless optimism that his mother's incarceration was temporary.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
It took two years for the Troy where I mean it,
it was a drug out so long, and as sometimes
he was telling people that, oh well, once my mom
gets out, I'm going back. Even before the trial, he
was telling friends or his cousin like, well, I'm going
to go back soon my mom gets out, we're back here.
There're like, well, I know that's what you want. But
even if she gets out, nothing will be the same.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Jaden's father has tried to help him navigate his new
reality an uncertain future.
Speaker 6 (06:32):
We even talked about stuff like with the news, like
there's people that are, you know, innocent, locked up and
then you know years later then they're like, oh yeah, whoops,
you got the thrown person. Even if your mom gets out,
it's not going to be the same. It's still it's
going to be different, you know everything. Kind of like
try to tell him like your grandma might be too optimistic.
Speaker 7 (06:53):
You kind of need to be in the middle.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Because I don't think she did it, but you know what,
if she's been in for so long, it's like there's
a possibility she doesn't. In his reality, things you're going
to go back to normals like that will never go
back to normal.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
If there was a magic wand waved tomorrow and Julie
was out, you wouldn't have any reservation whatsoever about Jaden
being with her.
Speaker 7 (07:18):
No not right.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
I mean, like I've told him, it's like I don't
think she did it.
Speaker 7 (07:24):
They've never found a weapon.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Or it's like if you step somebody that many times
you would have blood splatter with you know, like where's
the change clothes, where's this, where's that?
Speaker 7 (07:33):
Yeah? Never made sense, Still doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
The accusation that Julia Beverly brutally stabbed her stepdaughter is
particularly nonsensical to Beverly's cousin Nicki, who witnessed not only
Beverly grow up but eventually interact as both the mother
and stepmother.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
She loved all her children, even the ones that she
didn't give her to. That is one thing that she
is extremely good at.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Nicki says she knows Julie extremely well, even for cousins.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
She's my maid of honor. He's my best friend. Julia
has been my best friend since since she was born.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I am a little bit older, but we grew up
together and did everything together. We ama staying cheerleading from
little league, you know, all the way through high school.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We went to the same high school with each other
pretty much like every weekend at least. We were also close.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
There was between me and my siblings, and her and
her siblings, who were seven of us, run around my
grandma's house all the time, so we.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
All grew up together.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We were all extremely close, particularly Nicki and Julia.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We can look at each other and not say a
thing and know exactly what the other one.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Is saying, which is why Nicki was the first to know.
When Julia found out she was expecting her first child, Jaden,
while still in high school.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
She was really young.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
I think she was about to be eighteen, and she
hid it from us for a bit because she was scared,
and then obviously you couldn't hide it. She did it
on her own for a few years, and still his
dad kind of came back into the picture and have
more of a presence. I don't want to say she
struggle with it, but it's just like any new transition.
(09:11):
I know that I did whenever I had my first child.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's hard.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
It's difficult to do it at such a young age.
I can't even really imagine. She pretty much had to
drop everything to become a mom. She was a great
mom and changed her because you're seventeen and you just
got to drop all the things that you think are
the most important. Things in your life, like your daily
high school life that you think is going to be
your entire life, or going and hanging out with friends
on the weekend. Just fully committed to being a mom,
(09:39):
and she was there doing it on her own with family,
but on her own, which had to be extremely hard,
but she loved them compleatly.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Home video show Jaden as a toddler playing rock band
with a young Julia Beverley jamming on a small plastic
guitar as Jaden sings lead. Their energy is loving and
relaxed and natural, as is the clip of Beverly and
(10:09):
Jaden still a toddler, enjoying the first flakes of a snowfall.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
So snowball.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
When Nicki and her parents moved from Marion to Massachusetts,
Beverly eventually followed, living with Nicki for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Jaden was two when she moved out here.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I had to be like twenty or twenty one, because
I had met my husband at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
She had Jayden out here, Jesus me, Julie and Jane
living together.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
And so she went back after a few years.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yes, yeah, I would see. I say it was probably
about a year or so. It was it was just
a little hard.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Like we were We were here to help her obviously,
you know, but it was hard for her, I think,
just being so far away from her own mom.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It was soon after Beverly returned to Marion that she
met and started dating Mike Beasley.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She was extremely excited when she met him because he
had a daughter who was the same age as Jaden.
So she was excited because she being a single mom,
she thought that it was going to be extremely hard
to find somebody to be with. So when she met
Mike and found out that he also had a daughter
who was the same age, it was almost kind of
(11:26):
like amazing because their kids good play together, you know,
and they both kind of have the same situation going on.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So she was extremely happy when she met him.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Never Lily voice otherwise with me. Theyble together for eight years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
She actually came to visit you more than once with Jade.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Yeah, so she came with Mike and Jade and Jaden,
and they came a couple times.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
They stayed with my mom one time, and then they
came out again for our wedding.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Just tell me a little bit about your observations as
to how Julie welcomed Jade into her life and their
relationship dynamic.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
She was obviously extremely, very wealthy.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
When you come in as the girlfriend, you know, she
never overstepped any sort of boundaries with her, but she
was very much their always there to talk to you,
to be supportive of. July treated her like her own,
buy things for her as if it was her own child.
Never had any sort of complainants about her. They came
(12:38):
pretty close.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
To the point.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
I think she would prefer to stay at Mike and
Julie's house over her mother's house. Just from when I
was told. She had her own space, had her own room.
She was included in all family functions, all things the holidays, pictures.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
So I mean she was very much a part of
the family, even though they weren't head completing that they
were family.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Photos that Renee high Tower has shared appear to back
up this assertion, as does Julia Beverly's still existing social
media Her Facebook cover photo, now updated by Renee, boasts
a banner with hashtag I Stand with Julie. Underneath is
a clausee of seven photos, four depicting Jadon and Jade
over the years. One shows a very pregnant Beverly as
(13:25):
she smiles, her arms warmly wrapped around the backs of
each step sibling as they bind down to kiss her
large expectant belly. Julia and Jade are both wearing similar
shades of bright purple, which pops against the green of
the grassy background. Another photo shows Jade and Jaden in
front of a colorfully lit Christmas tree. They appear to
(13:45):
be around age six, with their arms affectionately draped around
each other's shoulders. Jaden, the shorter of the two, is
lifting his head up towards the camera, wearing a wide grin.
Jade is kicking one leg up to the side in
a cheeky pose. They're adorable, as are all the siblings
shown together, especially in photos that depict the two youngest
(14:06):
girls being proudly and tenderly held by their big brother
and sister. Jaden and the younger girls all shared Julia's
broad smile. A deeper dive into Julia Beverly's Facebook history
reflects the ongoing yearly tradition of posting Jaden's back to
school photos alongside Jades. Also reflected in past years is
(14:27):
the blended family's apparent love for somewhat themed Halloween costumes,
all while juggling a job that, like motherhood, required patients.
As a customer service representative for Hyatt, Beverly was used
to diffusing disgruntled people's frustrations in a calm, respectful, and
efficient manner.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
She was actually incredibly patient, probably more patient than me.
Motherhood was everything to her.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I mean, she did work from home, so she still
had a job as far as like bringing in money
into the household, I'm pretty sure she was also the
primary breadwinner, but she worked from home as a way
to still be extremely present and available to her children.
Every waiting moment was dedicated for her children.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
It is of note again that Mike and Julie were
together for nearly eight years and had already purchased wedding bands.
They had planned for both of their daughters and were
trying for a third, hoping for a son. Mike shared
custody of Jade with her biological mother, Jessica. Before the murder,
there had never been any reports of Beverly being violent
(15:31):
or abusive to any of her children, including Jade. If
there had been, it's doubtful that her father would have continued,
not only to live with Beverly, but to plan on
having more children with her. Murder on Songbird Road will
return after the break. Now back to Murder on Songbird Road.
(15:57):
Everything would change when Jade was murdered. Here's Renee's recollection
of picking up Beverly at the police station the night
of the murder and the days leading up to her rest.
Tell me what that car ride back from the station
with Julie was like.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, she was telling me the story and I was
just in disbelief and I was like, oh my god,
You've got to tell Mike. They're under the impression this
was suicide. And she's looking at me confused, like what
I was telling her? What was being said to me?
And I was wont through the story and she's just
shaking her head and she's crying, and she's telling me
(16:33):
how this man came in the house and she said
nobody should ever have to see that. She said, no
parent should ever have to see that. It was quick ride,
ten minute ride. We got in the house and she
sat down and my mom was hugging her, and my
mom was crying and made her cry some more. And
then her brother came and he just grabbed her and
(16:55):
hugged her, and then she lost it again, crying more.
And then my mom's just sitting there rubbing her back,
and she just kept saying, I should have just took
her with me. I should have just took her with me.
And my mom's telling her, you can't blame yourself, Julie,
you can't. I can't put this on you. She still
had the jail uniform on the little jumpsuit they gave
(17:17):
her because they took her clothing.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
When Beverly agreed to be questioned at the Williamson County
Sheriff's Department without a lawyer present, she also willingly consented
to the collection of DNA from both her person and
her articles of clothing. We'll dive much more deeply into
issues with how that DNA was collected later.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Back to Renee, I got some of my clothes, gave
her some little sweatpants, stretch pants and leggings and a
hoodie to wear, and she went in the shower and
she was in there for a little while. I want
to check on her, and I can hear her crying
in there, and she told me after she was in
their crying because she had blood on the bottom of
(18:00):
her feet, and when she got in the shower, the
kind of brought it back.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
This is actually an important detail. Jade was murdered on
an unseasonably warm day, and Beverly had been wearing flip flops.
At some point she'd flipped them off and likely walked
through blood at the crime scene. Back to Renee, she
got out of the shower, I said, you have to
tell Mike.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
We ended up driving back to Marion to go to
Mike's parents house. Called him on the way and said
we were on and way over and he said, well,
DCFS just called him. They're about to be here too,
so you might want to wait a minute. And I said, well,
we're right down the street. So and we ended up
pulling up almost right at the same time as DCFS,
and we sat in the car. It was me, Michael,
(18:45):
and Julie.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Quick clarification. Michael is Julie's older brother and an aviation
mechanic with the US Navy, not to be confused with
her boyfriend and then fiance, Mike.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
We sat in the car. Cindy Maguire was her name
from DCFS. She came over to the passenger side of
my vehicle to talk to Julie, and that's when she
informed Julie that she cannot see her children, and she
lost it again and she's like no, She's screaming no,
because at this point, all she wants to do is
(19:19):
hug her family, her children. After some tragedy and horrific
tragedy like this, she wants to hug her children, hug
Mike and grieve.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
What did they tell her.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
They said that its protocol is how they termed it,
that she has to have no contact with her children.
She can have a video visit once a day for
fifteen minutes and that's it. That's the contact she gets
with her children until this is resolved. So she had
(19:56):
a sign of paper to where Mike gets temporary customer
of the children so they don't become wards of the state,
and she agreed to let them stay with Mike. She
asked if she could talk to Mike, and they said, well,
we're going to talk to him first and then we'll
see if he wants to come out and talk to you.
So they were in there for a good twenty thirty minutes.
(20:19):
Mike came out and as soon as Julie seen him,
she jumped out of my car. And ran to him
and hugged him, and he hugged her back, and they
were both you could see they were both crying. And
then I can see Julie talking to him and then
he and this is what me and Michael found really strange,
(20:41):
is the way he was consoling Julie. His immediate response
was to hug her, and he did. And then after
a while he steps away while she's talking and he
lights a cigarette. And then he's smoking his cigarette and
he's still close to Julie and then he puts one
arm around her shoulder, almost like resting his arm, almost
(21:07):
like he had to do it to put up a front.
It didn't look like a comforting hug that she needed.
It just looked like he was just going through the motions.
And I'm watching this, and I said to Michael, and
he's like, well, maybe it's because he smoked a cigarette.
He doesn't want to because Julie don't smoke, you know.
(21:28):
And I was like no, no, I said, look at
his options and he was looking away from her, smoking
his cigarette, and just it was weird. And Julie said
she was just going through like a brief summary of
what happened. It was just an odd behavior, consoling her
(21:49):
for like ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
In Renee's opinion, Mike was already doubting Beverly's innocence the
night of the murder. Subsequent events would reinforce her opinion
and had even more painful layers to this tragedy.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
They talked, and she got back in the car, and
she was just upset. And for the next three or
four days she got to talk to Mike once a
day for fifteen minutes. On the very first phone call
she got to FaceTime with the girls.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Being denied physical contact with her children, compounded by the
stress and trauma of the murder, was overwhelming for Beverly.
According to Renee, Mike and the girls were staying with
his mother, Sheila Jaden remained with his father. Beverly stayed
with her mother and grandmother.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
She didn't eat anything for two and a half days.
I finally forced her to eat a sandwich, and she
probably not even half a sandwich. I made her some
juice to drink some she had something in her I said, Julie,
you got it. You can't not eat. She wasn't eating,
she wasn't sleeping, she wasn't drinking.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Would you categorize her as in shock.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yes, in shock, in horrific grief. I mean, yeah, yes.
In the four days she was with me, the food
she ate probably equated to the three fourths of a
sandwich and a half a cup of liquid in four days.
(23:20):
That's what she consumed.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Beverly's already limited access to her daughters would entirely disappear.
Five days after the murder, when Julia Beverly was arrested.
Renee had been trying to help her daughter remember any
details from the day Jade was killed, hoping they would
vindicate her with the timeline.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Well, I remember it like it was yesterday. Once she
left that police station. She was with me for four
days before her arrest. In that four days, she wasn't
remembering a lot, and I didn't want to force her
because I know what she had been through. But she
would give me little bits and pieces that she could
put together. It wasn't a clear pay sure, So I
(24:01):
told her that fourth day, I said, I want you
to sit down and write everything out that she did.
Maybe that will trigger some more memories for you, and
start with the time you woke up. And she started
writing it a few minutes later. She said, I went
to Hucks. I had to get gas. This was like
late morning, and that's when I made that phone call
(24:24):
to Gustantine to say that she remembered she stopped at Hucks.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
We'll get to the importance of Beverly's recollection that while
she started out for Walmart, she never got there. Beverly
suddenly recalled in the days that followed Jade Beasley's murder
that she actually stopped at Hucks, the closest gas station
to her house, because her gaslight came on. Thinking it
would prove her daughter's innocence. Renee high Tower wanted to
(24:48):
share the information with the police.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I said, Julie, you got to tell them. You're on camera,
because as of right now, they're trying to say you
never left the house. And she's like, I can't. I
already I already invoked an attorney, so I can't speak
to them without her. I said, do you want me
to tell them? And she's like, well, I don't know
if you can, but I guess. So I picked up
(25:13):
the phone and I called and asked for Carl Gustantine personally.
He answered, and I told him that Julie remembered she
stopped at Hucks for gas and realized she forgot her
cards at home and then she had to go back
to the house. He said, well, I'll have to hear
that from her, and I said, well, she's already invoked
(25:34):
an attorney, so you have your information. And he said
okay and hung up the phone.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
That call didn't have the effect high Tower had hoped.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Within an hour and a half, they were knocking at
our back door.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
We'll be right back with murder on Songbird Road. Now
back to Murder Songbird Road.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Cindy Geittman, Carl Gystantine and another officer stepped into my home,
my mother's home, through the back door. They said they
were there for Julie and they had a warrant for
her arrest. A few moments prior to this, we've seen
comments on Facebook showing her warrant on the judicial page,
(26:28):
and Julie began to panic at that point, and then
a few minutes later there was that knock at the door.
They came in and Julie immediately started crying. She had
her promise ring from Mike that she immediately took off
and handed to me. My mother was there. My mother
(26:49):
seen that they were putting cuffs on Julie and she
started crying and she said, you guys are killing her.
I'm sorry, I just named it because I've you can
(27:11):
feel my mother's pain at that point witnessing this, and
Cindy Geatman tells my mother, well, that's what she gets
for killing somebody. I just can't believe she said that
to my mother and I I just looked at her like,
why would you even say that? Why would you say that?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I have reached out to both Cindy Geatman and Carl Gustantine.
Both have since retired, as have multiple officers and officials
involved with the investigation into Jade Beasley's murder and the
case against Julia Beverly. Geitman and I spoke on the phone,
and she made it exceedingly clear that she did not
intend to comment on what would be her first and
(27:53):
last time leading a murder investigation back to Renee.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
But I found out later when Cindy Geatman walked Julie
outside to frisk her and check her. Julia had her
hair in a ponytail with a scrunchy not a ponytail holder,
not a super tight one, very loose made of cloth,
scrungey and she grabbed it out of Julie's hair, and
(28:23):
Julie said she grabbed her hair so hard that it
yanked her head back, pulled some of her hair out,
And later I found that scrunchy sitting on top of
my car with Julie's hair all over it, and then
put her in the car and took her down to
the station.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, Carl Gustantine did not respond to my multiple attempts
to question him about receiving the tip Rene High Tower,
so she gave him. The police appear to have acted
upon it.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
After she was arrested. I was furious, so I said,
I guarantee they're out there searching right now. So I
went past the guest and there they were searching the
trash cans somewhere in the dumpster.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
And once they pulled the video from the gas station,
what did they claim they'd found.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
They said that they got Julian camera stopping at the
gas station to throw away items, and they see her
on camera with this bag that could fit in the
palm of her hand, about the size of a diaver,
because that's what she had in the bag, a diver.
She said, maybe there was two in there, but it
was divers but she could clearly see on the camera
(29:35):
it could fit in the palm of her hand and
threw it away and then she went back to the
house to get her cards.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
The prosecution would contend that the small bag Beverly discarded
contained the murder weapon, blood saturated clothing, and any material
she used to clean up any trace of blood on
her person. None of these items have ever been located,
not at that Hawk's gas station, nor the dump police
came for evidence. High Tower continues to take issue with
(30:03):
how the incentive to search Hucks was portrayed in court.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
There was an officer in trial who testified that he
went to Hucks and the defense attorney she asked, well,
what made you go there, and he said, oh, I
just got a feeling, just got a feeling.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
So they set it up to make it look like
Julie lied, when it was something that she remembered and
you gave as a tip, and then they didn't even
attribute it to Julie or to you.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Correct So Gustantine was also on the prosecution's witness list,
and if he would have testified then I could have,
but they kept him off too.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
He didn't testify again.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
And so they never disclosed where that tip came from.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Never I've even said this to people on my social
media platform and I get called a liar and no,
they found out that she lied, and I'm like, okay, well,
I've got a text message to my sister to prove it,
time stamped and all.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You probably would have phone records showing that you called.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sure Do and every call is recorded that comes into
that police station.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
High Tower has indeed showed me text messages and phone
records that back up her version of that outreach. Again,
to date, Carl Gustantine has not responded to my multiple
attempts to reach him. But while Renee's call didn't prevent
her daughter's arrest, it didn't provoke it.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
The arrest warrant was issued the day before, actually it
was signed and issued the day before, and they chose
to arrest her on this day because her first appearance
it would line up on the same day as Jay's funeral,
And that was a calculated decision, I believe, to boost
and bolster the emotional outrage of the public because here
(31:53):
you have her having her first appearance at the exact
same time that the funeral is going on, and they
are a parking a lot away from each other.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Criminal defense attorney Bob Mada and I connected with Renee
on a call. Hello, Hey, how are you?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I I'm good.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I'm gonna patch and Bob stand by. Hello, Okay, I'm
merging us with Renee. Hold on one second, all right,
you guys, Bob, Renee, Renee, Bob, so Bob, we have
some really interesting updates for you. In the press conference
held five days after the murder, the then Williamson County
State's attorney states that Julia Beverly's claim she was met
(32:34):
by a knife wielding massed assailant were proven false, but
Renee high Tower and Julia's supporters have never stopped looking
for him. Renee even hired a private investigator to find him.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
My private investigator said that he overheard a dispatcher because
they come out to his shooting range. He overheard dispatcher saying,
I thought we were on our.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Way to the other nine on one call.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Julie's nine one one call was placed at twelve twenty four,
so there's supposed to be another call. They subpoena the
number one calls. It's not in there. However, there is
a incident out in the same area that Julie is
at and this call was made at ten thirty for
(33:21):
a suspicious person and no way, yes, this is at
ten thirty. He was out there deligerent talking about harming somebody,
just cussing and carrying on, and somebody called the cops
on him and then they go respond and they pretty
much did whatever talk guys the name information sent him
(33:46):
on his way. He's wearing a black hoodie and duck pants.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This would spur the first of many rabbit holes. Bob
and I would go down looking for the knife wielding man,
and Julia Beverly claimed she encountered. But this tip led
to a specific man, a man now incarcerated for attempting
to disarm an officer and arrested multiple times previously, a
man who, unlike Julia Beverly, has a history of crimes,
(34:16):
mental illness, and a fondness for hunting.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Never in a million trillion years which never suspected Julie
of this ever, not one person. As a matter of fact,
they thought it was suicide before they even thought about
Julie until the police said it was Julie.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I mean, that guy sounds like somebody that we really
need to look at.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yes, man, that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
If Julia Beverly didn't kill Jade Beasley, someone else did
and there was one likely place to start searching. We're
heading to Marian.
Speaker 7 (34:51):
Yes we are, Yes we are. I'm here for it.
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
On the next murder on Songbird we travel to Mary
in Illinois to sit face to face with Julia Beverly.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
She says she wasn't even thinking, and then she's walking.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Through and then she sees the blood in the living room.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
She says, oh my god, Jay and encounter a community divided.
The woman behind the desk at Starbucks she said it's sad,
but she also had her doubts as to whether or
not Julie did it before heading to the site of
the murder.
Speaker 7 (35:26):
Should we go walk it?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
I think so.
Speaker 7 (35:29):
I think we should. I think we should. All right,
let's go, Let's see what's up.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
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 Chaqoine. Additional
(35:58):
music by Ashra 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,
(36:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I thought she was guilty at first, as I reading
what the news that.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
In Marion, Illinois, an eleven year old girl brutally stabbed
death her father's longtime living girlfriend, maintaining innocence, but charged
with her murder.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
A few hours ago, I charged Julia Beverley, aged twenty nine,
of eleven three or four Songbird Road, Marion, with three
counts a first degree murder the murder of Jade Murray Beasley,
an eleven year old girl.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Most people that kill have a reason, a motive. There's
always a motive something, and it doesn't exist here.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
It's scary because the person who did it is still
out there and nobody seems.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
To carened Pacheco and this is murder on Songbird Road.
(01:25):
According to Jade Marie Beasley's obituary, the sixth grader was
remembered as funny, smart and sassy, fond of playing outside
and swimming. She enjoyed art, drawing, painting, and video games.
The photo that accompanies the remembrance is the same one
used by the Williamson County States Attorney when he announced
her murder, showing a beaming young Jade bespeckled in pink frames,
(01:49):
her face framed with a golden bob accented with pink highlights.
She's sporting a pink beaded necklace and garments and a
matching hue. Jade's obituary goes on to state that she
loved her friends, adored her pets, and cherished her siblings
nut before listing surviving family. Missing from that list is
(02:10):
the woman who considered herself Jade's stepmother, Julia Beverly, although
Julia's son Jaden, is listed as Jade's brother, but from
the day of Jade's murder, Jaden's life would be forever altered.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
He wants in living with his mom and his two
younger sisters. He lived with me in Carverdale, which is
twenty miles away from Marriam. Pretty much, you know, we
get to see his siblings not being in the same house.
It was obviously bad sad for him that it was
in an entirely different situation.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
That's Stuart, the biological father of Jaden, Julia Beverly's eldest son.
The weekend Jade Beasley was murdered. Jaden was staying with him.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Now, I was gonna have him for a weekend, and
then he was going to go back Sunday afternoon evening,
I got a call.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
From like DCFS.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
DCFS, for those not familiar, is the Department of Children
and Family Services in Illinois like.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Kings Custody right then, so pretty much, you know, he's
just visiting for the weekend.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
Then he was with me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
As Will further explain, DCFS would basically prohibit Julia Beverley
from physically interacting with her children pending the investigation, so
Renee high Tower would be the one who broke the
news to her grandson Jaden in person. The night of
the murder.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I told his dad that I was coming over that
I wanted to tell him, and he said okay. And
I got there and I told him that something happened
at his house. I said, a man broke in and
his mom is okay. And I said, budd he hurt
your mom and he hurt Jade. And I said, but Jade,
he heard her too bad. So he's looking at me
(03:52):
and I said, he's looking a little confused, and I said,
Jade is no longer with us. You can see him
kind of trying to swallow those tears, you know, And
that's why I told him, I said, it's okay, it's priging,
you know. So that's when he just let it out
and hug me, and he was just crying his arms
for a little bit, and I told him that his
(04:15):
mom was going to call him and he could talk
to her, and they talked for a little bit. I'm
not one hundred percent on what Julie was saying to him,
but I could hear a little bit of it. How
much she loves him, and he's going to stay with
Stuart for a while until things get figured out, and
he said okay, and she calmed him down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We will dive much more deeply into this later, but
Julia Doveley wasn't the only one cut off from her
two youngest daughters and the son she was unknowingly carrying
at the time of the murder. Her eldest child, Jaden,
would lose not only his stepsister Jade and his mother,
but eventually all access to his younger siblings. So would
(04:58):
Renee high Tower, their maternal grind who had been petitioning
for visitation when we first connected back to Stuart. The
Department of Children and Family Services and Jaden.
Speaker 6 (05:09):
DCFS wanted to talk to him, and I'm like, well, yeah,
tell him truth, don't lie.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
But there wasn't anything, you know.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
TCFS talked him for like half hour and they were like, yeah, okay.
Speaker 7 (05:18):
Well we'd left to interview.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
But there's no signs or anything of abuse or neglect
or anything like those lines.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Which wasn't keeping with all the years Stuart had co
parented Jaden with Julia Beverly.
Speaker 7 (05:32):
They never had a bad thing to say about his mom.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
He was always you know, she was always nice and
loving and caring. There was no abuse. We never said anything,
no mark nothing. I mean even later on then when
he had his younger sisters and other stuff, he never
you know, he never had anything bad to say about her.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Suddenly the sole parent in terms of Jaden's day to day,
Stuart had to manage the passage of time with his
young son's relentless optimism that his mother's incarceration was temporary.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
It took two years for the Troy where I mean it,
it was a drug out so long, and as sometimes
he was telling people that, oh well, once my mom
gets out, I'm going back. Even before the trial, he
was telling friends or his cousin like, well, I'm going
to go back soon my mom gets out, we're back here.
There're like, well, I know that's what you want. But
even if she gets out, nothing will be the same.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Jaden's father has tried to help him navigate his new
reality an uncertain future.
Speaker 6 (06:32):
We even talked about stuff like with the news, like
there's people that are, you know, innocent, locked up and
then you know years later then they're like, oh yeah, whoops,
you got the thrown person. Even if your mom gets out,
it's not going to be the same. It's still it's
going to be different, you know everything. Kind of like
try to tell him like your grandma might be too optimistic.
Speaker 7 (06:53):
You kind of need to be in the middle.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
Because I don't think she did it, but you know what,
if she's been in for so long, it's like there's
a possibility she doesn't. In his reality, things you're going
to go back to normals like that will never go
back to normal.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
If there was a magic wand waved tomorrow and Julie
was out, you wouldn't have any reservation whatsoever about Jaden
being with her.
Speaker 7 (07:18):
No not right.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
I mean, like I've told him, it's like I don't
think she did it.
Speaker 7 (07:24):
They've never found a weapon.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Or it's like if you step somebody that many times
you would have blood splatter with you know, like where's
the change clothes, where's this, where's that?
Speaker 7 (07:33):
Yeah? Never made sense, Still doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
The accusation that Julia Beverly brutally stabbed her stepdaughter is
particularly nonsensical to Beverly's cousin Nicki, who witnessed not only
Beverly grow up but eventually interact as both the mother
and stepmother.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
She loved all her children, even the ones that she
didn't give her to. That is one thing that she
is extremely good at.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Nicki says she knows Julie extremely well, even for cousins.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
She's my maid of honor. He's my best friend. Julia
has been my best friend since since she was born.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I am a little bit older, but we grew up
together and did everything together. We ama staying cheerleading from
little league, you know, all the way through high school.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We went to the same high school with each other
pretty much like every weekend at least. We were also close.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
There was between me and my siblings, and her and
her siblings, who were seven of us, run around my
grandma's house all the time, so we.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
All grew up together.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We were all extremely close, particularly Nicki and Julia.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We can look at each other and not say a
thing and know exactly what the other one.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Is saying, which is why Nicki was the first to know.
When Julia found out she was expecting her first child, Jaden,
while still in high school.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
She was really young.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
I think she was about to be eighteen, and she
hid it from us for a bit because she was scared,
and then obviously you couldn't hide it. She did it
on her own for a few years, and still his
dad kind of came back into the picture and have
more of a presence. I don't want to say she
struggle with it, but it's just like any new transition.
(09:11):
I know that I did whenever I had my first child.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
It's hard.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
It's difficult to do it at such a young age.
I can't even really imagine. She pretty much had to
drop everything to become a mom. She was a great
mom and changed her because you're seventeen and you just
got to drop all the things that you think are
the most important. Things in your life, like your daily
high school life that you think is going to be
your entire life, or going and hanging out with friends
on the weekend. Just fully committed to being a mom,
(09:39):
and she was there doing it on her own with family,
but on her own, which had to be extremely hard,
but she loved them compleatly.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Home video show Jaden as a toddler playing rock band
with a young Julia Beverley jamming on a small plastic
guitar as Jaden sings lead. Their energy is loving and
relaxed and natural, as is the clip of Beverly and
(10:09):
Jaden still a toddler, enjoying the first flakes of a snowfall.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
So snowball.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
When Nicki and her parents moved from Marion to Massachusetts,
Beverly eventually followed, living with Nicki for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Jaden was two when she moved out here.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I had to be like twenty or twenty one, because
I had met my husband at the time.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
She had Jayden out here, Jesus me, Julie and Jane
living together.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
And so she went back after a few years.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yes, yeah, I would see. I say it was probably
about a year or so. It was it was just
a little hard.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Like we were We were here to help her obviously,
you know, but it was hard for her, I think,
just being so far away from her own mom.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It was soon after Beverly returned to Marion that she
met and started dating Mike Beasley.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
She was extremely excited when she met him because he
had a daughter who was the same age as Jaden.
So she was excited because she being a single mom,
she thought that it was going to be extremely hard
to find somebody to be with. So when she met
Mike and found out that he also had a daughter
who was the same age, it was almost kind of
(11:26):
like amazing because their kids good play together, you know,
and they both kind of have the same situation going on.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So she was extremely happy when she met him.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
Never Lily voice otherwise with me. Theyble together for eight years.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
She actually came to visit you more than once with Jade.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Yeah, so she came with Mike and Jade and Jaden,
and they came a couple times.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
They stayed with my mom one time, and then they
came out again for our wedding.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Just tell me a little bit about your observations as
to how Julie welcomed Jade into her life and their
relationship dynamic.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
She was obviously extremely, very wealthy.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
When you come in as the girlfriend, you know, she
never overstepped any sort of boundaries with her, but she
was very much their always there to talk to you,
to be supportive of. July treated her like her own,
buy things for her as if it was her own child.
Never had any sort of complainants about her. They came
(12:38):
pretty close.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
To the point.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
I think she would prefer to stay at Mike and
Julie's house over her mother's house. Just from when I
was told. She had her own space, had her own room.
She was included in all family functions, all things the holidays, pictures.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
And things like that.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
So I mean she was very much a part of
the family, even though they weren't head completing that they
were family.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Photos that Renee high Tower has shared appear to back
up this assertion, as does Julia Beverly's still existing social
media Her Facebook cover photo, now updated by Renee, boasts
a banner with hashtag I Stand with Julie. Underneath is
a clausee of seven photos, four depicting Jadon and Jade
over the years. One shows a very pregnant Beverly as
(13:25):
she smiles, her arms warmly wrapped around the backs of
each step sibling as they bind down to kiss her
large expectant belly. Julia and Jade are both wearing similar
shades of bright purple, which pops against the green of
the grassy background. Another photo shows Jade and Jaden in
front of a colorfully lit Christmas tree. They appear to
(13:45):
be around age six, with their arms affectionately draped around
each other's shoulders. Jaden, the shorter of the two, is
lifting his head up towards the camera, wearing a wide grin.
Jade is kicking one leg up to the side in
a cheeky pose. They're adorable, as are all the siblings
shown together, especially in photos that depict the two youngest
(14:06):
girls being proudly and tenderly held by their big brother
and sister. Jaden and the younger girls all shared Julia's
broad smile. A deeper dive into Julia Beverly's Facebook history
reflects the ongoing yearly tradition of posting Jaden's back to
school photos alongside Jades. Also reflected in past years is
(14:27):
the blended family's apparent love for somewhat themed Halloween costumes,
all while juggling a job that, like motherhood, required patients.
As a customer service representative for Hyatt, Beverly was used
to diffusing disgruntled people's frustrations in a calm, respectful, and
efficient manner.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
She was actually incredibly patient, probably more patient than me.
Motherhood was everything to her.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I mean, she did work from home, so she still
had a job as far as like bringing in money
into the household, I'm pretty sure she was also the
primary breadwinner, but she worked from home as a way
to still be extremely present and available to her children.
Every waiting moment was dedicated for her children.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
It is of note again that Mike and Julie were
together for nearly eight years and had already purchased wedding bands.
They had planned for both of their daughters and were
trying for a third, hoping for a son. Mike shared
custody of Jade with her biological mother, Jessica. Before the murder,
there had never been any reports of Beverly being violent
(15:31):
or abusive to any of her children, including Jade. If
there had been, it's doubtful that her father would have continued,
not only to live with Beverly, but to plan on
having more children with her. Murder on Songbird Road will
return after the break. Now back to Murder on Songbird Road.
(15:57):
Everything would change when Jade was murdered. Here's Renee's recollection
of picking up Beverly at the police station the night
of the murder and the days leading up to her rest.
Tell me what that car ride back from the station
with Julie was like.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, she was telling me the story and I was
just in disbelief and I was like, oh my god,
You've got to tell Mike. They're under the impression this
was suicide. And she's looking at me confused, like what
I was telling her? What was being said to me?
And I was wont through the story and she's just
shaking her head and she's crying, and she's telling me
(16:33):
how this man came in the house and she said
nobody should ever have to see that. She said, no
parent should ever have to see that. It was quick ride,
ten minute ride. We got in the house and she
sat down and my mom was hugging her, and my
mom was crying and made her cry some more. And
then her brother came and he just grabbed her and
(16:55):
hugged her, and then she lost it again, crying more.
And then my mom's just sitting there rubbing her back,
and she just kept saying, I should have just took
her with me. I should have just took her with me.
And my mom's telling her, you can't blame yourself, Julie,
you can't. I can't put this on you. She still
had the jail uniform on the little jumpsuit they gave
(17:17):
her because they took her clothing.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
When Beverly agreed to be questioned at the Williamson County
Sheriff's Department without a lawyer present, she also willingly consented
to the collection of DNA from both her person and
her articles of clothing. We'll dive much more deeply into
issues with how that DNA was collected later.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
Back to Renee, I got some of my clothes, gave
her some little sweatpants, stretch pants and leggings and a
hoodie to wear, and she went in the shower and
she was in there for a little while. I want
to check on her, and I can hear her crying
in there, and she told me after she was in
their crying because she had blood on the bottom of
(18:00):
her feet, and when she got in the shower, the
kind of brought it back.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
This is actually an important detail. Jade was murdered on
an unseasonably warm day, and Beverly had been wearing flip flops.
At some point she'd flipped them off and likely walked
through blood at the crime scene. Back to Renee, she
got out of the shower, I said, you have to
tell Mike.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
We ended up driving back to Marion to go to
Mike's parents house. Called him on the way and said
we were on and way over and he said, well,
DCFS just called him. They're about to be here too,
so you might want to wait a minute. And I said, well,
we're right down the street. So and we ended up
pulling up almost right at the same time as DCFS,
and we sat in the car. It was me, Michael,
(18:45):
and Julie.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Quick clarification. Michael is Julie's older brother and an aviation
mechanic with the US Navy, not to be confused with
her boyfriend and then fiance, Mike.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
We sat in the car. Cindy Maguire was her name
from DCFS. She came over to the passenger side of
my vehicle to talk to Julie, and that's when she
informed Julie that she cannot see her children, and she
lost it again and she's like no, She's screaming no,
because at this point, all she wants to do is
(19:19):
hug her family, her children. After some tragedy and horrific
tragedy like this, she wants to hug her children, hug
Mike and grieve.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
What did they tell her.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
They said that its protocol is how they termed it,
that she has to have no contact with her children.
She can have a video visit once a day for
fifteen minutes and that's it. That's the contact she gets
with her children until this is resolved. So she had
(19:56):
a sign of paper to where Mike gets temporary customer
of the children so they don't become wards of the state,
and she agreed to let them stay with Mike. She
asked if she could talk to Mike, and they said, well,
we're going to talk to him first and then we'll
see if he wants to come out and talk to you.
So they were in there for a good twenty thirty minutes.
(20:19):
Mike came out and as soon as Julie seen him,
she jumped out of my car. And ran to him
and hugged him, and he hugged her back, and they
were both you could see they were both crying. And
then I can see Julie talking to him and then
he and this is what me and Michael found really strange,
(20:41):
is the way he was consoling Julie. His immediate response
was to hug her, and he did. And then after
a while he steps away while she's talking and he
lights a cigarette. And then he's smoking his cigarette and
he's still close to Julie and then he puts one
arm around her shoulder, almost like resting his arm, almost
(21:07):
like he had to do it to put up a front.
It didn't look like a comforting hug that she needed.
It just looked like he was just going through the motions.
And I'm watching this, and I said to Michael, and
he's like, well, maybe it's because he smoked a cigarette.
He doesn't want to because Julie don't smoke, you know.
(21:28):
And I was like no, no, I said, look at
his options and he was looking away from her, smoking
his cigarette, and just it was weird. And Julie said
she was just going through like a brief summary of
what happened. It was just an odd behavior, consoling her
(21:49):
for like ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
In Renee's opinion, Mike was already doubting Beverly's innocence the
night of the murder. Subsequent events would reinforce her opinion
and had even more painful layers to this tragedy.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
They talked, and she got back in the car, and
she was just upset. And for the next three or
four days she got to talk to Mike once a
day for fifteen minutes. On the very first phone call
she got to FaceTime with the girls.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Being denied physical contact with her children, compounded by the
stress and trauma of the murder, was overwhelming for Beverly.
According to Renee, Mike and the girls were staying with
his mother, Sheila Jaden remained with his father. Beverly stayed
with her mother and grandmother.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
She didn't eat anything for two and a half days.
I finally forced her to eat a sandwich, and she
probably not even half a sandwich. I made her some
juice to drink some she had something in her I said, Julie,
you got it. You can't not eat. She wasn't eating,
she wasn't sleeping, she wasn't drinking.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Would you categorize her as in shock.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Yes, in shock, in horrific grief. I mean, yeah, yes.
In the four days she was with me, the food
she ate probably equated to the three fourths of a
sandwich and a half a cup of liquid in four days.
(23:20):
That's what she consumed.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Beverly's already limited access to her daughters would entirely disappear.
Five days after the murder, when Julia Beverly was arrested.
Renee had been trying to help her daughter remember any
details from the day Jade was killed, hoping they would
vindicate her with the timeline.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Well, I remember it like it was yesterday. Once she
left that police station. She was with me for four
days before her arrest. In that four days, she wasn't
remembering a lot, and I didn't want to force her
because I know what she had been through. But she
would give me little bits and pieces that she could
put together. It wasn't a clear pay sure, So I
(24:01):
told her that fourth day, I said, I want you
to sit down and write everything out that she did.
Maybe that will trigger some more memories for you, and
start with the time you woke up. And she started
writing it a few minutes later. She said, I went
to Hucks. I had to get gas. This was like
late morning, and that's when I made that phone call
(24:24):
to Gustantine to say that she remembered she stopped at Hucks.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
We'll get to the importance of Beverly's recollection that while
she started out for Walmart, she never got there. Beverly
suddenly recalled in the days that followed Jade Beasley's murder
that she actually stopped at Hucks, the closest gas station
to her house, because her gaslight came on. Thinking it
would prove her daughter's innocence. Renee high Tower wanted to
(24:48):
share the information with the police.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I said, Julie, you got to tell them. You're on camera,
because as of right now, they're trying to say you
never left the house. And she's like, I can't. I
already I already invoked an attorney, so I can't speak
to them without her. I said, do you want me
to tell them? And she's like, well, I don't know
if you can, but I guess. So I picked up
(25:13):
the phone and I called and asked for Carl Gustantine personally.
He answered, and I told him that Julie remembered she
stopped at Hucks for gas and realized she forgot her
cards at home and then she had to go back
to the house. He said, well, I'll have to hear
that from her, and I said, well, she's already invoked
(25:34):
an attorney, so you have your information. And he said
okay and hung up the phone.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
That call didn't have the effect high Tower had hoped.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Within an hour and a half, they were knocking at
our back door.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
We'll be right back with murder on Songbird Road. Now
back to Murder Songbird Road.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Cindy Geittman, Carl Gystantine and another officer stepped into my home,
my mother's home, through the back door. They said they
were there for Julie and they had a warrant for
her arrest. A few moments prior to this, we've seen
comments on Facebook showing her warrant on the judicial page,
(26:28):
and Julie began to panic at that point, and then
a few minutes later there was that knock at the door.
They came in and Julie immediately started crying. She had
her promise ring from Mike that she immediately took off
and handed to me. My mother was there. My mother
(26:49):
seen that they were putting cuffs on Julie and she
started crying and she said, you guys are killing her.
I'm sorry, I just named it because I've you can
(27:11):
feel my mother's pain at that point witnessing this, and
Cindy Geatman tells my mother, well, that's what she gets
for killing somebody. I just can't believe she said that
to my mother and I I just looked at her like,
why would you even say that? Why would you say that?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I have reached out to both Cindy Geatman and Carl Gustantine.
Both have since retired, as have multiple officers and officials
involved with the investigation into Jade Beasley's murder and the
case against Julia Beverly. Geitman and I spoke on the phone,
and she made it exceedingly clear that she did not
intend to comment on what would be her first and
(27:53):
last time leading a murder investigation back to Renee.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
But I found out later when Cindy Geatman walked Julie
outside to frisk her and check her. Julia had her
hair in a ponytail with a scrunchy not a ponytail holder,
not a super tight one, very loose made of cloth,
scrungey and she grabbed it out of Julie's hair, and
(28:23):
Julie said she grabbed her hair so hard that it
yanked her head back, pulled some of her hair out,
And later I found that scrunchy sitting on top of
my car with Julie's hair all over it, and then
put her in the car and took her down to
the station.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Well, Carl Gustantine did not respond to my multiple attempts
to question him about receiving the tip Rene High Tower,
so she gave him. The police appear to have acted
upon it.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
After she was arrested. I was furious, so I said,
I guarantee they're out there searching right now. So I
went past the guest and there they were searching the
trash cans somewhere in the dumpster.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
And once they pulled the video from the gas station,
what did they claim they'd found.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
They said that they got Julian camera stopping at the
gas station to throw away items, and they see her
on camera with this bag that could fit in the
palm of her hand, about the size of a diaver,
because that's what she had in the bag, a diver.
She said, maybe there was two in there, but it
was divers but she could clearly see on the camera
(29:35):
it could fit in the palm of her hand and
threw it away and then she went back to the
house to get her cards.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
The prosecution would contend that the small bag Beverly discarded
contained the murder weapon, blood saturated clothing, and any material
she used to clean up any trace of blood on
her person. None of these items have ever been located,
not at that Hawk's gas station, nor the dump police
came for evidence. High Tower continues to take issue with
(30:03):
how the incentive to search Hucks was portrayed in court.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
There was an officer in trial who testified that he
went to Hucks and the defense attorney she asked, well,
what made you go there, and he said, oh, I
just got a feeling, just got a feeling.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
So they set it up to make it look like
Julie lied, when it was something that she remembered and
you gave as a tip, and then they didn't even
attribute it to Julie or to you.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Correct So Gustantine was also on the prosecution's witness list,
and if he would have testified then I could have,
but they kept him off too.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
He didn't testify again.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
And so they never disclosed where that tip came from.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
Never I've even said this to people on my social
media platform and I get called a liar and no,
they found out that she lied, and I'm like, okay, well,
I've got a text message to my sister to prove it,
time stamped and all.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
You probably would have phone records showing that you called.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Sure Do and every call is recorded that comes into
that police station.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
High Tower has indeed showed me text messages and phone
records that back up her version of that outreach. Again,
to date, Carl Gustantine has not responded to my multiple
attempts to reach him. But while Renee's call didn't prevent
her daughter's arrest, it didn't provoke it.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
The arrest warrant was issued the day before, actually it
was signed and issued the day before, and they chose
to arrest her on this day because her first appearance
it would line up on the same day as Jay's funeral,
And that was a calculated decision, I believe, to boost
and bolster the emotional outrage of the public because here
(31:53):
you have her having her first appearance at the exact
same time that the funeral is going on, and they
are a parking a lot away from each other.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Criminal defense attorney Bob Mada and I connected with Renee
on a call. Hello, Hey, how are you?
Speaker 4 (32:10):
I I'm good.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
I'm gonna patch and Bob stand by. Hello, Okay, I'm
merging us with Renee. Hold on one second, all right,
you guys, Bob, Renee, Renee, Bob, so Bob, we have
some really interesting updates for you. In the press conference
held five days after the murder, the then Williamson County
State's attorney states that Julia Beverly's claim she was met
(32:34):
by a knife wielding massed assailant were proven false, but
Renee high Tower and Julia's supporters have never stopped looking
for him. Renee even hired a private investigator to find him.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
My private investigator said that he overheard a dispatcher because
they come out to his shooting range. He overheard dispatcher saying,
I thought we were on our.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Way to the other nine on one call.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Julie's nine one one call was placed at twelve twenty four,
so there's supposed to be another call. They subpoena the
number one calls. It's not in there. However, there is
a incident out in the same area that Julie is
at and this call was made at ten thirty for
(33:21):
a suspicious person and no way, yes, this is at
ten thirty. He was out there deligerent talking about harming somebody,
just cussing and carrying on, and somebody called the cops
on him and then they go respond and they pretty
much did whatever talk guys the name information sent him
(33:46):
on his way. He's wearing a black hoodie and duck pants.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This would spur the first of many rabbit holes. Bob
and I would go down looking for the knife wielding man,
and Julia Beverly claimed she encountered. But this tip led
to a specific man, a man now incarcerated for attempting
to disarm an officer and arrested multiple times previously, a
man who, unlike Julia Beverly, has a history of crimes,
(34:16):
mental illness, and a fondness for hunting.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Never in a million trillion years which never suspected Julie
of this ever, not one person. As a matter of fact,
they thought it was suicide before they even thought about
Julie until the police said it was Julie.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I mean, that guy sounds like somebody that we really
need to look at.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yes, man, that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
If Julia Beverly didn't kill Jade Beasley, someone else did
and there was one likely place to start searching. We're
heading to Marian.
Speaker 7 (34:51):
Yes we are, Yes we are. I'm here for it.
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
On the next murder on Songbird we travel to Mary
in Illinois to sit face to face with Julia Beverly.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
She says she wasn't even thinking, and then she's walking.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Through and then she sees the blood in the living room.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
She says, oh my god, Jay and encounter a community divided.
The woman behind the desk at Starbucks she said it's sad,
but she also had her doubts as to whether or
not Julie did it before heading to the site of
the murder.
Speaker 7 (35:26):
Should we go walk it?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
I think so.
Speaker 7 (35:29):
I think we should. I think we should. All right,
let's go, Let's see what's up.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
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 Chaqoine. Additional
(35:58):
music by Ashra 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,
(36:36):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your favorite shows. Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.