0:00

Murder on Songbird Road is a production of

0:02

iHeart Podcasts. Previously

0:06

on Murder on Songbird Road. It's

0:09

crucial to recognize the ripple effect

0:12

of Beverly's conviction on her immediate

0:14

family, and in Jaden's case,

0:16

those ripples were more like shock

0:18

waves.

0:19

Miss Jade, missed, my mom, miss

0:21

a lot of people.

0:22

I made Mom promise to stay strong

0:25

in the jail, and I'll stay.

0:26

Strong for her.

0:27

In August of twenty twenty four, nearly

0:30

four years after Jade's murder,

0:32

Renee and Jaden were reunited with Beverly's

0:35

three youngest children.

0:36

And I can already see Julian every single

0:38

while.

0:39

The autopsy also revealed evidence that

0:41

may have been mishandled, and it involved

0:44

a towel that was apparently tossed into

0:46

the body bag used to transport Jade

0:48

to the morgue.

0:49

I just don't understand

0:52

what person that was at that crime

0:54

scene that thought that that was the right

0:56

thing to do.

0:57

It's crazy.

0:58

What else is crazy? Of time

1:00

it took for the then forensic pathologists

1:03

to turn around Jade Beasley's autopsy.

1:06

It took over a year to turn around the autopsy.

1:08

Did you ever get any reason as.

1:10

To why I did not.

1:12

At the end of August twenty twenty four, Bob

1:14

and I were back in Marian again,

1:16

knocking on doors on or around

1:18

Songbird.

1:19

Road, and I was looking out the window and then

1:21

the camera was videotaping him,

1:23

and.

1:24

He just kept knocking and knocking

1:26

and waiting, and I was an answer.

1:29

So a shirtless guy and he looked like he was under

1:31

the influence of drugs or a mental illness.

1:34

Yeah, he did.

1:36

I have not been here in

1:38

thirty years and more.

1:45

They still have the video, really

1:47

really wow. And guess who now has

1:50

the video?

1:51

You?

1:52

Yep, I'm

1:54

Lauren bred Pacheco and this is

1:56

Murder on Songbird Road. Over

2:16

the past ten episodes, you've heard

2:19

the many pieces that came together to form

2:21

an unfathomable story of heartbreak.

2:24

You have listened to the devastating aftermath,

2:27

families torn apart, relationships

2:29

destroyed, siblings separated,

2:32

and a community fractured by the shocking,

2:35

controversial, and brutal murder

2:37

of Jade Beasley.

2:39

The biggest thing for me is

2:41

that we were able

2:43

to be boots on the ground

2:46

and investigate, to really

2:48

be able to kind of

2:50

unpeel this onion.

2:53

It just had to be boots on the ground

2:56

what we were able to discover in this

2:58

case, because remember we didn't

3:00

get the discovery in total. You

3:02

know, we didn't have that advantage, which

3:04

again to me, speaks volumes, Lauren. I

3:07

mean, the fact that we were never provided with

3:09

that always tells me that they

3:11

have something to hide. What is the

3:13

motivation of people not wanting

3:16

to answer questions or not providing information?

3:19

It should make you suspicious, it certainly does

3:21

me. But us being able to get down

3:23

there to Marian as many times as that we did,

3:26

and go and knock on doors and

3:28

talk to people face to face

3:31

and have that communication and that

3:33

contact with them, it's just a different

3:35

thing. I mean, that's it's

3:37

because we care. It would be really easy

3:39

to be.

3:40

Just like guy I tried check that off the list.

3:43

You know.

3:43

It's that persistence that

3:46

is what drives these things. The persistence

3:49

is what creates information

3:52

for us that we can use to

3:55

potentially lead us to other information which

3:57

can potentially lead us to answers.

4:00

Bob Mada and I didn't take on covering

4:03

this case or Beverly's conviction

4:05

without a great deal of forethought. We

4:07

also didn't enter this investigation

4:10

with preconceived notions.

4:12

I cannot say this enough.

4:14

When you and I got into this in

4:16

the beginning of it, neither

4:18

one of us had formed any kind of opinion

4:21

as to innocence or killed at all.

4:23

I agree, But also I think that the fact

4:25

that we went in with no agenda right

4:28

is what ultimately motivated

4:31

us, because if we were

4:33

just literally convinced she

4:35

was innocent or convinced she was guilty, we

4:38

would have given.

4:38

Up totally, totally.

4:40

There would be no.

4:41

Point right once you really

4:45

land where we

4:47

have landed now, and that

4:50

was not an easy place

4:52

to land, because what you're

4:54

doing is you're opening yourself

4:57

up for not

5:00

just criticism, but real

5:02

animosity. Yeah, because

5:04

people like to believe if something

5:08

was tried that

5:10

it's done, it's finished. You

5:12

don't go back and muddy.

5:15

Up the waters.

5:15

And it's a difficult thing too, because we

5:18

know that we're dealing with

5:20

very real lives and very real

5:23

emotions, very real

5:25

grief and trauma. It has

5:27

taken us well over a year and a half

5:29

to reach the point we're at now.

5:32

I think that some of the bad facts, as

5:34

we call them, that exists will still have

5:37

people wondering because some

5:39

people can never get over those

5:42

bad facts. Once that gavel hits

5:44

after twelve people have deemed

5:46

somebody guilty, it's really hard

5:48

to erase it completely because

5:50

the mindset being that, all right, well,

5:53

no matter how screwed up the trial was,

5:56

the fact is that they had enough evidence

5:59

to convince it. You're that she did it, despite

6:02

the fact that it went unchecked and unchallenged,

6:04

which is really the entire point of a trial,

6:07

you know, to vet the evidence from

6:09

beginning to end. This thing was

6:11

just a railroad job in

6:13

the sense of what was allowed in and how

6:16

it flowed and just all the little things

6:18

that happened. We can't do it justice

6:21

in terms of really articulating just

6:24

how messed up this trial was.

6:26

You know what, you just gave me the words.

6:29

It was a railroad job

6:31

that went off the rails.

6:33

It was that bad.

6:34

It was that bad.

6:36

So now, in terms of where we have landed,

6:38

let's just quickly address that.

6:41

I do understand how

6:44

people can still have some

6:46

reservations about what you

6:48

and I have referred to as bad facts,

6:52

but it is undeniable that

6:55

Julia Beverly did not get a fair trial.

6:58

Right. There's no Quoestan.

7:00

We were told that what we now

7:03

have video of was an

7:05

impossibility, that nobody's

7:07

knocking on doors. We believed

7:10

it when we went down on the first

7:12

trip. We looked around and said,

7:15

nobody has ring camera footage here. This

7:17

isn't the place where you get foot traffic, and

7:19

lo and behold, that's

7:22

exactly what happened. And if they

7:24

had done a proper investigation, they

7:26

would have discovered it within

7:28

two months of the murder. We

7:33

have spent far more time investigating

7:36

this case than the four days

7:38

that had been spent when former Williamson

7:40

County State's Attorney Brandon Sonati

7:43

announced Jade Beasley's death at

7:45

the same press conference in which

7:47

he announced Julia Beverly's arrest, Although

7:50

he spun it this way.

7:52

There's, as I said, you know, any given

7:54

time, twenty people working this, you

7:57

know, like I said, working around the clock.

7:59

These things just don't happen overnight.

8:01

You know, we have to you know, we

8:04

have to.

8:04

Follow the rules. You know, we have to you

8:07

know, conduct these investigations we

8:09

have you know, under you know, constitutional

8:12

safeguards and constraints, and

8:14

you know, ideally like it to be

8:16

wrapped up and tied up now, but unfortunately

8:19

I said it's not. It's still going to take some time.

8:22

It took just four days for the

8:24

investigation to conclude it had

8:26

gathered enough evidence to arrest

8:28

twenty nine year old Julia Elaine Beverly,

8:31

though even that decision came with

8:33

a disclaimer pursue it.

8:35

To Supreme Court rule, I must remind the

8:37

public that charges are not evidence

8:40

of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent

8:42

and is entitled to a fair trial, on which

8:44

the government has the burden of proving guilt

8:46

beyond a reasonable doubt.

8:48

The state was tasked with the burden

8:51

to prove Julia Beverly's guilt beyond

8:53

a reasonable doubt. Having processed

8:55

everything you've now heard, do

8:58

you think they met that burden? Here

9:00

is the opinion of one former juror.

9:03

After listening to the podcast

9:07

and listening to you guys, saw, I

9:09

feel like I've definitely got a

9:11

different perspective of reasonable

9:13

doubt.

9:14

I kind of feel like because you're

9:16

coming up.

9:17

With different alternatives

9:20

to what there supposedly

9:23

was, and I feel like it's a different

9:26

ball game.

9:28

In our previous episode, we shared

9:30

audio from ring camera footage of

9:32

an unknown intruder banging on a door

9:35

on Songbird Road, just weeks

9:37

after Jade Beasley's murder. Here

9:39

is that jurors reaction to seeing

9:41

that video?

9:43

So many thoughts, so many thoughts.

9:47

I know some people will be like, oh, but that was two

9:49

months later. Okay, it was

9:51

two months later. But also it was only

9:54

two months later, and it was a

9:56

man matching the same description

10:00

and stuff, the same body build that

10:03

Julie games. And if this man

10:05

was clearly on drugs, you should have been

10:07

on drugs two months earlier trying to get somebody else's

10:10

house and stumbled upon Jays.

10:12

If you had seen that

10:15

video during the trial,

10:18

do you think that would have changed things in terms

10:20

of the jury's deliberation.

10:22

I think it could have, guess. I

10:24

think the fact that the guy matching

10:27

the same description was trying to get into another

10:29

house on the same road.

10:32

So let me ask you this, had

10:34

you been given everything

10:37

that was presented in the podcast,

10:40

how would that have impacted

10:43

the deliberation in your opinion?

10:48

Honestly, after

10:50

listening to you and

10:52

Bob, if the defense

10:55

could have presented a case like you guys,

10:57

did I feel like we would have had to have

10:59

said, should work with guilty.

11:01

Additionally, on April third of twenty

11:03

twenty one, so less than two

11:06

months after the video of the unknown

11:08

porch intruder was taped on Songbird

11:10

Road, there was a home invasion

11:12

in Marion committed by an intruder

11:14

brandishing a knife. A woman

11:16

told police a man had come in through an open

11:18

window and threatened her with a knife.

11:21

She was injured, but the assailant fled

11:23

the scene. At the time, police

11:25

were asking anyone who might have seen something

11:28

or who might have video surveillance in the area

11:30

to contact them with information, but

11:33

that request was apparently contradicted

11:36

when a local crime watch page posted

11:38

the incident and people began weighing

11:40

in with tips and speculations. Here's

11:43

Renee High Tower.

11:45

There was a post on the

11:47

crime watch page run by Becky

11:50

Grimes, and there

11:52

was a lot of people commenting

11:54

under there saying

11:56

that there was a lot of similarities in

12:00

the incident with Jade.

12:02

There was another intruder breaking

12:05

into a home with.

12:06

A knife, threatened to harm

12:09

this woman actually

12:11

did cut her, I believe, and

12:13

then got away, and they

12:16

were striking similarities.

12:19

Then I started noticing the comments disappear

12:23

and I sent a direct message

12:25

private message to Becky Grimes. I

12:27

told her some people are more comfortable

12:30

speaking on her and I said, I know the police are watching

12:32

the page because they get tips from

12:35

social media all the time. And she said,

12:37

yeah, I know they're watching my page.

12:40

And she said they're the ones who told me to

12:42

take it down when it.

12:43

Veers into Julie's case. And I said

12:45

to police and she

12:47

said yes. And I

12:49

was just in disbelief, shocked

12:53

that she just said that.

12:55

Becky Grimes, the woman who ran that Facebook

12:57

page, has subsequently passed away,

13:00

but high Tower has shared the text message

13:02

exchange with her that backs

13:04

Renee's version of the events. High

13:07

Tower then went to the Marian police station

13:09

in person.

13:10

I went down to that police station and I

13:13

was telling the alswer, this

13:15

sounds a lot like my daughter's.

13:17

He first takes my information, he's got his pain going,

13:20

telling.

13:20

Him it looks a lot like my dog. He put his pen

13:22

down and sat back in his chair and just stared at

13:24

me and didn't

13:26

say another word. And

13:29

I said, well, I think it connects. You're

13:32

not even listening to me. You're not right now, I

13:34

said, I he was just going to quit listening your time and I left,

13:37

and I realized, this is never going to be

13:39

any kind of help from law enforcement whatsoever.

13:42

Why wouldn't law enforcement want

13:45

possible tips pertaining to Jade

13:47

Beasley's murder?

13:49

What can you take away from it other than that's

13:51

scary, and it's scary

13:54

for all the reasons that Flom was

13:56

talking about.

13:57

That that other part of these.

13:59

Wrong convictions that people just tend

14:01

to kind of forget about,

14:04

which is when they convict the wrong person,

14:06

that the actual killer is still roaming free,

14:08

free to create havoc

14:11

and make mischief and kill people.

14:14

Further, which, if you're the community

14:17

that's the taxpayer that's paying for these

14:19

people's salaries who have a job.

14:21

To do, that would

14:24

upset me and it should upset

14:26

you.

14:26

What are they afraid of?

14:28

What?

14:29

Why would an investigation be afraid

14:31

of people questioning the investigation in

14:34

the early stages of it, offering

14:38

another option that

14:42

would have forced them to deviate from their

14:44

tunnel vision. Murder

14:47

on Songbird Road will return after

14:49

the break. Now

14:59

back to mur on Songbird Road. While

15:03

the podcast was in production, Julia

15:05

Beverly from prison was also going

15:07

through trial transcripts, journaling

15:09

and sharing thoughts with Renee. One

15:12

recovered memory she experienced was

15:14

that the door to the bathroom Jade

15:17

was in was locked, and that Beverly spent

15:19

time finding pliers to unlock it.

15:22

Here's Renee.

15:24

I don't know if she had them in her hand or where she put

15:26

them. Don't know where they went to, but

15:28

she had to go to the laundry room to get them out

15:30

of this toolbox.

15:32

Okay, I'm just wondering after exactly,

15:35

but that's important because

15:38

they could conceivably be in

15:41

the crime scene photos. Sure enough,

15:43

when we finally received the inventory

15:45

listing, those pliers were mentioned

15:48

and were found next to the bathroom a

15:50

top of laundry basket in the hall. Beverly

15:53

also recalled seeing a crime scene photo

15:55

of the interior front door knob,

15:57

depicting a short light hair in

16:00

embedded in what appears to be blood.

16:02

This is significant because of the hair's

16:04

length and color. Beverly's hair is dark,

16:07

long and curly, and Jade's hair fell

16:09

past her shoulders. Here's Renee.

16:12

She said there's a picture, and

16:14

she remembers it now that she's seen it in testimony.

16:17

There's a hair in the blood

16:20

on the doorknob of the front door collected.

16:23

Possibly don't know, but no, for

16:26

sure it wasn't tested. A

16:28

light colored hair and she

16:30

said it may be an inch and a half

16:33

long at best. She said

16:35

you could see it plain as day.

16:36

I wonder where that is.

16:39

Yeah, yeah,

16:41

So I was like, you've got to be hidden

16:43

me. There's a hair, Yes, there's

16:45

a hair.

16:47

And whose blood is on the doorknob?

16:49

Jade's And that's the thing. There

16:51

weren't very many samples. I think it was

16:53

twenty nine samples that were sent

16:55

off.

16:56

Now was it the inside or the outside

16:59

doorknob?

17:00

The inside?

17:01

And then she said that she could

17:04

because she had a storm door and then the inside door.

17:06

And Julie said she could swear

17:09

in the pictures there was blood on the

17:11

storm door, on the inside of the storm door. And

17:15

they never tested it because they said, oh,

17:17

it looks like mud, never

17:20

tested, never swapped, so

17:22

it looks like somebody brushed against it going out.

17:25

I've reached out to Williamson County with

17:27

a foyer request for that photo, along

17:30

with several others. My request

17:32

was denied and I shared the response

17:34

with Bob. Does that surprise

17:37

you?

17:37

No, I mean, at this point of course,

17:39

not your foyer request.

17:42

Journey has been legendary. I mean

17:44

you've gone up to the age. I mean

17:46

you've gotten some results, but it's still

17:49

just been like pulling

17:51

teeth.

17:52

It's been pulling teeth.

17:53

Yeah, Well, we get are the things that

17:55

they think are probably benign, the

17:58

least problematic for them. They're the

18:00

things that they think can't hurt them. And

18:02

we're still finding shit. We're still

18:05

finding just inconsistencies

18:07

and things that bug us, which

18:09

only adds fuel to the

18:11

fire in terms of us wanting to

18:13

see more that the concept that there

18:15

was an unknown hair on

18:18

the inside of the door that

18:21

was covered in blood could

18:23

only indicate that it could

18:25

have been left.

18:27

How wasn't that tested.

18:30

I've also reached out to the Williamson County

18:32

Sheriff and the state's attorney

18:34

for explanation as to why it took

18:36

over fourteen months and a court

18:39

order to complete and file Jade Beasley's

18:41

autopsy report while they've

18:43

ignored my request. Former crime

18:45

scene investigator Katie Hartman finds

18:47

the turnaround time highly unusual.

18:51

Since you reached out to me, I talked to another

18:53

friend of mine who is a lieutenant with their

18:55

homicide that just to double check

18:58

with him because he would

19:00

receive the final pathology reports

19:02

on our homicide victims. And

19:05

I asked him what was the longest he ever had to wait.

19:07

He said, at the most three

19:09

months, So I thought

19:11

it was an extraordinary

19:13

amount of time to get a final

19:16

report from the pathologists.

19:19

Do we know, Lauren, was

19:21

the pathology report done? It just wasn't

19:24

released, so we

19:27

don't know.

19:28

We just know that it wasn't

19:31

in the discovery and the court

19:33

had to compel the completion

19:36

of the report.

19:38

And the reason why I asked that is it's dated,

19:40

as you know, twelve six, twenty

19:43

twenty. These findings are

19:45

precise and they are final,

19:48

so I wonder if it was finished in twenty

19:51

twenty, but it's been held

19:53

up for whatever reason or whatever

19:55

mistake or whatever miscommunication

19:59

for two years.

20:01

When the defense went

20:03

to reference, it realized that

20:05

it hadn't been filed

20:08

and so asked for it, and

20:10

the court had to compel to

20:13

get the finished autopsy,

20:16

which again wasn't signed until

20:18

February fourth, twenty

20:21

twenty two. It

20:23

wasn't signed, it wasn't

20:25

submitted, it wasn't filed, it wasn't

20:27

completed.

20:29

So it wasn't submitted to the state. No.

20:31

I mean, so, how can prosecution charge

20:34

anybody with murder without a

20:36

final finding from a pathologist

20:39

who did the autopsy? That's

20:41

what I want to know. Do you understand what I'm asked?

20:45

There's a lot in this autopsy

20:47

that I cannot understand how

20:49

it was not submitted

20:51

immediately and

20:53

why things weren't followed up on. There's a few things in

20:55

here that should have been.

20:56

Followed up on.

20:57

She had round contusions

21:00

in the autopsy. She refers

21:02

to them as circular contusions.

21:05

I think one's on her jaw.

21:08

So implying that she was hit with an object.

21:11

Possibly or somebody had a ring

21:13

on or something like that. You

21:15

know, you got to look at all these things. That's

21:18

evidence. I'm not a lawyer, and

21:20

I'm not ANME.

21:21

ME is an abbreviation for medical

21:23

examiner.

21:24

I'm a cramecy investigators. So if

21:27

I'm having a meeting with a prosecutor about

21:29

a murder case, I'm gonna ask do

21:31

you have everything you need? Do

21:33

you have all of my reports? Do you have the

21:35

me's report. I mean, I don't get

21:38

why you can prosecute or

21:40

have a prosecution without an

21:43

autopsy report. How's that

21:45

allowed.

21:46

We do not wish to sensationalize

21:48

the autopsy's findings in a graphic way. But

21:51

in addition to the circular contusions,

21:53

there are other things mentioned in the autopsy

21:56

that may have benefitted preparation for

21:58

both the defense and prosecution

22:01

if more thoroughly examined and or

22:03

tested. For example, Jade's

22:06

next showed scratches and keeping with attempted

22:08

strangulation, and there were hairs

22:10

found on her body.

22:12

The autopsy is a part

22:14

of the investigation. It's

22:18

there to answer calls

22:20

death, manner of death, everything, what

22:23

exactly killed the

22:25

person. I mean, these things

22:27

are in here about

22:30

what exactly killed her and how,

22:33

But there are so many other facts

22:36

that are raised, or injuries

22:39

that are raised that no one even

22:41

questioned. We're doing things

22:44

that a defense attorney

22:46

should have looked at and said, well

22:49

what about this and what about that? And while

22:51

a prosecutor didn't bring up some things,

22:54

you know, you can use some of these injuries

22:56

to compare to Beverly's.

22:59

Does she work rings? What about a fair

23:01

nail clippings? We've got those, let's

23:03

send them. I mean, I don't understand any

23:05

of it. I don't get it.

23:07

You're preaching to the converted and

23:10

speaking of nail scrapings. While Jades

23:12

were tested, there was something discovered

23:15

but not further tested, that

23:17

was a bit buried during the trial. Here

23:19

is Beverly's defense attorney's closing

23:21

statement from the transcript, verbatim.

23:25

The DNA could have told us

23:27

something from the nails if the

23:29

state hadn't been so short sighted

23:32

defendants. Exhibit seven was shown to doctor

23:34

Reich after he was asked

23:37

was it only X or only female

23:39

DNA found under jade? And

23:42

he had to say, no, no,

23:44

it's not. These are jades nails.

23:46

These are the white chromosomes. It

23:49

might have been a minuscule amount popping

23:51

on two different areas, but it's

23:53

there. It just doesn't fit

23:55

the state's theory. I'm done with this now,

23:57

Judge. Of course, we'll never

23:59

know, or we don't

24:01

know what was on Julie's hands,

24:04

what was under Julie's nails. The

24:06

state also decided to not test

24:09

it might not fit their story unknown

24:13

male DNA under Jdb's

24:16

Lee's fingernails, which was

24:18

downplayed at

24:21

trial.

24:22

If you're a person that's out there and

24:24

you hear of all the things that weren't done,

24:27

that do exist that should have been done

24:29

in terms of evidence and things

24:31

that should have been tested, and

24:34

you're still sitting there thinking like, well, I don't

24:36

care she did it. I just

24:38

pray that you never get into law enforcement.

24:41

I pray that you never get on the bench.

24:44

I pray more than anything that you

24:46

never become a prosecutor, because

24:49

you have to look at everything. This

24:52

is about getting to the truth, no matter what

24:54

the truth is. This isn't about convictions,

24:57

This isn't about wins.

24:59

That's the con that you have with prosecutors.

25:01

They are elected officials. The thing

25:04

that they run their campaigns on is convictions

25:07

that in and of itself is a conflict

25:09

of interest with the truth because

25:12

the truth takes a back seat.

25:16

We'll be right back with Murder on Songbird

25:18

Road. Here

25:26

again is Murder on Songbird

25:29

Road. We started

25:31

this podcast by asking whether Julia

25:33

Beverly was truly guilty of the murder

25:36

for which she was convicted. Could

25:38

a mother of four with no history of violence

25:40

have brutally stabbed an eleven year old

25:43

girl she had raised as her own for

25:45

nearly eight years, or

25:47

was there a rush to judgment, one

25:49

that began on the day of the murder and continues

25:52

to this day. As we've dealt deeper

25:54

into the case, we've encountered individuals

25:56

whose perspectives on Beverly's conviction

25:59

have evolved.

26:00

It's the life we're talking about, and

26:03

it's Jade's life as well. There's

26:06

just too many fishy

26:08

things. It's supposed to be beyond a reasonable

26:11

doubt, and in my opinion, that's not what it was.

26:13

That's Brittany, the woman who created a gofund

26:16

me page to help the Beasley family cover funeral

26:18

expenses for Jade. She also

26:20

believed she was on the phone with Jade's grandmother,

26:23

Sheila, when Renee high Tower was

26:25

desperately seeking information on the day

26:27

of the murder.

26:28

We were on the phone and all of a sudden,

26:31

she received the news

26:34

and she told me Jade committed

26:36

suicide. And I

26:39

said, oh my gosh, what could she have been

26:41

going through to

26:43

do that? And I think she

26:45

just said, I don't know. Then

26:49

we got off the phone because she got that call

26:51

from Renee.

26:52

Here are her thoughts after having

26:55

heard the issues we've raised over the course

26:57

of this podcast.

26:58

Looking back in hindsight, and I'm

27:01

guilty of saying things and being

27:03

manipulated by the media, and

27:06

the things people were saying were god awful,

27:09

and she hadn't had trial.

27:12

And this is a small community. People

27:14

believe the media. People believe, Oh,

27:17

the police don't lie. Oh if

27:19

the court said she's guilty, they're

27:21

right.

27:22

You know.

27:23

People just don't understand corruption.

27:26

And people were saying the meanest

27:29

things. It shouldn't have been

27:31

held in this jurisdiction, I mean, death

27:34

threats.

27:34

Even do you think, looking

27:36

back that there was any

27:38

presumption of innocence for

27:41

Beverly before trial?

27:43

Absolutely not know that

27:45

it should have never been held around here.

27:50

It should have been in a I

27:52

don't know, a different state. But there's

27:55

no way that they could have picked a juror

27:57

that didn't.

27:58

Already see all that stuff.

28:01

And then there was other things. But that

28:04

made me start having an open mind

28:07

and started questioning things.

28:09

Why was her phone the only one dropped

28:11

to in forensic They said, this

28:14

isn't CSI Miami. We can't test

28:16

everything. What this is

28:18

a murder of an eleven year

28:20

old? What do you mean that's

28:22

a screwed up thing to say. I

28:25

was convinced by the media

28:28

because they made it sound like

28:31

she went to a dumpster

28:34

as if she was dumping

28:37

a bunch of stuff or a huge

28:39

bag or something like that in a dumpster

28:41

on like the side of hawks.

28:43

And then truth is she.

28:47

Was by a gas pump and threw away

28:49

something very small in

28:51

one of the small trash cans

28:53

by the gas pumps. So that's

28:55

manipulation by the media.

28:58

And then the

29:00

number of Titans Jade

29:03

was stabbed is apparently

29:05

incorrect.

29:06

It was not.

29:06

I think one hundred and twenty is what was

29:08

going around.

29:10

In fact, Jade Beasley's autopsy

29:13

report details fifteen specific

29:15

stab wounds to her neck and torso,

29:17

with additional injuries identified as

29:19

scratches and marks consistent with defensive

29:22

wounds. Yet the inflated number

29:24

continues to circulate in news

29:26

reports, on social media, and

29:29

even in the courtroom. Special Prosecutor

29:31

Jennifer Mudge reference to this in her

29:33

sentencing statement, as seen

29:36

verbatim in the transcripts. Sometimes

29:39

on TV or in real life, prosecutors

29:42

pound on the table when someonould

29:44

get shot or stabbed. Not

29:47

one, not two, not

29:49

three, not four. If

29:52

I did that in this case, we'd be here

29:54

till five o'clock to night. So I'm

29:56

not going to do that and

29:59

before senten and saying Julia Lane Beverly

30:01

to fifty five years in prison without the

30:03

possibility of parole, Judge

30:05

Stephen Green said.

30:06

This, Okay, I

30:09

have to agree that this case was horrific.

30:12

You have an eleven year old child stabbed

30:14

over a hundred times. I believe

30:16

the testimony was at least one

30:19

hundred and four times throughout

30:21

a home.

30:23

All right, So do you find it interesting

30:25

that even after she

30:28

was convicted, you know, at the sentencing,

30:31

why perpetuate false

30:34

information?

30:35

I mean to drive it home for Mudge,

30:38

as if she didn't know that he was going to

30:40

sensor to the max or right

30:42

around it.

30:43

I guess as to her, that's why.

30:46

As to the judge, I

30:48

don't know for the judge to be kind

30:51

of adding in, chiming

30:53

in beyond what he's doing

30:55

legally, and on

30:57

top of that, to be mistating what the evidence actually

31:00

was and symptomatic of the problem

31:03

with this case and with this trial. You

31:06

know, it's what we've seen for

31:09

the last year and change. This

31:11

was a one sided trial that ended in one

31:14

sided sentencing, with untruths

31:17

being spoken to the very end all the way

31:19

through.

31:20

Danny Vaie was a local reporter during

31:23

the time of Jade's murder, and subsequently

31:25

reported on the investigation, trial

31:27

and sentencing before accepting a job

31:29

out of state. Here are his thoughts

31:31

on Beverly's case in light of the issues

31:34

we've raised.

31:35

It's definitely taking turns that I didn't expect

31:37

it to take, especially with the treatment

31:40

of Julia Beverly.

31:41

I mean, I don't know if I have any words

31:43

to describe it.

31:44

I mean, it was just so horrible the

31:46

way she was treated, especially

31:49

when she had her baby. Nobody deserves

31:51

that. I don't think anybody even

31:54

knew in the media that she was

31:56

pregnant by the time. The big

31:58

takeaways is just like it's

32:01

a big lesson.

32:01

Of what not to do in

32:04

a murder investigation like.

32:05

This, because there was a

32:07

lot of things they didn't do, and

32:10

me at the time, not being as experienced

32:12

in these kinds of cases and covering these kinds

32:14

of cases, I didn't know what to ask.

32:16

These are elected officials that people

32:19

are entrusting to

32:21

do their due diligence, and they're

32:24

going to hang on the words of those elected officials.

32:27

And it just sads to kind of realize

32:29

all these years later that we may

32:31

have been misled.

32:33

What would you ideally

32:35

like to see happen, knowing what

32:38

you now know and having had the

32:41

proximity to it as it unfolded.

32:44

I definitely would like to see all the angles

32:46

explored. I definitely would like

32:48

to see the people that were on that witness

32:51

list who weren't call called.

32:54

I think there was a lot of things

32:56

that could have been done differently with

32:58

everything uncovered, and just it's

33:01

easy.

33:01

To hide stuff. It's so easy

33:04

to hide the smallest thing.

33:06

You know that to the

33:08

media, to a wider

33:11

audience that it doesn't seem significant,

33:13

but to the person's happening to it's

33:16

the world.

33:18

We recognize that there are individuals

33:21

who were and still are deeply

33:23

upset by our decision to revisit

33:25

the conviction of Julie Beverly. However,

33:28

it's important to emphasize that justice

33:30

for Jade and justice for Julie

33:32

are not mutually exclusive, and

33:35

even as this podcast comes to a close,

33:38

we remain steadfast in our commitment

33:40

to pursuing both. Thanks

33:42

to the generosity of Jason Flahm, Julie

33:44

Bevely's appeal is receiving the attention

33:47

and legal representation it rightfully

33:50

deserves.

33:51

Let's start with what I've heard unfold over

33:54

the last seven minutes

33:56

of the last episode, which with the

33:58

thing was episode ten, which

34:01

had me rewinding and going,

34:04

excuse me, I mean

34:07

the fact that you guys found the

34:09

video. I don't have

34:11

the right word. It reminds

34:13

me of the fact that we

34:16

live in an era

34:19

in investigative

34:23

journalism slash criminal

34:26

justice in general, where we

34:28

as podcasters oftentimes

34:31

have to do the work that should have been

34:33

done in the first place, and

34:35

could have been much more easily done by people who

34:37

we pay with our tax dollars.

34:39

To do it.

34:40

But you and Bob did it, and

34:42

you found the smoking gun. Crazy.

34:46

It's kind of heartbreaking too, because

34:48

if you think about the fact that

34:51

that couple they closed the day she

34:53

was arrested, They moved in the day after,

34:56

and keep in mind, that was four days

34:58

after Jade easily was brutally

35:01

murdered next door, not

35:03

down the street, not in a neighboring

35:05

town, in the adjacent property,

35:09

and no official anybody ever knocked

35:11

on that door, and if they had,

35:14

that would have been the first thing on that

35:16

couple's minds when they had

35:18

that ring camera footage.

35:20

You can't help just feeling

35:23

a sense of how

35:25

it's a combination of awe, gratitude

35:28

and also discussed right

35:31

the idea that this was

35:34

allowed to go on, It's still going on, right

35:37

She's still in prison right right now.

35:39

And I think about this often. Maybe you guys do

35:41

too, the idea that

35:43

while we're sitting here, I'm

35:46

in my home studio talking

35:48

to you and gonna go out the door, and

35:50

we're going about our lives. Meanwhile, Julie, if

35:53

you juxtapose what her reality

35:55

is right now, right

35:57

separated from her kids, dealing with gleam

36:00

deprivation of every kind,

36:03

like she is literally in hell

36:05

right now, being deprived of every single

36:07

thing that a human being needs to survive

36:10

and thrive and be healthy.

36:13

In an attempt to remedy the situation,

36:15

and because of Jason Flamm's generosity,

36:17

Beverly is now being represented by Chicago

36:20

based defense attorney Kathleen Zelner's

36:22

firm.

36:23

My name is Joanna Klozawska. I

36:26

am an associate for Miss

36:28

Kathleen Zelner. You

36:31

know, the basic facts of the case that

36:33

there was a third party male

36:36

DNA left under the

36:38

victim's fingernails, really

36:41

sparked our interests from the beginning. Currently,

36:44

the briefs on appeal

36:46

have both been submitted from

36:49

both sides. We filed the

36:51

brief on appeal on Beverly's

36:53

behalf in July of twenty

36:56

twenty four, and then the state filed

36:58

its brief in Sember of

37:01

twenty twenty four. We filed

37:03

a reply brief in October

37:05

of twenty twenty four.

37:07

All of this leading up to both sides

37:10

arguing the case in front of a panel

37:12

of judges in February of twenty

37:14

twenty five.

37:15

The oral argument was held just

37:17

last Friday, February twenty first,

37:20

before three justices of the

37:22

Fifth District Appellate Court.

37:25

And so now we are just

37:27

waiting on a written opinion, which

37:30

could take several.

37:31

Months, and we will update

37:33

you as soon as they reach a verdict. But

37:36

here's Bob's take on the path ahead.

37:38

Well, best case scenario is that the appellate

37:41

court grants her a new trial

37:44

and kicks it back down. And

37:46

this is best case scenario, And that

37:48

the State's attorney's office decides

37:50

not to proceed on it again, that's best case

37:53

scenario. Next best case

37:55

scenario is that they do decide

37:57

to proceed on it again, all the corrections

37:59

are made with respect to what's

38:02

coming in, what's staying out in terms of evidence,

38:04

and she goes to trial.

38:06

But the brutal reality is there

38:08

is no scenario in which

38:11

Julie Beverly finds out next week

38:13

she's walking out a free woman. No,

38:17

no, As

38:19

we bring this podcast to a clothes at

38:22

least for now, we leave

38:24

you with these questions. Do

38:26

you believe Julia Beverly is guilty

38:29

of murder? Do you believe she had

38:31

the presumption of innocence? Do you

38:33

believe she received a fair trial? Do

38:36

you believe the state proved her

38:38

guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? Or

38:40

do you think there was a rush to judgment

38:43

one that began the day of the murder and continues

38:46

to this day.

38:47

It's never gotten better.

38:49

There was never a point where either of us were like, oh,

38:51

well, there we go.

38:53

The ship was righted. And because it never happened.

38:56

Even if you believe she's guilty, you

38:59

cannot deny that it was not a fair trial,

39:01

and for that reason alone, she

39:04

deserves a proper day in

39:06

court.

39:07

One of my.

39:07

Favorite quotes is that justice

39:10

will not be served until

39:12

those who are unaffected or as outraged

39:15

as those who are a

39:18

lot of people have reached out to us

39:20

outraged when they have

39:22

put together the pieces of what went into

39:25

Beverly's conviction. Where

39:28

do you suggest they vent that outrage

39:33

right now?

39:33

The most effective

39:35

tools social media. Frankly, between

39:39

Reddit, Twitter or x

39:42

Facebook pages Facebook groups,

39:44

you can have a loud voice, and

39:47

advocacy comes in many different forms.

39:50

Advocacy is about using your voice.

39:52

Advocacy is about using

39:54

your mind and writing letters

39:57

or emails, whatever the case may be, whatever

40:00

you have to make your voice heard somehow it

40:02

can affect change.

40:03

It really can, It really can.

40:06

And in Illinois, the

40:08

good news is that the Attorney

40:10

General has implemented

40:13

a conviction Integrity

40:15

Unit. We will link to

40:18

that information as well

40:20

as information to

40:23

contact the Governor of Illinois.

40:27

Bob and I, along with our production

40:29

team, deeply appreciate you

40:31

and everyone else who has taken the time

40:33

to listen to this investigation. We

40:36

also want to extend our heartfelt

40:38

thanks to the many individuals who

40:40

have contributed their thoughts, expertise,

40:43

and voices to this podcast. A

40:45

very special thank you goes out to innocence

40:48

activists Jason Flomm and

40:50

his wife, Kalia Ali, whose

40:52

remarkable empathy, compassion,

40:54

and generosity have paved a

40:56

path forward for Julia Beverly, a

40:59

journey we will continue to update as

41:01

it infolds, because, as British

41:03

Statesman Benjamin Disraeli put it, justice

41:07

is truth in action. Murder

41:18

on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart

41:20

Podcasts. Our executive producers

41:23

are Taylor Chaqoine and Lauren Bright Pacheco.

41:26

Research writing and hosting by Lauren Bright

41:28

Pacheco. Investigative reporting

41:30

by Bob Matta and Lauren Bite Pacheco.

41:33

Editing, sound design and original music

41:35

by Evan Tyer and Taylor Chaqoine.

41:37

Additional music by Asher Kurtz.

41:40

Archival elements courtesy of wsil

41:43

News three. Please like, subscribe,

41:45

and leave us a review. Wherever you're listening.

41:48

You can follow me on all platforms at

41:50

Lauren Bright Pacheco and email the show

41:52

with thought, suggestions or tips

41:54

at Investigating Murder at iHeartMedia

41:57

dot com.

42:15

For more podcasts from Bob Mada, check

42:17

out Defense Diaries, and for more

42:19

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42:21

the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

42:24

or wherever you get the stories that matter

42:27

to you. Thanks for listening,