On August 1, 1999, 17-year-old finest pals J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett had been discovered fatally shot within the trunk of Beasley’s Mazda.
Six hours earlier, the ladies from Dothan, Alabama, had been reported lacking after getting misplaced on the best way to a celebration. The automotive was discovered alongside a secluded stretch of highway within the city of Ozark.
“They’d been each shot within the head and brutally murdered,” Particular Agent Barry Tucker, Alabama Bureau of Investigation, instructed Sins of the South, airing Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.
John C. White, the now-retired Dothan Police Division chief, nonetheless can’t shake the horrible picture. “Two younger, stunning ladies,” he stated, “stretched out like cordwood.”
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Looking for a Motive
With the victims nonetheless within the trunk to protect proof, the automotive was transferred to the morgue. Proof confirmed that the ladies had been shot at shut vary. A .9mm shell casing was on Beasley’s stomach. A second shell casing wasn’t discovered.
Brier scratches and dirt on the victims made “it seem that they’d been within the woods,” stated Tucker. It appeared that the homicide passed off someplace aside from the place the automotive was discovered.
Investigators appeared for a motive. “It did not seem like a theft of any sort,” stated Tucker. “It didn’t seem at first look to be something sexual in nature. So what was it?”
The grim thriller had locals scared, in response to Leann Capps, information reporter for the Dothan Eagle. Reward cash was raised to catch the killer. “Folks wished this monster discovered,” stated Capps.
Retracing the Victims’ Closing Steps
Earlier than the our bodies had been discovered, on July 31 round 11:30 p.m., “Tracie referred to as her mom, Carol Roberts, from a pay cellphone at a comfort retailer in Ozark,” stated White. “Tracie stated, ‘We received misplaced and by no means made it to this get together. We form of know the place we’re going now. I’ll be residence in just a bit bit.”
Roberts went to mattress and arose the following morning to seek out her daughter wasn’t residence. She then reached out to the Dothan PD.
J.B.’s automotive was discovered 23 miles away in Ozark about an hour later. The woods had been searched earlier than an officer popped the trunk on the automotive.
Safety digital camera footage on the gasoline station with the pay cellphone confirmed that the victims had pulled up at 11:20 p.m.
“You may see two women that they had been speaking to,” White stated. “You may see one of many women pointing on easy methods to get again to the key freeway.”
“A kind of girls, Marilyn Merritt, got here to the police the following day after listening to information reviews of the murders.
Merritt and her daughter had gone to the shop to get a drink when Beasley and Hawlett got here as much as them.
“They appeared very involved that they had been working late and missed their curfew,” Merritt stated. “They had been misplaced , in search of instructions to get again to Dothan. I made certain that they understood easy methods to get to Dothan.”
Police combed the realm across the comfort retailer however the search turned up no clues.
Post-mortem bombshell revelation
The post-mortem revealed that semen was discovered on Beasley’s shirt and underwear. “I felt fairly assured that whoever did this didn’t have consent,” stated Tucker.
When the proof was entered right into a DNA database, the outcomes didn’t return with a match. As investigators continued to work the case, the grieving victims’ households laid their family members to relaxation.
“I virtually fainted on the foot of my daughter’s casket,” stated Bealey’s mother, Cheryl Burgoon. “I can not consider I’ve to plan my child’s funeral after I must be planning her marriage ceremony.‘
Investigation Results in Lifeless-Finish
A month after the murders, the case stalled. However then an Ozark resident claimed to police that he was on the scene of the crime when it occurred, although he didn’t do it.
“He instructed us about selecting up some man strolling down the highway,” stated Tucker. “They rode round a short time and met the ladies on the gasoline station and the man took him out into the woods.”
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Pressed for particulars, the witness stated he didn’t know the person’s identify or something about him. He was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide. Nevertheless, his DNA pattern didn’t match the proof.
It was decided that he’d made a false report and was cleared. “He later stated ‘I made it up so I may get the reward cash to my household,’” stated White.
One other tip resulting in a person who lived in Michigan who’d allegedly confessed to the double homicide ended up being one other lifeless finish. His DNA didn’t match the proof on Beasley’s clothes.
At this level, the case went chilly and stayed that approach for 20 years.
Familial DNA bounce begins the chilly case
Then in 2019, investigators turned to familial DNA. The DNA laboratory ran the proof discovered on Beasley by way of public family tree databases from households whose members had beforehand submitted their DNA for ancestry analysis, in response to Sins of the South.
The lab then developed an inventory of Alabama households whose genetic materials bears some resemblance to the international pattern
A reputation on the record — Coley McCraney, 45, a protracted haul truck driver and a preacher — rang a bell from highschool for Ozark Police Chief Mosley Walker.
Walker requested McCraney to return in to assist with the case. “He stated, “You’re not a suspect. However I would like your DNA. We will department out from there and get nearer and nearer to our suspect,” stated Tucker.
McCraney, on the urging of his spouse, gave a DNA pattern. When the outcomes got here again, McCraney was a match for the semen on Beasley’s garments.
Coley McCraney Arrested and Tried
McCraney was arrested for the double homicide and for sexual assault. He denied understanding the victims or having sexual contact, in response to Tucker.
Because the case moved towards trial, the Covid-19 lockdown in early 2020 introduced the proceedings to a halt. “Most instances worsen over time,” stated Alabama Legal professional Normal Steve Marshall. “Delay is rarely a superb factor for a prosecutor.”
In April 2023, 24 years after Beasley and Hawlett had been killed, the trial started. Prosecutors argued that McCraney received into the victims’ automotive after they left the gasoline station, pulled a gun on them, raped Beasley, after which killed each ladies.
“There’s clearly lacking items that we’ll by no means know the reply to,” stated Marshall.
A key witness for the prosecution ended up being the defendant’s spouse. Her testimony helped put McCraney at the crime scene when it occurred.
4 days into the trial, McCraney took the stand and made a surprising assertion. He stated that he’d met Beasley at a mall a month earlier than the homicide.
“He stated he agreed to satisfy at that gasoline station that night time to hang around with these two ladies,” stated Tucker. He went on to say that he and Beasley had consensual intercourse.
“It was disgusting. It was hell to hearken to him,” stated Burgoon.
McCraney was finally discovered responsible of the homicide and rape of Beasley and the homicide of Hawlett. He was sentenced to life with out the opportunity of parole, the AP reported.
To be taught extra about the “Kidnapped in Alabama” case, watch Sins of the South, airing Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.
