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Kyle Tequila
GEICO makes it easy to get affordable renters insurance in as little as 90 seconds. That way you have more energy for harder things like the laundry. Why is it so difficult to fold clothes? They just end up wrinkly anyway. Or on the floor in a pile that just sits there taunting you. But with renters insurance through Geico, at least you know that those clothes and the other things you love are covered. Get more with Geico My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a fricking crazy man. He was my father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Crook county is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheekies. And I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheekies and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys and as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties, and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me. Listen to Cheekies and Chill Season 4 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mark Seal. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co host, Mark Seals best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart podcasts. Previously on Murder on Songbird Road. It's crucial to recognize the ripple effect of Beverly's conviction on her immediate family. And in Jaden's case, those Ripp were more like shockwaves. Ms. Jade, Ms. My mom, Ms. A lot of people. I made mom promise to, like, stay strong in the jail, and I'll stay strong for her. In August of 2024, nearly four years after Jade's murder, Renee and Jayden were reunited with Beverly's three youngest children. And I can already see Julie in every single one of them. The autopsy also revealed evidence that may have been mishandled, and it involved a towel that was apparently tossed into the body bag used to transport Jade to the morgue. I just don't understand what person that was at that crime scene that thought that that was the right thing to do. It's crazy. What else is crazy? The amount of time it took for the then forensic pathologist to turn around Jayde Beasley's autopsy. So it took two years to turn around the autopsy. Did you get any explanation as to why? I did not. At the end of August 2024, Bob and I were back in Marion again, knocking on doors on or around Songbird Road. And I was looking out the window, and then the camera was videotaping him, and he just kept knocking and knocking and waiting, and I wasn't answering. So a shirtless guy, and he looked like he was under the influence of drugs or mental illness. Absolutely. Yeah. He just. I have not been here in 30 years and more. They still have the video. Really? Really. Wow. And guess who now has the video. You? Yep. I'm Lauren. Brad Pacheco, and this is Murder on Songbird. Over the past 10 episodes, you've heard the many pieces that came together to form an unfathomable story of heartbreak. You have listened to the devastating aftermath. Families torn apart, relationships destroyed, siblings separated, and a community fractured by the shocking, controversial, and brutal murder of Jaide Beasley. The biggest thing for me is that we were able to be boots on the ground and investigate, to really be able to kind of unpeel this onion. It just had to be boots on the ground. What we were able to discover in this case, because, remember, we didn't get the discovery in total. You know, we didn't have that advantage. Which, again, to me, speaks volumes. Lauren. I mean, the fact that we were never provided with that always tells me that they have something to hide. What is the motivation of people not wanting to answer questions or not providing information? It should make you suspicious. It certainly does me. But us being able to get down there to Marion as many times that we did and go and knock on doors and talk to people face to face and have that communication and that contact with them, it's just a different thing. I mean, that's. It's because we care. It'd be really easy to be just like I tried. Check that off the list. You know, it's that persistence that is what drives these things. The persistence is what creates information for us that we can use to potentially lead us to other information which can potentially lead us to answers. Bob Mata and I didn't take on covering this case or Beverly's conviction without a great deal of forethought. We also didn't enter this investigation with preconceived notions. I cannot say this enough. When you and I got into this in the beginning of it, neither one of us had formed any kind of opinion as to innocence or guilt at all. I agree. But also I think that the fact that we went in with no agenda is what ultimately motivated us, because if we were just literally convinced she was innocent or convinced she was guilty, we would have given up. Totally. Totally. There would be no point. Right. Once you really land where we have landed now, and that was not an easy place to land, because what you're doing is you're opening yourself up for not just criticism, but real animosity, because people like to believe if something was tried, that it's done, it's finished. You don't go back and muddy up the waters. And it's a difficult thing, too, because we know that we're dealing with very real lives and very real emotions, very real grief and trauma. It has taken us well over a year and a half to reach the point we're at now. I think that some of the bad facts, as we call them, that exist will still have people wondering, because some people can never get over those bad facts. Once that gavel hits, after 12 people have deemed somebody guilty, it's really hard to erase it completely, because the mindset being that, all right, well, no matter how screwed up the trial was, the fact is that they had enough evidence to convince a jury that she did it, despite the fact that it went unchecked and unchallenged, which is really the entire point of a trial, you know, to vet the evidence from beginning to end. This thing was just a railroad job in the sense of what was allowed in and how it flowed and just all the little things that happened. We can't do it justice in terms of really articulating just how messed up this trial was. You know what? You just gave me the words it was a railroad job that went off the rails. It was that bad. It was that bad. So now, in terms of where we have landed, let's just quickly address that I do understand how people can still have some reservations about what you and I have referred to as bad facts. But it is undeniable that Julia Beverly did not get a fair trial. Right. There's no question. We were told that what we now have video of was an impossibility, that nobody's knocking on doors. We believed it. When we went down on the first trip, we looked around and said, nobody has ring camera footage here. This isn't the place where you get foot traffic. And lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. And if they had done a proper investigation, they would have discovered it within two months of the murder. We have spent far more time investigating this case than the four days that had been spent when former Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Zanotti announced J. Beasley's death at the same press conference in which he announced Julia Beverly's arrest. Although he spun it this way, there's, as I said, you know, any given time, 20 people working this, you know, like I said, working around the clock. These things just don't happen overnight. You know, we have to, you know, we have to follow the rules, you know, we have to, you know, conduct these investigations. We have, you know, under, you know, constitutional safeguards and conditions constraints. And you know, I ideally like it to be wrapped up and tied up now, but unfortunately, like I said, it's not. And it's still going to take some time. It took just four days for the investigation to conclude it had gathered enough evidence to arrest 29 year old Julia Elaine Beverly. Though even that decision came with a disclaimer. Pursuant to Supreme Court rule, I must remind the public that charges are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial in which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The state was tasked with the burden to prove Julia Beverly's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Having processed everything you've now heard, do you think they met that burden? Here is the opinion of one former juror. After listening to the Part podcast and listening to you guys talk, I feel like I've definitely got a different perspective of reasonable doubt. I kind of feel like cuz you're coming up with different alternatives to what there supposedly was and I feel like it's a different ball game. In our previous episode, we shared audio from ring camera footage of an unknown intruder banging on a door on Songbird Road just weeks after Jade Beasley's murder. Here is that juror's reaction to seeing that video. There's so many thoughts I have so many thoughts. Episode 10 I know some people will be like, oh, but that was two months later. Okay, it was two months later. But also, it was only two months later, and it was a man matching the same description, height, wise and stuff, the same body build that Julie gave. And if this man was clearly on drugs, he should have been on drugs two months earlier, trying to get in somebody else's house and stumbled upon Jade. If you had seen that video during the trial, do you think that would have changed things in terms of the jury's deliberation? I think it could have, yes. I think the fact that the guy matching the same description was trying to get into another house on the same road. So let me ask you this. Had you been given everything that was presented in the podcast, how would that have impacted the deliberation, in your opinion? Oh, God, I just got killed. Honestly, after listening to you and Bob, if the defense could have presented a case like you guys did, I feel like we would have had to have said she wasn't guilty. Additionally, on April 3rd of 2021, so less than two months after the video of the unknown porch intruder was taped on Songbird Road, there was a home invasion in Marion committed by an intruder brandishing a knife. A woman told police a man had come in through an open window and threatened her with a knife. She was injured, but the assailant fled the scene. At the time, police were asking anyone who might have seen something or who might have video surveillance in the area to contact them with information. But that request was apparently contradicted when a local Crime Watch page posted the incident, and people began weighing in with tips and speculations. Here's Renee Hightower. There was a post on the Crime Watch page run by Becky Grimes, and there was a lot of people commenting under there saying that there was a lot of similarities in the incident with Jade. It was another intruder breaking into a home with a knife, threatened to harm this woman, actually did cut her eye bleeds and then got away. And they were striking similarities. Then I started noticing the comments disappear, and I sent a direct message, private message to Becky Grimes. I told her, some people are more comfortable speaking on here. And I said, I know the police are watching the page because they get tips from social media all the time. And she said, yeah, I know they're watching my page. And she said, they're the ones who told me to take it down when it veers into Julie's case. And I said, the police? And she said, yes. And I was just in disbelief, shocked. That she just said that Becky Grimes, the woman who ran that Facebook page, has subsequently passed away. But Hightower has shared the text message exchange with her that backs Renee's version of the events. The Hightower then went to the Marion police station in person. I went down to that police station and I was telling the officer, this sounds a lot like my daughter's kit. He first takes my information. He's got his pen going, telling him, it looks a lot like my dog. He put his pen down and sat back in his chair and just stared at me and didn't say another word. And I said, well, I think it connects. And you're not even listening to me. You're not writing nothing down. I said, I don't think you're just going to quit wasting your time. And I left. And I realized this is never going to be any kind of help from law enforcement whatsoever. Why wouldn't law enforcement want possible tips pertaining to Jade Beasley's murder? What can you take away from it other than that's scary? And it's scary for all the reasons that Flom was talking about. That other part of these wrongful convictions that people just tend to kind of forget about, which is when they convict the wrong person, the actual killer is still roaming free. Free to create havoc and make mischief and kill people further, which if you're the community that's the taxpayer that's paying for these people's salaries, who have a job to do that would upset me and it should upset you. What are they afraid of? What? Why would an investigation be afraid of people questioning the investigation in the early stages of it? Offering another option that would have forced them to deviate from their tunnel vision. Murder on Songbird Road will return after the break. It takes one guy out there to say, who's that? Kyle? Who thinks he can just get on a microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this. From Iheart podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Torn between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing. He was a freaking crazy man. We don't know who he is, really. He is my father. And I had no idea about any of this until now. Welcome to Crook County Series Premiere February 11th Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well being@sounditouttogether.org that's sounditouttogether.org brought to you by the Ad Council and pivotal Dr. Joy here. You may know me from Therapy for Black Girls where we're celebrating 400 episodes of the podcast. That's a Whole Lot of Girl Me Too moments. For years we've had deep, thoughtful and inspiring conversations about Black women's mental health. And now we're celebrating this milestone in a big way. In this special episode, Peloton yogi Chelsea Jackson Roberts shares how yoga has taught her to stay grounded and present while balancing motherhood and self care. I can't control my partner. I can't control my child. I can't control control anyone outside the way that I govern myself in this world. And the celebration doesn't stop there. We'll continue this milestone with Dr. Lauren Mims who joins me to discuss the powerful yet sometimes challenging transition from girlhood to womanhood for Black Femmes. Together we explore how we navigate this transformative journey with strength and grace. Black girlhood is giggling, it's sisterhood, but it is also, I think, focusing on learning how to cope with really difficult things that are happening. With insights like these, this 400th episode celebration is one for the books. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Mark Seal. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli is based on my co host Mark's best selling book of the same title. And on this show we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the Godfather's birth. From start to finish, this is really the first interview I've done in bed. We sift through innumerable accounts. 35 pages isn't very much. Many of them conflicting. That's nonsense. There were 60 pages and try to get to the truth of what really happened. And they said we're finished. This is over. Not only is not going to work, you gotta get rid of those guys. This is that Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli features new and archival Interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now back to Murder on Songbird Road. While the podcast was in production, Julia Beverly from prison was also going through trial transcripts, journaling, and sharing thoughts with Renee. One recovered memory she experienced was that the door to the bathroom Jade was in was locked and that Beverly spent time finding pliers to unlock it. Here's Renee. I don't know if she had them in her hand or where she put them. Don't know where they went to, but she had to go to the laundry room to get them out of this toolbox. Okay, I'm just wondering. Exactly. But that's important because they could conceivably be in the crime scene photos. Sure enough, when we finally received the inventory listing, those pliers were mentioned and were found next to the bathroom atop a laundry basket in the hall. Beverly also recalled seeing a crime scene photo of the interior front doorknob depicting a short, light hair embedded in what appears to be blood. This is significant because of the hair's length and color. Beverly's hair is dark, long, and curly, and Jade's hair fell past her shoulders. Here's Renee. She said there's a picture and she remembers it now that she's seen it in testimony. There's a hair in the blood on the doorknob of the front door. Collected, possibly. Don't know, but know for sure. It wasn't tested. A light colored hair, and she said it may be an inch and a half long at best. She said you could see it plain as day. I wonder where that is. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, you've got to be kidding me. There's a hair? Yes, there's a hair. And whose blood is on the doorknob? Jade's. And that's the thing. There weren't very many samples. I think it was 29 samples that were sent off. Now, was it the inside or the outside doorknob? The inside. And then she said that she could because she had a storm door, and then the inside door. And Julie said she could swear in the pictures there was blood on the storm door. On the inside of the storm door. And they never tested it because they said, oh, it looks like mud. Never tested, never swabbed. So it looks like somebody brushed against it going out. I've reached out to Williamson county with a FOIA request for that photo, along with several others. My request was denied and I shared the response with Bob. Does that surprise you? No. I mean, at this point, of course not. Your FOIA request journey has been legendary. I mean, you've gone up to the ag. I mean, you've gotten some results, but it's still just been piecemeal. Like pulling teeth. It's been pulling teeth, yeah. What we get are the things that they think are probably benign, the least problematic for them. They're sending us the things that they think can't hurt them. And we're still finding shit. We're still finding just inconsistencies and things that bug us, which only adds fuel to the fire in terms of us wanting to see more. The concept that there was an unknown hair on the inside of the door that was covered in blood could only indicate that it could have been left. How wasn't that tested? I've also reached out to the Williamson county sheriff and the state's attorney for explanation as to why it took over two years and a court order to complete and file Jade Beasley's autopsy report. While they've ignored my request, former crime scene investigator Katie Hartman finds the turnaround time highly unusual. Since you reached out to me, I talked to another friend of mine who is a lieutenant with our homicide unit, just to double check with him because he would receive the final pathology reports on our homicide victims. And I asked him what was the longest he ever had to wait. He said at the most, three months. So I thought it was an extraordinary amount of time to get a final report from the pathologist. Do we know Lauren was the pathology report? It just wasn't released for two years. So we don't know. We just know that it wasn't in the discovery and the court had to compel the completion of the report. The reason why I asked that is it's dated as, you know, 12, 6 of 2020. These findings are precise and they are final. So I wonder if it was finished in 2020. But it's been held up for whatever reason or whatever mistake or whatever miscommunication for two years. When the defense went to reference, it, realized that it hadn't been filed and so asked for it, and the court had to compel to get the finished autopsy, which again, wasn't signed until February 4, two years later. It wasn't signed, it wasn't submitted, it wasn't filed, it wasn't completed. So it wasn't submitted through to the state? No. I mean, so how can prosecution charge anybody with murder without a final finding from a pathologist who did the autopsy? That's what I want to know. Do you understand what I'm asking? 100%. There's a lot in this autopsy that I cannot understand. How it was not submitted immediately and why things weren't followed up on. There's a few things in here that should have been followed up on. She had round contusions in the autopsy. She refers to them as circular contusions. I think one's on her jaw, so implying that she was hit with an object, possibly, or somebody had a ring on or something like that. You know, you gotta look at all these things. That's evidence. I'm not a lawyer and I'm not an me. ME is an abbreviation for medical examiner. I'm a crime scene investigator. So if I'm having a meeting with the prosecutor about a murder case, I'm gonna ask, do you have everything you need? Do you have all of my reports? Do you have the ME's report? I mean, I don't get why you can prosecute or have a prosecution without an autopsy report. How's that allowed? We do not wish to sensationalize the autopsy's findings in a graphic way. But in addition to the circular contusions, there are other things mentioned in the autopsy that may have benefited preparation for both the defense and prosecution if more thoroughly examined and or tested. For example, Jade's neck showed scratches in keeping with attempted strangulation. And there were hairs found on her body. The autopsy is a part of the investigation. It's there to answer cause of death, manner of death, everything. What exactly killed the person? I mean, these things are in here about what exactly killed her and how. But there are so many other facts that are raised or injuries that are raised that no one even questioned. We're doing things that a defense attorney should have looked at and said, well, what about this and what about that? And why a prosecutor didn't bring up some things. You know, you can use some of these injuries to compare to Beverly's. Does she wear rings? What about her fingernail clippings? We've got those. Let's send them. I mean, I don't understand any of it. I don't get it. You're preaching to the converted. And speaking of nail scrapings, while Jades were tested, there was something discovered, but not further tested, that was a bit buried during the trial. Here is Beverly's defense attorney's closing statement from the transcript, verbatim. The DNA could have Told us something from the nails if the state hadn't been so short sighted. Defendants Exhibit 7 was shown to Dr. Reich after he was asked, was it only X or only female DNA found under Jade? And he had to say, no, no, it's not. These are Jade's nails. These are the white chromosomes. It might have been a minuscule amount popping on two different areas, but it's there. It just doesn't fit the state's theory. I'm done with this now, Judge. Of course we'll never know or we don't know what was on Julie's hands, what was under Julie's nails. The state also decided to not test it might not fit their story. Unknown male DNA under Jade Beasley's fingernails, which was downplayed at trial. If you're a person that's out there and you hear of all the things that weren't done, that do exist, that should have been done in terms of evidence and things that should have been tested and you're still sitting there thinking like, well, I don't care, she did it. I just pray that you never get into law enforcement. I pray that you never get on the bench. I pray more than anything that you never become a prosecutor because you have to look at everything. This is about getting to the truth, no matter what the truth is. This isn't about convictions. This isn't about wins. That's the conflict that you have with prosecutors. They are elected officials. The thing that they run their campaigns on is convictions. That in and of itself is a conflict of interest with the truth because the truth takes a back seat. We'll be right back with Murder on Songbird Road. It takes one guy out there to say, who's that? Kyle. Who thinks he can just get on a microphone on a podcast and start publicizing this. From iHeart podcasts and Tenderfoot TV comes a new true crime podcast, Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. Meet Kenny, an enforcer for the legendary Chicago outfit. And that was my mission, to snuff the life out of this guy. He lived a secret double life as a firefighter paramedic for the Chicago Fire Department. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Torn between. Between two worlds. I'm covering up murders that these cops are doing. He was a freaking crazy man. We don't know who he is, really. He is. My father and I had no idea about any of this until now. Welcome to Crook County. Series premiere February 11th Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. Find resources to help you support your K and their emotional well being@soundedouttogether.org that's sounditouttogether.org brought to you by the Ad Council and pivotal Dr. Joy here. You may know me from Therapy for Black Girls where we're celebrating 400 episodes of the podcast. That's a Whole Lot of Girl Me Too moments. For years we've had deep, thoughtful and inspiring conversations about Black women's mental health and now we're celebrating this milestone in a big way. In this special episode, Peloton yogi Chelsea Jackson Roberts shares how yoga has taught her to stay grounded and present while balancing motherhood and self care. I can't control my partner. I can't control my child. I can't control anyone outside the way that I govern myself in this world. And the celebration doesn't stop there. We'll continue this milestone with Dr. Lauren Mims who joins me to discuss the powerful yet sometimes challenging transition from girlhood to womanhood for Black Femmes. Together we explore how we navigate this transformative journey with strength and grace. Black girlhood is giggling. It's sisterhood, but it is also, I think, focusing on learning how to cope with really difficult things that are happening with insights like these, this 400th episode celebration is one for the books. Listen to Therapy for Black Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli is based on my co host Mark's best selling book of the same title. And on this show we call upon his years of research to help unpack the story behind the Godfather's birth. From start to finish, this is really the first interview I've done in bed. We sift through innumerable accounts. 35 pages isn't very much, many of them conflicting. That's nonsense. There were 60 pages and try to get to the truth of what really happened and they said we're finished. This is over. It only is not going to work. You got to get rid of those guys. It's just that Leave the Gun Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here again is Murder on Songbird Road. We started this podcast by asking whether Julia Beverly was truly guilty of the murder for which she was convicted. Could a mother of four with no history of violence have brutally stabbed an 11 year old girl she had raised as her own for nearly eight years? Or was there a rush to judgment, one that began on the day of the murder and continues to this day? As we've delved deeper into the case, we've encountered individuals whose perspectives on Beverly's conviction have evolved. It's a life we're talking about and it's Jade's life as well. There's just too many, too many fishy things. It's supposed to be beyond a reasonable doubt. And in my opinion, that's not what it was. That's Brittany, the woman who created a GoFundMe page to help the Beasley family cover funeral expenses for Jade. She also believes she was on the phone with Jade's grandmother Sheila when Renee Hightower was desperately seeking information on the day of the murder. We were on the phone and all of a sudden she received the news and she told me Jade committed suicide. And I said, oh my gosh, what could she have been going through to do that? And I think she just said, I don't know. Then we got off the phone because she got that call from Renee. Here are her thoughts after having heard the issues we've raised over the course of this podcast. Looking back in hindsight, and I'm guilty of saying things and being manipulated by the media and the things people were saying were God awful. And she hadn't had trial yet. And this is a small community. People believe, the media, people believe. Oh, the police don't lie. Oh, if the court said she's guilty, they're right. You know, people just don't understand corruption. And people were saying the meanest things that shouldn't have been held in this jurisdiction. I mean, death threats even. Do you think, looking back, that there was any presumption of innocence for Beverly before trial? Absolutely not. No. That it should have never been held around here. It should have been in a, I don't know, a different state. But this, there's no way that they could have picked a juror that didn't already see all that stuff. And then there was other things. But that made me start having an Open mind and started questioning things. Why was her phone the only one dropped? In forensic, they said, this isn't CSI Miami. We can't test everything. What? This is a murder of an 11 year old. What do you mean? That's a screwed up thing to say. I was convinced by the media because they made it sound like she went to a dumpster, as if she was dumping a bunch of stuff or a huge bag or something like that in a dumpster on like the side of hawks. And then truth is she was by a gas pump and threw away something very small in one of the small trash cans by the gas pumps. So that's manipulation by the media. And then the number of times Jade was stabbed is apparently incorrect. It was not. I think 120 is what was going around. In fact, Jade Beasley's autopsy report details 15 specific stab wounds to her neck and torso, with additional injuries identified as scratches and marks consistent with defensive wounds. Yet the inflated number continues to circulate in news reports, on social media and even in the courtroom. Special prosecutor Jennifer Mudge referenced this in her sentencing statement, as seen verbatim in the transcripts. Sometimes on TV or in real life, prosecutors pound on the table when someone gets shot or stabbed. Not one, not two, not three, not four. If I did that in this case, we'd be here till 5:00 tonight. So I'm not gonna do that. And before sentencing Julia Elaine Beverly to 55 years in prison, prison without the possibility of parole, Judge Steven Green said this, okay, I have to agree that this case was horrific. You have an 11 year old child stabbed over a hundred times. I believe the testimony was at least 104 times throughout a home. All right, so do you find it interesting that even after she was convicted, you know, at the sentencing, why perpetuate false information? I mean to drive it home for Mudge, as if she didn't know that he was going to sentence her to the max or right around it, I guess. As to her, that's why, as to the judge, I don't know. For the judge to be kind of adding in, chiming in beyond what he's doing legally and on top of that, to be misstating what the evidence actually was. It's symptomatic of the problem with this case and with this trial. You know, it's what we've seen for the last year and change. This was a one sided trial that ended in a one sided sentencing with untruths being spoken to the very end all the way through. Danny Valle was a local reporter during the time of Jade's murder and subsequently reported on the investigation, trial, and sentencing before accepting a job out of state. Here are his thoughts on Beverly's case. In light of the issues we've raised, it's definitely taking turns that I didn't expect it to take, especially with the treatment of Julia Beverly. I mean, I don't know if I have any words to describe it. I mean, it was just so horrible the way she was treated, especially when she had her baby. Nobody deserves that. I don't think anybody even knew in the media that she was pregnant at the time. The big takeaways is just like, it's a big lesson of what not to do in a murder investigation like this, because there was a lot of things they didn't do. And me at the time not being as experienced in these kinds of cases and covering these kinds of cases, I didn't know what to ask. These are elected officials that people are entrusting to do their due diligence, and they're going to hang on the words of those elected officials. And it's just sad to kind of realize all these years later that we may have been misled. What would you ideally like to see happen, knowing what you now know and having had the proximity to it as it unfolded? I definitely would like to see all the angles explored. I definitely would like to see the people that were on that witness list who weren't called called. I think there was a lot of things that could have been done differently with everything uncovered. It just. It's easy to hide stuff. It's so easy to hide the smallest thing. You know, that to the media, to a wider audience, that it doesn't seem significant, but to the person it's happening to, it's the world. We recognize that there are individuals who were and still are deeply upset by our decision to revisit the conviction of Julie Beverly. However, it's important to emphasize that justice for Jade and justice for Julie are not mutually exclusive. And even as this podcast comes to a close, we remain steadfast in our commitment to pursuing both. Thanks to the generosity of Jason Flom, Julie Beverly's appeal is receiving the attention and legal representation it rightfully deserves. Let's start with what I've heard unfold over the last seven minutes of the last episode, which I think was episode 10, which had me rewinding and going, excuse me. I mean, the fact that you guys found the video, I don't have the right word. It reminds me of the fact that we Live in an era in investigative journalism slash criminal justice in general, where we as podcasters oftentimes have to do the work that should have been done in the first place and could have been much more easily done by people who we pay with our tax dollars to do it. But you and Bob did it and you found the smoking gun. Crazy. It's. It's kind of heartbreaking too, because if you think about the fact that that couple, they closed the day she was arrested, they moved in the day after. And keep in mind, that was four days after Jade Beasley was brutally murdered next door, not down the street, not in a neighboring town, in the adjacent property. And no official anybody ever knocked on that door. And if they had, that would have been the first thing on that couple's minds when they had that ring camera footage. You can't help just feeling a sense of, I don't know, it's a combination of awe, gratitude, and also disgust, right? The idea that this was allowed to go on, it's still going on, right? She's still in prison, right? Right now, like, and I think about this often and maybe you guys do too. The idea, idea that while we're sitting here, I'm in my home studio talking to you and gonna go out the door and we're going about our lives. Meanwhile, Julie, if you juxtapose what her reality is right now, right, separated from her kids, dealing with extreme deprivation of every kind. Like, she is literally in hell right now, being deprived of every single thing that a human needs to survive and thrive and be healthy. In an attempt to remedy the situation, and because of Jason Flom's generosity, Beverly is now being represented by Chicago based defense attorney Kathleen Zellner's firm. My name is Joanna Klosowska. I am an Associate for Ms. Kathleen Zellner. You know, the basic facts of the case, that there was a third party male DNA left under the victim's fingernails, really sparked our interest from the beginning. Currently, the briefs on appeal have both been submitted from both sides. We filed the brief on appeal on Beverly's behalf in July of 2024, and then the state filed its brief in September of 2024. We filed a reply brief in October of 2024. All of this leading up to both sides arguing the case in front of a panel of judges in February of 2025. The oral argument was held just last Friday, February 21, before three justices of the Fifth District Appellate Court. And so now we are just waiting on a written opinion which could take several months. And we will update you as soon as they reach a verdict. But here's Bob's take on the path ahead. Well, best case scenario is that the appellate court grants her a new trial and kicks it back down. And this is best case scenario. And that the state's attorney's office decides not to proceed on it again. That's best case scenario. Next best case scenario is that they do decide to proceed on again. All the corrections are made with respect to what's coming in, what's staying out in terms of evidence, and she goes to trial. But the brutal reality is there is no scenario in which Julie Beverly finds out next week she's walking out a free woman. No. No. As we bring this podcast to a close, at least for now, we leave you with these. Do you believe Julia Beverly is guilty of murder? Do you believe she had the presumption of innocence? Do you believe she received a fair trial? Do you believe the state proved her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? Or do you think there was a rush to judgment, one that became the day of the murder and continues to this day? It's never gotten better. There was never a point where either of us were like, oh, well, there we go, the ship was righted. Cause it never happened. Even if you believe she's guilty, you cannot deny that it was not a fair trial. And for that reason alone, she deserves a proper day in court. One of my favorite quotes is that justice will not be served until those who are unaffected or as outraged as those who are. A lot of people have reached out to us, outraged, when they have put together the pieces of what went into Beverly's conviction. Where do you suggest they vent that outrage? Right now, the most effective tool is social media. Frankly, between Reddit, Twitter or X Facebook pages, Facebook groups, you can have a loud voice. And advocacy comes in many different forms. Advocacy is about using your voice. Advocacy is about using your mind and writing letters or emails, whatever the case may be, whatever you have to make your voice heard. Somehow it can affect change. It really can. It really can. And in Illinois, the good news is that the Attorney General has implemented a Conviction Integrity Unit. We will link to that information as well as information to contact the Governor of Illinois. Bob and I, along with our production team, deeply appreciate you and everyone else who has taken the time to listen to this investigation. We also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to the many individuals who have contributed their thoughts, expertise and voices to this podcast. A very special thank you goes out to innocence activists Jason Flom and his wife, Khalia Ali. Whose remarkable empathy, compassion and generosity have paved a path forward for Julia Beverage, a journey we will continue to update as it unfolds. Because, as British statesman Benjamin Disraeli put it, justice is truth in action. Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart podcasts. Our executive producers are Taylor Chicoin and Lauren Bradley. Pacheco Research, writing and hosting by Lauren Bright Pacheco Investigative reporting by Bob Motta and Lauren Bright Pacheco Editing, sound design and original music by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chicoin. Additional music by Asher Kurtz Archival elements courtesy of WSIL News 3. Please like subscribe and leave us a review wherever you're listening. You can follow me on all platforms at LaurenBright Pacheco and email the show with thoughts, suggestions or tips at investigating murder@iheartmedia.com for more podcasts from Bob, check out Defense Diaries and for more podcasts from iHeart Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get the stories that matter to you. Thanks for listening. My name is Kyle Tequila, host of the shocking new true crime podcast Crook County. I got recruited into the mob when I was 17 years old. People are dying. Is he doing this every night? Kenny was a Chicago firefighter who lived a secret double life as a mafia hitman. I had a wife and I had two children. Nobody knew anything. He was a freaking crazy man. He was my father and I had no idea about any of this. Until now. Crook county is available now listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mark Seal. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co host Mark Seals best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Cheekies. And I'm back with a brand new season of your favorite podcast, Cheekies and Chill. I'll be sharing even more personal stories with you guys and as always, you'll get my exclusive take on topics like love, personal growth, health, family ties and more. And don't forget, I'll also be dishing out my best advice to you on episodes of Dear Cheekies. It's going to be an exciting year and I hope that you can join me, listen to Cheekies and chill season four on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Mel Reid, LPGA Tour winner and six time Ladies European Tour winner and Kyra K. Dixon, NBC Sports Reporter and and we've got a new podcast, Quiet Please with Mel and Kira. We are bringing you spicy takes on sports and pop culture, some interviews with incredible people who have figured out how to make golf their superpower, and iheart Wins Sports Production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.