Beatrice Camper

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder - Episode Summary: Beatrice Camper

Podcast Title: Snapped: Women Who Murder
Host/Author: Oxygen
Episode: Beatrice Camper

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Introduction to Beatrice Camper

In the compelling episode of "Snapped: Women Who Murder," Oxygen delves into the tragic and complex story of Beatrice Camper and the murder of her husband, Terry Camper. The narrative unfolds in Peekskill, New York, painting a vivid picture of a seemingly idyllic life that spiraled into darkness.

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Marriage to Terry Camper

Beatrice Ingraham, later known as Beatrice Camper, had a tumultuous past marked by poor choices and struggles with substance abuse. [01:37] A family member describes her as someone who "made some poor choices." Despite these challenges, Beatrice found love with Terry Camper, a 53-year-old cab driver known and loved in the Peekskill community. Their marriage in 2002 was a beacon of hope and stability for Beatrice, who had previously faced addiction and personal turmoil.

Carl (Host): "They spent 10 happy years together. But in 2012, their marriage would suddenly, tragically end." [01:03]

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The Murder of Terry Camper

On the afternoon of October 3, 2012, a 911 call shattered the peace of Peekskill. A mail carrier reported a "dead man on the street" on Pine Street. Police Chief Liz Fulch arrived promptly, finding Terry Camper slumped in his taxi with gunshot wounds to the back of his head. Contrary to initial reports of a possible heart attack, Terry had been "shot twice in the back of the head." [02:15]

Beatrice Camper: "Why would you want to shoot him? You know, why would anybody do that?" [02:30]

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The Investigation Begins

The community was left reeling, as Terry was a beloved figure with no apparent enemies. Initial theories pointed towards a robbery gone wrong, especially since murder weapons and eyewitnesses were scarce. Investigators found Terry's empty wallet and a live round in the backseat of his cab, suggesting a planned attack. However, Terry's cell phone was missing, leading authorities to track it to a location near West Point.

Detective: "He had been shot twice in the back of the head." [05:08]

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Suspicions Around John Murray

The investigation took a pivotal turn when police traced the last phone call made from Terry's phone to John Murray, a convicted murderer recently released from prison. Murray, known for his criminal history, was found to be in Newburgh, just across the Hudson River from Peekskill, at the time of the murder. Surveillance footage placed his vehicle near the Bear Mountain Bridge around the time Terry was killed, raising suspicions.

Detective: "We were able to observe the vehicle, which we believe to be John Murray's, across the Bear Mountain Bridge approximately 1pm heading east toward Peekskill." [20:02]

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Beatrice Camper's Involvement

As investigators delved deeper, they uncovered a startling connection between Beatrice and John Murray. It was revealed that Beatrice and John had rekindled an old affair that dated back to their youth in Queens. Despite Beatrice's marriage to Terry, she maintained a secret relationship with John, characterized by hundreds of phone calls and letters during John's incarceration.

Beatrice's Family Member: "There were hundreds of phone calls, hundreds." [22:33]

Searches of Beatrice's apartment yielded a box of "hundreds of letters of correspondence between Beatrice and John," providing concrete evidence of their ongoing relationship. Under intense questioning, Beatrice admitted to the affair and confessed to conspiring with John to murder Terry for life insurance money.

Beatrice Camper: "He told her he had been shot in the back of the head. They don't know who did it, but he had been shot in the back of the head twice." [14:20]

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The Trial and Verdict

In April 2014, the trial concluded with a guilty verdict for John Murray, who was sentenced to life in prison. Beatrice Camper, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal, testified against John. Her testimony was crucial yet controversial, as it was the linchpin connecting John to the crime in the absence of direct evidence like a murder weapon or eyewitnesses.

Beatrice's Family Member: "They executed Terry Camper. You know, that's just pure evil." [46:13]

The defense argued that Beatrice was the true perpetrator, motivated by her obsession with John and her desire to secure life insurance. They posited that Beatrice had manipulated the situation to frame John by disposing of Terry's phone, thereby misleading the investigation.

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Aftermath and Appeals

Despite Beatrice's guilty plea, her conviction was subject to appeal in 2016, which was ultimately denied. She is eligible for parole in 2027 at the age of 75. Terry's family remains determined to see her serve a longer sentence, expressing deep skepticism about the plea deal and supporting the prosecution's case that both Beatrice and John were equally culpable in the premeditated murder of Terry Camper.

Beatrice Camper: "I think she need to be in prison the rest of her life." [45:49]

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Conclusion

The tragic story of Beatrice Camper serves as a poignant reminder of how hidden affairs and unresolved past relationships can lead to devastating consequences. Through meticulous investigation and the unraveling of deeply buried secrets, "Snapped: Women Who Murder" presents a gripping account of love, betrayal, and the quest for justice in the wake of a senseless murder.

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Notable Quotes:

• Beatrice Camper: "Why would you want to shoot him? You know, why would anybody do that?" [02:30]
• Detective: "He had been shot twice in the back of the head." [05:08]
• Beatrice's Family Member: "There were hundreds of phone calls, hundreds." [22:33]
• Beatrice Camper: "He knew what the stakes were. He knew that he was looking at a lifetime sentence without the possibility of parole." [45:03]

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This comprehensive summary captures the essence of Beatrice Camper's story as presented in the podcast episode, highlighting the key events, characters, and revelations that shaped this true crime narrative.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Carl]

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[Detective]

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[Detective]

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[Carl]

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[Detective]

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[Narrator]

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[Carl]

To enter the challenge, just go to bodi.com for details. That's b o d I.com for years, Beatrice Ingraham had struggled to find her place in the world.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She was someone that, put it mildly, made some poor choices.

[Carl]

But then she married a cab driver named Terry Camper.

[Beatrice]

Beatrice loved Terry. He was good to her. They enjoyed each other, company. They were together all the time.

[Carl]

They spent 10 happy years together. But in 2012, their marriage would suddenly, tragically end.

[Detective]

There's a dead man on the street.

[Beatrice]

I opened the car door to check for vital signs. My hand was full of blood.

[Detective]

You've been shot twice in the. In the back of the head.

[Carl]

The beloved cab driver's murder came as a shock to the entire community.

[Beatrice]

Why would you want to shoot him? You know, why would anybody do that?

[Carl]

Was it a robbery?

[Detective]

Someone has a Substance abuse problem. They're just trying to, you know, score some cash real quick.

[Carl]

Or did Beatrice have a dark secret in her past?

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Detectives recovered a box that contained hundreds of letters.

[Carl]

Would the letters lead police to the killer?

[Detective]

John Murray was a convicted murderer.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He was adamant that he was being railroaded.

[Carl]

Or was that all part of Beatrice's plan?

[Beatrice]

His mother says, that killed my son.

[Carl]

Peekskill, New York, October 3, 2012. Nestled on the banks of the Hudson river, this Picturesque town of 25,000 is conveniently close to Manhattan.

[Detective]

It's about a 45 minute commute from New York City. More of a suburban type area. A lot of families there, a lot of people commute back forth to the city.

[Carl]

But Peekskill retains all its quaints. Small town charm.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

It's one of those kinds of towns where you may not know everybody by by name, but you certainly know everybody by face.

[Carl]

Which is why the 911 call that came in just after 2 that afternoon from a mail carrier on Pine street was such an incredible shock.

[Detective]

Peace of knowledge, mercy.

[Beatrice]

There's a dead man on the street.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

On Pine Street.

[Detective]

Yeah, he's in his car. He looked like he probably had a heart attack.

[Carl]

Police and EMTs rushed to Pine street and Officer Liz Fulch was the first to arrive.

[Beatrice]

I approached the vehicle and I realized that there was the taxi driver that I knew. As Terry slumped over to the right.

[Carl]

Side, 53 year old Terry Camper had been driving a cab in peekskill for almost 30 years.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Terry was well known in the community. Very popular, just one of those guys that always had a smile on his face.

[Beatrice]

The guy that will wave at you every morning, that you will see at the local deli, that you will grab a cup of coffee, say hello, how's the family?

[Carl]

But was the friendly, easy going cab driver actually dead? Despite what the 911 call reported, officer Fulch hoped that wasn't the case.

[Beatrice]

I called, sir, sir, are you okay? And he didn't respond.

[Carl]

And when Officer Fulch opened the door of the cab to check Terry's vital signs, she found out why he wasn't responding. And contrary to what the 911 call said, it wasn't a heart attack.

[Beatrice]

I touched blood on the left side of his neck. My hand was full of blood. That's when I realized that it was something more.

[Detective]

He had been shot twice in the back of the head.

[Carl]

And yet, despite the grave nature of Terry's injuries, the original report of a dead man on the street was incorrect.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

EMS arrived on the scene shortly after I did. With their equipment, they were able to detect some signs of life.

[Carl]

And with Terry clinging desperately to life, the EMTs fought to save him.

[Beatrice]

They just removed him out of the vehicle and started performing cpr, attempting to resuscitate him. It was pretty intense.

[Carl]

And within minutes they'd hustled Terry into the back of the ambulance and raced off to the emergency room.

[Beatrice]

I was just like, oh, my God, he has a family. You know, he has a wife. I really hope that this guy makes it through.

[Carl]

With Terry's fate still uncertain, as the ambulance raced away, the police made an urgent call to his wife, 60 year old Beatrice Camper, to break the horrifying news that her husband of 10 years was fighting for his life. Born in 1952, Beatrice Ingram started life an hour downriver from Peekskill.

[Beatrice]

She lived in Queens when she was.

[Carl]

Younger, and it was there that teenage Beatrice fell for a neighborhood boy named John.

[Detective]

They, you know, developed a friendship.

[Carl]

Eventually, John and Beatrice became an item.

[Detective]

Beatrice very much was in love with John.

[Carl]

But Beatrice had fallen for a bad boy.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He had gotten in a lot of trouble. He'd been involved in drugs.

[Carl]

And her teenage romance soon led her down a dangerous path.

[Beatrice]

She started out with pills, and from pills she went to the heart, which was cocaine.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She was someone that, put it mildly, made some poor choices.

[Carl]

John's choices soon landed him behind bars. Though heartbroken by her boyfriend's incarceration, Beatrice did her best to start over. And by her 20s, she'd met someone new and appeared to be on a better path.

[Beatrice]

She was married. She got two girls and a boy.

[Carl]

But that relationship eventually ended. And once her kids were grown, Beatrice struggled with what to do for the next chapter of her life. A search that would lead her to Peekskill, New York, and Terry Camper, seven years younger than Beatrice. Terry's life also started south of Peekskill. 1200 miles south we all are, from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. But when Terry was only 5, the family moved north after their father took a job near Peekskill.

[Beatrice]

Daddy worked at the Veterans hospital, which is in Montrose, New York until he was 79, and then he retired.

[Carl]

And as a result, Peekskill was the only home that Terry ever really knew.

[Beatrice]

He really wouldn't have remembered anything about Mississippi. He was five years old.

[Carl]

Growing up in Peekskill, Terry thrived in his new environment.

[Beatrice]

He always had a lot of friends. Even at a young age, he'd have friends coming around to the house and he'd be there all the time. Terry's easygoing lovable, playful and outgoing.

[Carl]

And not long after graduating high school in 1978, he launched a career that fit with his easygoing, gregarious nature.

[Beatrice]

He started his own taxi company. That's all he wanted to do. There was nothing else he wanted to do but drive the taxi. It meant everything to him. He loved to be out in the public.

[Carl]

And by the end of the 90s, Terry had built a successful business.

[Beatrice]

Lawyers, doctors, everybody wanted him to take them, take him to the airport or wherever.

[Carl]

The lovable cabbie had also become a fixture in his hometown.

[Detective]

He's a guy that the community knew. Nice guy. He always wave a loaf. If you saw you drive around Peekskill, he'd always throw you wave.

[Beatrice]

Terry talked to everybody. The police, the mayor, you name it, anybody. He never met a stranger.

[Carl]

However, at the age of 40, Terry had yet to meet someone special.

[Beatrice]

He always called himself a lady man, but I just never known him to be like that. Just from lady to lady to lady.

[Carl]

Ladies man or not, Terry was about to become seriously involved.

[Beatrice]

He met Beatrice at the train station. He picked her up, taking her back home to Wichita, White plains.

[Carl]

And as the friendly cab driver talked to her, he learned that Beatrice was trying to turn her life around after a long struggle. Struggle with drug addiction.

[Beatrice]

She'd been through detox, and she was in the wire because she needed somewhere in the state. She didn't have nowhere to stay, and she has to go through that program after that meeting. Then he got her number where she lived, and he would pick her up from time to time. And, you know, and then he brought her up to meet the family, and.

[Carl]

It was clear that Beatrice was becoming more than just a regular fare.

[Beatrice]

He talked to me, he said, you know, I like her. I like her a lot.

[Carl]

And when Beatrice completed her program, Terry convinced his family to help.

[Beatrice]

When she came out to y, she had nowhere to go. My mother took her in. She stayed with my mother a good eight, nine months. So they got closer and closer, and they just started dating.

[Carl]

Beatrice's recovery had given her a new lease on life, and Terry was clearly a big part of that.

[Beatrice]

They really liked each other. I was like, okay, doesn't work. They enjoyed each other. Company.

[Carl]

The couple eventually got an apartment together, and after a year of dating, Terry asked Beatrice to marry him.

[Beatrice]

Terry loved her dearly. He did a lot for her and her family.

[Carl]

Beatrice said yes. After all, he had rescued her when she needed it most.

[Beatrice]

Beatrice loved Terry because he was good to her.

[Carl]

And in 2002, they were married.

[Beatrice]

It was A beautiful wedding. Yeah, we had a cause, my brother and I and the rest of us, we did all the cooking for the wedding.

[Carl]

And marrying Beatrice made Terry an instant grandparent since her children were grown with children of their own.

[Beatrice]

Her grandkids, every one of them loved them, every one of them because her daughter kids was in the car with them all the time. He'd bring them over to my house. He loved them little kids like they were his own.

[Carl]

And over the next few years the couple settled into a modest but comfortable life together.

[Beatrice]

She was working at Walmart. He was really doing good at that point. He had other people running for him. So his money was coming in and he was able to take care of his taxi business.

[Carl]

Terry still loved to drive though. He drove his cab regularly and Beatrice was often at his side.

[Beatrice]

Beatrice used to ride with Terry everywhere.

[Carl]

On his runs, except when she was away visiting her daughter for the weekend or at work.

[Beatrice]

He'd take her to work and after get off work they ride around. They work together all the time.

[Carl]

However, Beatrice wouldn't be along for what turned out to be Terry's last ride. Coming up was Terry's final passenger a killer?

[Beatrice]

Man says I need a ride from Pine street.

[Carl]

And if so, where was he now?

[Detective]

We were able to track that phone.

[Carl]

It was a little after two on the afternoon of October 3, 2012 when the police in picturesque Peekskill, New York received a surprise 911 call. There's a dead man on the street.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

On Pine Street.

[Detective]

Yeah, he's in his car.

[Carl]

And when officers arrived on Pine Street a few minutes later, they were shocked to find 53 year old Terry Camper slumped behind the wheel of his taxi cab. The beloved cabby had been shot twice in the back of the head.

[Beatrice]

I knew Mr. Camper as a local taxi driver. I traveled with Mr. Camper into the ambulance, into the hospital. The EMS guys were working very hard. Immediately upon his arrival to the hospital they continued life saving measures. They continued to perform cpr.

[Carl]

And while the doctors did everything they could, Terry's wife of 10 years, 60 year old Beatrice Camper, rushed to his side.

[Beatrice]

His wife has shown up within what appeared to me minutes of our arrival at the hospital.

[Carl]

Unfortunately, Beatrice was already too late.

[Beatrice]

At 305 they pronounced him dead. She was crying, she was visibly upset. I met B in the hallway and B hugged me. He's gone. And I said okay, he's gone. I said what happened?

[Carl]

But Beatrice said she didn't know because while the doctors told her and the family that Terry Was dead. It was the police who told them how terry docked.

[Beatrice]

He told her he had been shot in the back of the head. They don't know who did it, but he had been shot in the back of the head twice. He was saying, shot. Why would someone want to shoot him? It was just too shocking. He didn't bother nobody. He didn't do anything to anyone.

[Carl]

The most logical assumption, Based on what police knew so far, Was a robbery.

[Beatrice]

I always tell him, I says, lizard, stop showing your money. Cause he would always tell me, like he was showing a few dollars. I said, put your money away.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

When you have a taxi driver known to carry cash, it would be the direction any investigator would probably begin to go in.

[Carl]

So, hoping to piece together Terry's last hours, the investigators turned to the friends and family gathered in the waiting room.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

The family at the hospital Was understandably very distraught, Upset emotionally, But at the same time, they were very helpful. Needed to find out who he was last with. That's gonna give us the information that we need.

[Carl]

And it just so happened that one of terry's friends had an important clue to share. A friend of Terry's named Ruth. She often rode along with him for company.

[Beatrice]

He always liked somebody else to be there, so ruth would ride because she didn't have a job at the time.

[Carl]

Ruth told the investigators that she'd been riding with terry earlier that afternoon, and shortly before he dropped her off, Terry had gotten a call.

[Beatrice]

She said she picked up on. Ruth would answer the phone all the time in the car, and the man says, I need a ride from pine street.

[Carl]

Did the fact that the caller wanted to be picked up on the street where terry had been shot Mean he was the killer? Back at the crime scene, There was nothing inside the cab to identify Terry's final fare, Though police did find some key evidence.

[Detective]

There were two showcases in the car and a live round left in the backseat of the car.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We were looking for a.22 caliber handgun as the murder weapon.

[Carl]

And in addition to the shell casings in the backseat, the investigators at the scene Also found Terry's empty wallet.

[Detective]

A crime if someone has a substance abuse problem. Something along those lines where they're not thinking correctly and they're just trying to score some cash real quick. That was our first impression of what might have happened.

[Carl]

And if the killer was an addict looking for some quick cash, it looked like they'd made a critical error.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Terry's cell phone was not in the cab, and that was not on his person.

[Carl]

Had the killer taken it? The investigators hoped that was the case.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Smartphones put off a GPS locator, and, you know, you can ping it and find out where it is.

[Detective]

And contacted the phone carrier. We were able to track that phone.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We found that the cell phone was not in Peeksfield.

[Carl]

It was across the Hudson near West Point.

[Detective]

We had a general area of where the phone was.

[Carl]

It was somewhere along a wooded stretch of highway not far from the river.

[Detective]

At that point, we just had a detective constantly calling the phone, calling the phone, and we basically just walked through the woods and the side of the road until actually, detective did actually hear the phone ringing.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

It was located on the side of a road as if it had been thrown out of a window of a moving car.

[Carl]

The cell phone trace hadn't led the police directly to Terry's killer, but it did provide a crucial clue.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Once we find the cell phone, we know that somebody took it from him and that they fled north, that they went at least from Peekskill up into Orange county, at least as far as the cell phone went. And in order for someone to do that, they would have to cross the Bear Mountain Bridge just based on where the telephone was located. And that was important because we knew that the Bear Mountain Bridge had video surveillance cameras on it and recorded every vehicle that went over it.

[Carl]

The question was, whose car were they looking for? Could the call log of Terry's phone provide an answer?

[Detective]

Police immediately tried to figure out who the last phone call was made from. And what happened is they were able to trace that call to a. A burner phone.

[Carl]

But since it was a prepaid or burner phone, it appeared that investigators had reached a dead end.

[Detective]

That's basically a phone you buy, and you put minutes on it. There was a name associated that we could track down.

[Carl]

Desperate, the investigators contacted the burner phone's provider. And while they had no way to identify who had purchased the phone, they could provide police with a list of calls made by the burner. And when the detectives reviewed it, they realized that in addition to Terry, the owner of the burner phone had also called a woman named Sandra Dolman.

[Beatrice]

They rang my bell. The Peace Hill police, state police, and a state trooper. So I asked her, what was the problem? Did I get any calls, or did I make any calls?

[Detective]

They showed her the number she immediately identified as being her friend John Murray.

[Beatrice]

And then when I was down at the police station, they asked me, how did I know Mr. Murray. I told them that I met John Murray through an associate of mine who was a, let's say, a resident of.

[Carl]

Sing Sing in other words, an inmate of New York's maximum security state prison, John Murray.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We found after running a criminal history on him to be someone who had recently served time for two murders.

[Detective]

He had gotten out in November of 2011. He was still on parole.

[Carl]

And for the past 11 months he'd been living with his wife.

[Beatrice]

She was a minister. She came to visit him on a ministry and she married him in prison.

[Carl]

However, what stood out to the investigators was the fact that John and his wife lived in the town of Newburgh, across the Hudson from Peekskill.

[Detective]

You know, obviously to go back to Newburgh, you can take that same right of travel over the bridge.

[Carl]

And when the investigators reviewed the surveillance footage from the bridge, it looked as if everything was finally falling into place.

[Detective]

We were able to observe the vehicle, which we believe to be John Murray's, across the Bear Mountain Bridge approximately 1pm heading east toward Peekskill. And then we had that same vehicle coming back across the bridge toward newburgh at approximately 2pm it's hard not to say that there was a connection there when you see John Murray's vehicle essentially cross over the bridge right when the murder takes place and then leave the bridge shortly after the murder takes place.

[Carl]

But what was the connection between John and Terry? Why would he want the cab driver dead?

[Beatrice's Family Member]

I mean, he was the kind of guy just you wouldn't think had an enemy in the world.

[Carl]

Less than 10 hours after the shooting, the Peekskill police were in Newburgh looking for some answers.

[Detective]

A little after midnight, we knocked on the door of Mr. Murray's residence. They wasn't happy to see us.

[Carl]

Although the ex con did cooperate, John.

[Detective]

Agrees to go to City Newburgh Police Department. At that point, he's interviewed by two of our detectives.

[Carl]

Though as soon as John sat down with the detectives, they realized the ex con would be tough to crack.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He had a thousand yard stare. When you talked to him, he just, he looked right through you. He gave off this aura of just someone who was very cold and dark.

[Detective]

They asked where he was that day. He stated he was, you know, in the city of Newburgh with his wife. Basically gives nothing that he was in peak skill.

[Carl]

The investigators knew it was a lie.

[Detective]

They had very clear footage of the car, of its license plate, of a person who fits the description of John Murray.

[Carl]

But then they started to press John, asking questions about his cell phone number.

[Detective]

At that point, he stops talking with the detective. He just stopped answering any other questions and he wanted to leave.

[Carl]

It certainly looked suspicious, especially when coupled with the evidence. That the police already had. They knew that John Murray was a convicted killer. They knew he'd placed a call to Terry shortly before the murder and they could put him traveling to and from the scene of the crime.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

You're starting to really get pieces coming together and you're starting to realize that you have a very strong suspect.

[Carl]

However, despite all the circumstantial evidence pointing to John, the police still couldn't quite prove that he had killed Terry.

[Detective]

So at that point, you know, he was free to go.

[Carl]

Because while they suspected he had killed the cabbie, the investigators still had no idea why John would want Terry dead. Coming up, the investigators uncover some surprising evidence.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

There's hundreds of phone calls. Hundreds.

[Carl]

And the phone calls leaks to a new suspect.

[Detective]

He was sending her love letters almost dead.

[Narrator]

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[Carl]

By the morning of October 4, 2012, it had been less than 25 hours since Beatrice Camper's husband Terry had been murdered while driving his cab in Peekskill, New York. But the investigators already had a suspect, John Murray.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We've pretty much put him in the area of the crime. We've put him along the path where the cell phone was recovered. We've got something going on here.

[Carl]

And most suspicious of all, John had recently been released from prison.

[Detective]

Red flags went up when they realized that John Murray was a convicted murderer.

[Carl]

However, despite all the clues pointing to John as the killer, one big question remained.

[Detective]

What's the relationship with Terry Camper and John Murray? They seemed like two guys on two different sides of the tracks.

[Beatrice]

Why would you want to shoot him? You know, it just could not register in my mind. Why? Why would anybody do that?

[Carl]

So hoping to uncover just how the two men were connected, the investigators contacted the New York City prison system.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

They combed through countless records that they keep, whether they be visitor logs or telephone logs. And during their investigation and discover the telephone conversations between Murray and Camper. Mrs.

[Carl]

Camper, 60 year old Beatrice Camper was Terry's wife of more than 10 years. But the phone records revealed that she'd known John Murray at least as long.

[Detective]

There was a large amount of phone activity between John Murray and Beatrice while he was incarcerated.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

There were hundreds of phone calls, hundreds.

[Carl]

More than 900 alone in the last 11 months of John's sentence.

[Detective]

That's two to three calls per day that John and Beatrice were making to each other.

[Carl]

And it wasn't just phone calls either.

[Detective]

Go through back records of visitors. Dad had come to see John Murray while he was incarcerated and there was numerous visits from Beatrice.

[Carl]

And since Terry's wife was the connection to John Murray, the next question the investigators needed to answer was just how did Beatrice know the ex con?

[Beatrice's Family Member]

There was definitely a relationship there, and it was a long relationship.

[Carl]

It was John Murray's friend Sandra Dolman, the woman who'd put the investigators onto him in the first place, who revealed just how long Beatrice had known him.

[Beatrice]

They knew each other in Queens years before this happened.

[Carl]

They'd started out as neighbors, but had quickly become much more.

[Detective]

John is a very charismatic guy. He's a handsome guy, He's a funny guy.

[Carl]

And he had been Beatrice's first love.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John and Beatrice had a relationship, a physical relationship. There were a lot of drugs involved, and they're kind of on the street a little bit, but they were very much in love.

[Carl]

But in 1977, the couple's intense and tumultuous love affair had come to an abrupt end.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He was ultimately convicted in Queens on two homicides, and he did about 30 years in jail for those.

[Carl]

And while John was in jail, Beatrice had lost touch.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She moved. She had this whole other life, a.

[Carl]

Full life with children and grandchildren, culminating in her decade long marriage to Terri camper. But in 2002, shortly after she met Terry, John was suddenly back in Beatrice's life.

[Detective]

While John was incarcerated, Beatrice had gone to this fair where they allow inmates and visitors to sort of interact. And Beatrice was invited by a friend of hers who was visiting her own family member. And Beatrice accompanied her to this fair where she happened to run into John Murray. And then they started, you know, writing letters back and forth to each other.

[Carl]

And based on the prison logs, the letters, phone calls, and visits had continued and intensified for the next 10 years, despite the fact that Beatrice was married to Terry.

[Detective]

John and Beatrice at one point were talking, you know, pretty much daily.

[Carl]

But what did that relationship have to do with Terry's murder? His family believe they knew. They told the investigators that at the beginning of the marriage, Terry and Beatrice had gotten along well.

[Beatrice]

He seemed very happy, and I thought she was happy too.

[Carl]

But in the last few years of their decade long marriage, the family had noticed a change.

[Beatrice]

I think she was falling out of love with Terry.

[Carl]

Not only did Terry's cousin think that Beatrice was falling out of love, she thought that Beatrice might be seeing someone else.

[Beatrice]

It's just a change within her. She would fix up different. Her hair, her clothing was different, and always going somewhere on the weekend.

[Carl]

According to Beatrice, she was visiting her daughter who lived in Yonkers. But Terry's cousin wasn't so sure.

[Beatrice]

I think she had someone else on his side.

[Carl]

And according to his sister, Terry was Growing suspicious, too.

[Beatrice]

He came up to me. He says, there's something not right with her. Would be.

[Carl]

But the family said that Terry was determined to stick things out.

[Beatrice]

He loved her. He wanted to make his marriage work.

[Carl]

And that became increasingly difficult as time went on. According to the family, she would be.

[Beatrice]

A little mean to him. She would talk down to him. She got to the point where every time he'd say something, she yell and scream. I'm like, why is that? I said, why do you keep taking it? He said, well, that's my wife and I, and I want my marriage to work. I said, but you don't have to take abuse like that. I said, not to make a marriage work. I said, both of you have to want it. Apparently, she doesn't want it. He said, well, please don't talk about my wife.

[Carl]

Terry's sister said that barely a week before her brother's death, she'd urged him to leave Beatrice.

[Beatrice]

He says, neither one of us is happy. I said, when you time to get out of that? I say, because nothing comes good out of a racial relationship when both of you are not happy.

[Carl]

But she said that he refused.

[Beatrice]

He said, I can't leave because she has nowhere to go. I said, move in with me and my mother. He's like, I just can't move out the apartment.

[Carl]

Had that decision cost Terry his life? His family was convinced.

[Beatrice]

His mother, Susie, says, that bitch killed my son.

[Carl]

Based on what they'd learned about her marriage and her connection to John Murray, the investigators brought Beatrice in for questioning. On the afternoon of October 4th.

[Detective]

Detectives asked her if she had known a John Murray.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

First, she denied knowing him. And when we knew that that was false.

[Carl]

And as far as the investigators were concerned, the fact that she lied about knowing John was just as telling, you.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Know, we're onto something here.

[Carl]

And not just in the interrogation room. Because when the investigators brought Beatrice in for questioning, they also executed a search warrant for the apartment she shared with Terry.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

During the execution of the search warrant in Ms. Camper's apartment, detectives recovered a box that contained hundreds of letters of correspondence between Beatrice and John.

[Detective]

Love letters that she had kept when John Murray was in prison. Sending her love letters almost dated. Me and my partner kind of looked at each other, and we're like. We're like, wow, you know, she's really. You know, she's involved in this. The plot thickened, so to speak, once.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We began to see what was written in them. We realized now we had motive.

[Carl]

The investigators searching the apartment immediately passed on what they'd found to their counterparts in the interrogation room who turned up the heat on Beatrice.

[Detective]

They started to bring out, you know, the proof that they had that Beatrice had made phone calls to John Murray and John Murray had made phone calls to Beatrice.

[Carl]

And once she realized just how much the police already knew, Beatrice's story began to change.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Beatrice started to tell us what had happened.

[Carl]

She started out by admitting that she did know John Murray.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She told us that she was actually involved in an affair with him.

[Beatrice]

She would leave, saying she was going to visit her daughter when she wasn't. She was going to meet John Murray.

[Carl]

And according to Beatrice, during those meetups, eventually they began talking about ways to get Terry out of the picture.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She decided that, you know, she needed to come clean. And she gave us the information that she had conspired with Mr. Murray to kill her husband.

[Detective]

She did admit that, you know, her and John had been planning this for quite a while and that, you know, she was involved in the, you know, in the murder of her husband.

[Carl]

Although, according to Beatrice, it was John's idea, one that she'd gotten swept up in, foolishly obsessed with the prospect of being reunited with her first love.

[Detective]

I think the guilt was weighing on her. She couldn't, you know, she couldn't handle it anymore. A weight was lifted off of her. She definitely seemed very remorseful. You know, I'm sure there had to be some kind of satisfaction as to, you know, holding all that guilt inside, obviously coming out and telling the truth at this point.

[Carl]

But would Beatrice's confession do her any good? Despite her cooperation, the Peekskill police placed her under arrest for Terry's murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She provided all the information that Murray needed to pull this off.

[Carl]

And thanks to Beatrice's confession, the investigators also felt they had enough to charge John Murray with murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He was taken into custody up in Newburgh.

[Detective]

When John Murray was arrested, he basically had no reaction. Didn't even ask why.

[Carl]

After all, John was a convicted killer. But in the weeks ahead, some people would be wondering, was he also a pawn? Coming up, will Beatrice's confession be enough to convict John?

[Detective]

There was no hard evidence against John Murray whatsoever.

[Carl]

Or will John turn on Beatrice?

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He had given that foam to Beatrice camper.

[Carl]

By April 9, 2014, it had been a year and a half since since Beatrice Camper's husband Terry had been murdered while driving his taxi cab in Peekskill, New York.

[Detective]

Everyone had nothing but good things to say about Terry. Terry was a very well known local cab driver.

[Carl]

Beatrice and a 62 year old ex con named John Murray had both been charged with the murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

That was her boyfriend. They had corresponded while he was in prison.

[Carl]

In fact, at the time of her arrest In October of 2000, Beatrice had confessed to her role in the crime.

[Detective]

The guilt and the weight of this crime was definitely weighing on her. You could see it in her, and.

[Carl]

It obviously still weighed on the 62 year old grandmother. When she walked into a Westchester County, New York courtroom that morning, she had aged terrible.

[Beatrice]

She didn't look like the same person that I had seen before. This process had taken a lot from her.

[Carl]

However, while she had been charged with second degree murder for her role in the crime, she hadn't come to court to stand trial. Instead, she was there to testify against her old flame, John Murray, who was on trial for his alleged role in Terry's murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John was just adamant that he did not commit this crime and that he was being charged based on the fact that he had a bad prior record. And he was adamant that he was being railroaded.

[Carl]

But did Beatrice's old boyfriend have a point? After all, while they had considerable circumstantial evidence against him, the only thing directly connecting him to Terry's murder was Beatrice's confession. And the prosecutors had done everything in their power to secure her testimony against John.

[Detective]

The Westchester District Attorney's office offered her.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

A plea deal in exchange for her testimony against John. That's a decision that was made to get the actual shooter, the trigger man, he definitely needed to be in jail for life. So that was the goal.

[Carl]

And it was no surprise that Beatrice had accepted the DA's offer.

[Detective]

I think Beatrice's primary motive was to lessen her responsibility in this case by pointing the finger at Sean Martin.

[Carl]

But could she close the deal for the prosecutors? When Beatrice took the standard, the entire case was riding on her testimony.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

There was no firearm recovered. There were no eyewitnesses to the actual crime. There was no DNA evidence or any other forensic evidence.

[Detective]

There was no hard evidence against John Murray whatsoever. The only thing linking John Murray to this crime really is the testimony of.

[Carl]

Beatrice Camp on the stand. Beatrice began by accepting, explaining the background how throughout her marriage to Terry, she and John had been having a secret affair.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She had romantic involvement with Mr. Murray, despite the fact that they were separated by prison bars.

[Carl]

And if the letters he'd sent her from prison were any indication, their romance had been pretty steamy too.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She saved all of the letters. Every single one of them, I believe, was recovered from her apartment and the letters. It was a very sexually explicit relationship.

[Carl]

And if the hundreds of letters John had sent her weren't enough to prove just how devoted he was to Beatrice. The prosecutors also played tapes of the prison phone calls between the lovers.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

There were a number of calls that the DA's office played. Some of them highlighted a lot of erotic talk and discussions of having sex.

[Carl]

And Beatrice said that once John was released from prison, the lovers had turned years of talk into reality, despite the fact that they were both married.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

When John was released, he and Beatrice basically immediately met up.

[Carl]

And according to Beatrice, the affair continued for the next 11 months.

[Beatrice]

She was visiting him. They would get together.

[Carl]

However, Beatrice claimed that the affair wasn't the only motive behind Terry's murder.

[Beatrice]

They was in the plot to kill him for life insurance money.

[Carl]

At the time of his Death, Terry had two insurance policies totaling $100,000.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Their goal was to get rid of Mr. Camper and collect on that life insurance policy.

[Carl]

And one of those policies had been taken out barely a year before Terry's murder.

[Detective]

Shortly before your spouse dies, changing the insurance policy does not look good for the living spouse.

[Carl]

However, according to Beatrice, John was the one who pushed her to up the coverage, and the prosecutors had the audio tape to prove it.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

They had quite a few discussions about that policy, discussions that were recorded on tape when Mr. Murray was in prison.

[Detective]

There is a conversation that takes place in which John tells Beatrice, in so many words, you need to up his meaning, Terry's insurance policy. And in response, a few days later, Beatrice calls John and tells him, look, I did what you asked me to do. I changed the insurance policy.

[Beatrice]

When I heard all this in court, I was very shocked into the things that was going on and what she was doing behind Terry's back.

[Carl]

Although, as both Beatrice and the prosecutors stressed, she only did it because John told her to.

[Beatrice]

She would do anything for John.

[Carl]

But as Beatrice told the jury, once Terry was dead, she'd immediately regretted what she'd done.

[Detective]

I don't think she really thought this through. Her relationship with John Murray, she got wrapped up in it.

[Beatrice]

She kept on saying that she was sorry. She didn't want any of this to happen.

[Carl]

That's what Beatrice claimed. But was it the truth? Not according to John's defense attorney.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

She shouldn't be believed because she's going to testify against John so that her jail time is reduced.

[Carl]

Instead, when John's defense presented their case, the scenario they laid out was the exact opposite of what Beatrice claimed.

[Detective]

Almost all of it came from Beatrice. It was Beatrice who was going to change these policies, and John sort of just went along with it.

[Carl]

And since Beatrice's testimony was the only thing that directly connected John to the crime, the defense maintained that he was completely innocent.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John was just adamant that he did not commit this crime.

[Carl]

And they reminded the jury that the prosecutors had no murder weapon and no evidence to actually put him in Terry's.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

They are circumstantial. They could be coincidences. It could be a different car. It could have been anyone who drove that phone and threw it up there.

[Carl]

And the call from his phone that pointed to him in the first place. The defense claimed that John wasn't the one who made that call.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

He had given that phone to Beatrice Camper before the day of the homicide.

[Detective]

Beatrice had actually provided John with that. So they can talk privately anytime Beatrice and John wanted.

[Carl]

But why would John give Beatrice back the phone that served as their secret hotline?

[Detective]

John had in fact ended the relationship with Beatrice. And Beatrice was very upset with the fact that John no longer wanted to be with her. That was not acceptable to Beatrice. She continued to pursue John even after the fact.

[Carl]

And according to the defense, it was Beatrice who had killed Terry.

[Beatrice]

John Murray put everything on her that she shot him and he was pushing it on her.

[Carl]

The defense claimed that Beatrice had not only murdered Terri, they said that she was obsessed with John Murray and she had intentionally dumped her dead husband's phone on the way to John's house to frame her ex boyfriend for the murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

We tried to put it on Beatrice entirely that it was, and that was John's argument. And that's what we felt the evidence showed.

[Carl]

Coming up, the jury makes its decision.

[Beatrice]

There's a lot of tension in the.

[Carl]

Courtroom, but will they believe Beatrice?

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John was beside himself.

[Carl]

On April 17, 2014, the jury announced that it had reached a verdict in the murder trial of Beatrice Camper's ex boyfriend, John Murray.

[Detective]

They deliberated for the better part of a day.

[Carl]

The 62 year old ex con was accused of killing Beatrice's husband, Terry.

[Detective]

Her and John planned this together.

[Carl]

At least that's what Beatrice had testified in court. As part of her plea deal, the.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

DA's office offered her a fixed amount of time in jail. And in return for that, she would.

[Detective]

Have to testify against John.

[Carl]

John's defense, on the other hand, argued that Beatrice was Terry's killer.

[Beatrice]

They both was blaming each other.

[Carl]

What's more, according to the defense, Beatrice had set up John to take the fall for her crime after John put an end to their affair.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

Beatrice was pointing this on him based on the fact that he had a bad prior record.

[Detective]

I Think Beatrice is a very manipulative person.

[Carl]

And in the end, the case basically came down to who the jury believed, Beatrice or John.

[Beatrice]

There was a lot of tension in the courtroom.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John knew what the stakes were. He knew that he was looking at a lifetime sentence without the possibility of parole.

[Carl]

But would he get it?

[Detective]

The jury found John Murray guilty of murder.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

John was very upset at the verdict. He was beside himself, and he was.

[Carl]

Going to prison for life.

[Beatrice]

He would never see daylight again, per the judge. And I agree with that. And he got just what he deserved.

[Carl]

But what about Beatrice? She was technically serving life too, but the terms of her plea deal meant that parole was an option.

[Detective]

She's looking at, you know, 15 years to life.

[Carl]

And the thought that Beatrice could get out in as little as 15 years leaves Terry's family more than a little disappointed.

[Beatrice]

I think she need to be in prison the rest of her life.

[Carl]

The family is determined to see that she stays there too.

[Beatrice]

When she goes before the board, the family will plan to be there to say she deserved to stay longer.

[Carl]

And despite the deal the prosecutors made in order to put John in prison, the investigators basically agree with Terry's family.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

To have such a premeditation involved, to have plans having been made for so long to do this, and she's just as guilty as the man who pulled the trigger. There's plenty of opportunity for these two to say, what are we thinking here? You know, this is horrible. We can't do this.

[Carl]

No.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

They kept chugging along, man. They executed these plans, and they executed Terry Camper. You know, that's just pure evil.

[Narrator]

Despite her guilty plea, Beatrice camper appealed her second degree murder conviction in 2016. Her appeal was denied. She will be eligible for parole in 2027 at the age of 75.

[Beatrice]

Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorizes Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes. Even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story.

[Carl]

One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but.

[Beatrice's Family Member]

It also has so much resonance today.

[Carl]

The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror.

[Beatrice]

So when we look in the mirror.

[Carl]

The only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities.

[Beatrice]

From the host and producer of American History Tellers and History Daily comes the new podcast, the Real History of Dracula. We'll reveal how author Bram Stoker rated ancient folklore, exploited Victorian fears around sex, science and religion, and how even today, we remain enthralled to his strange creatures of the night. You can binge all episodes of the Real History of Dracula exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join WonderyPlus and the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.