The Killing of Missy Bevers
Bevers arrived at the church around 4 a.m. to prepare for the "Camp Gladiator" exercise class she would be teaching at 5:00. The class was originally supposed to happen outside, but moved indoors due to rain. Beginning around 3:50 a.m., surveillance footage from inside the church captured an individual wearing police-labeled tactical gear and stalking around the premises carrying a hammer. Said person wore a black helmet, balaclava and a tactical vest with "POLICE" in white lettering. The person, whose gender is unknown, was also seen swinging a hammer, breaking windows and walking with a distinctive gait.
“Early on, the police were using male pronouns, like the first couple of days after the murder,” Crystal Lawson, who covered the case on her podcast True Crime Broads, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Then later that week, they walked it back in the media, and they said, ‘It could be a female.’ I remember Kevin Johnson, assistant police chief at the time, saying, ‘We see a feminine sway in the way this person walks.’”
Lawson says she and her co-host, Renae Rodden, share the same theory when it comes to the suspect’s gait: “We think that the reason the person has that odd gait is at least in part due to the fact that they're wearing shoes or boots that are too large.”
The hammer the suspect was seen using was later located near Bevers’ body, which was found with fatal puncture wounds to the head and chest. Authorities have never revealed whether the hammer was the murder weapon or if another type of weapon was used.
Bevers’ students found her body shortly before 5 a.m. and called for help, but the fitness instructor was pronounced dead at the scene.
The case isn't considered a burglary because the suspect wasn’t seen on video removing anything from the church. Bevers also had left a purse, iPad and other valuables inside her truck.
“The surveillance video of an unknown suspect brings publicity to the case, but it isn't enough to make an arrest,” Robert Tsigler, a New York-based criminal defense attorney, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “The Bevers video is remarkable because the suspect was walking in a way that was unusual. That is, however, not the case in the courtroom, where gait analysis lacks the supporting forensic data to connect a particular person with the scene.”
Suspects and Possible Motives
According to a search warrant from the Midlothian Police Department, Bevers was having both marital and financial issues leading up to her murder, and police learned that Bevers had taken part in an intimate relationship that was "external to the marriage." In the days before her death, she had also received a “creepy and strange” LinkedIn message from an unknown man. It remains unclear how any of these details pertain to the murder, if at all.
Police have not named any suspects in the case. Bevers’ husband, Brandon Bevers, had an alibi: He’d left town for an annual fishing trip in Mississippi on the night before the murder. Police have repeatedly said that family members were investigated and have not been publicly identified as suspects, including Missy’s father-in-law, Randy Bevers, who took a blood-stained shirt to a dry cleaner shortly after the murder. Testing later revealed that the blood on the shirt was from a dog, not a human, and no charges were filed.
Police also released footage of a car spotted near the church before the killing. Authorities said the driver was not considered a suspect but might have witnessed something important to the bizarre unsolved case.
Renae Rodden of True Crime Broads says the case has struck a major chord with listeners. “People are very intrigued by it. It's like a horror movie,” she says. “Poor Missy in the pouring rain in the dark and goes into the church. She's in her routine. She's unloading her car. And unbeknownst to her, there is some bizarre person dressed up in police tactical gear waiting to kill her.”
Missy Bevers Case Update
The Midlothian Police Department released a statement on the recent 10-year anniversary of Bevers’ death stating that the department is still actively investigating various tips and leads. “The Midlothian Police Department considers this an active and ongoing investigation,” the Facebook statement reads. “We continue to evaluate every lead and piece of information we receive. Our investigators remain fully committed to identifying the person responsible, bringing them to justice and providing the Bevers family and our community with answers.”
The department also noted that forensic advancements have been helpful in their investigation, and that no one has been formally ruled out as a suspect. “Another incorrect claim is that we have ruled out certain individuals as suspects. While some persons of interest receive more attention than others, no individual has been completely excluded as a suspect,” the statement continues. “This will remain true until the case is closed.”
