1. Murder at the Church

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Unforgotten, Season 5 "Riding Shotgun"

Episode 1: Murder at the Church
Date: June 1, 2026
Host: Zoe Culkin, Free Range Productions

Episode Overview

Episode 1 of Season 5, “Riding Shotgun,” delves into the chilling 2016 murder of Missy Bevers, a beloved fitness instructor found dead in a Midlothian, Texas church. Despite clear surveillance footage showing the masked perpetrator in police tactical gear, the case remains unsolved a decade later. Host Zoe Culkin seeks to untangle the threads of this complex, heavily scrutinized case, exploring the impact on the community, the rise of amateur internet sleuths, and the ongoing obsession with finding justice for Missy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Night of the Murder

• Security Footage & Perpetrator

  • [01:13] Zoe Culkin introduces the crime: In the early hours of April 18, 2016, a lone figure in full police tactical gear breaks into Creekside Church in Midlothian, Texas. The person’s identity remains concealed (helmet, mask, vest), and their movements are erratic and slow, with nothing stolen and little damage aside from broken glass.
  • Only distinguishing feature: a peculiar limp, speculated to be from ill-fitting boots or an injury.
  • “It’s not clear what the person's objective is… just lurking from room to room in no hurry at all.” — Zoe Culkin [01:37]

• Missy Bevers’ Arrival and Attack

  • [02:47] Renee Rodden, a friend of Missy, recalls: Missy arrives at the church around 4:16 AM for her early morning fitness class, insisting to her students that “if it’s raining, we’re still training.”
  • [03:53] Renee recounts the moment: “She walks down that hall and she sees something and she kind of jerks her head like she heard something and she continues down that hall.”
  • Minutes after she enters, she’s ambushed and killed by the masked perpetrator ([04:49] “That’s where she was attacked and that’s where she was killed.” — Renee Rodden).
  • By 4:35 AM, her students arrive and discover the horrific scene, which profoundly scars them and the community.

Community Shock & Case Details

• Public Reaction

  • [05:30] Footage of the murder exists but is too grisly to release. Despite the abundance of evidence, 10 years later the case still has “more questions than answers.”
  • The case stuns a quiet, upper-middle-class town with no murders in years ([08:32] “It’s not a place where you would be afraid to raise your family.” — Renee Rodden).

• Missy’s Personality and Life

  • [09:40] Renee describes Missy as kind, caring, and trustworthy, someone “you would trust with your kids or your purse or whatever.”
  • Missy balanced being a mom of three with side jobs, including running inventory for a jeans MLM called Vault Denim — through which she and Renee became acquainted ([12:18] “They were just laughing and haha… I want to be, you know, hanging out with y’all.”)

The Investigation and Rise of Online Sleuths

• Obsession and Online Communities

  • [16:23] As the case details go public, the internet becomes obsessed, spurred on by the unique crime and true crime boom.
  • [17:43] Crystal Lawson, a real estate agent, shares: “This was next level because this was somebody I could really relate to.”
  • Multiple Facebook groups arise, some gathering thousands from around the world, devoted to solving the case ([18:12] Zoe: “Some of these groups have almost 10,000 members…”).

• Crystal & Renee: True Crime Broads

  • [19:43] Renee and Crystal become friends through these groups, bonding over the case and their investigative spirit.
  • [21:12] They launch a podcast, “True Crime Broads,” to keep Missy’s story alive and consolidate their findings for a wider audience.
  • [21:53] “We just started the podcast, and I don’t think there’s probably been maybe two days in the last… nine years, there’s maybe even two days that we haven’t talked.” — Renee Rodden

• Their Motivation

  • [20:25] Renee: “I've always been investigative by nature…I’ve been doing this my whole life. And so I think it’s just natural for me, you know, to investigate and research… it’s almost like I can’t stop until I figure it out.”
  • [24:07] Crystal: “We really were hoping… somebody else would go, ‘Oh, I need to add something to that that I know that they don’t know.’… And more importantly, reach out to the police.”

Dangers and Challenges of Amateur Sleuthing

• [26:29] Zoe notes: Not all internet sleuths are as careful or ethical as Crystal and Renee. Online accusations, especially in Facebook groups and Reddit, often lack basis and can be harmful.
• [26:52] “I don’t believe anyone could argue with that walk and the perp’s walk in the video that they are not identical.” — Online sleuth
• [27:04] Zoe emphasizes: Many sleuths have never met Missy, her family, or visited Midlothian, and theories often spiral based on gossip.

Focus on Missy’s Husband, Brandon Bevers

• [27:44] Brandon Bevers, Missy’s husband, was the immediate focus due to the common true crime trope (“the husband did it”), but he had a confirmed alibi — fishing in Biloxi, Mississippi.

  • [28:17] “I was in Biloxi, Mississippi…” — Brandon Bevers
  • Despite public suspicion, police confirm his alibi.
  • His wariness and tension with the press increase speculation ([28:58] “I’m not looking here for the media to sensationalize a tragedy, okay? My family needs… our privacy.” — Brandon Bevers).

• [29:17] Zoe reflects on the relationship between media, public scrutiny, and a grieving family ([29:50] “You understand, sir, that we are here because we want to help the police catch whoever did this as well.” — Fox 4 Reporter).

• Brandon’s uneasy relationship with social media persists; sometimes he’s defensive or combative online, especially when accused or when others speculate about the case ([30:39] “He will get on Reddit and make scenes, kind of weird statements sometimes.” — Online sleuth).

• [32:12] Zoe attempts to interview Brandon; he speaks briefly but declines further involvement, citing distrust of media coverage and a desire to avoid more public backlash ([33:03] Missy’s daughter, Hannah, shares similar feelings in an email, wishing to avoid reopening old wounds but expressing appreciation for honoring her mother).

Theories About the Crime

• [33:00] Brandon leans toward a theory of “burglary gone wrong,” but Crystal and Renee dismiss this idea.
  • [34:20] “It's the stupidest thing ever.” — Renee Rodden
  • [34:21] “That's actually comical to me.” — Crystal Lawson

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You see her go in and you want to tell her, ‘don’t go,’ because you know what’s going to happen.” — Renee Rodden [04:29]
• “She was just kind, she was caring, and you would trust her.” — Renee Rodden [09:40]
• “This was the first homicide in Midlothian in seven years. So obviously the locals were rocked.” — Zoe Culkin [16:31]
• “It’s almost like I can’t stop until I figure it out.” — Renee Rodden [20:59]
• “Podcasting for us was basically a way to get the information out there for whoever wants to listen.” — Crystal Lawson [21:53]
• “We just started the podcast, and I don’t think there’s probably been maybe two days in the last…nine years that we haven’t talked.” — Renee Rodden [21:53]
• “I’m not looking here for the media to sensationalize a tragedy, okay? ... We need our privacy.” — Brandon Bevers [28:58]
• “It's the stupidest thing ever.” — Renee Rodden [34:20] (on the burglary theory)
• “That is not an open invitation to murder someone, period. Because if it is, there’s a lot of people going to be dead.” — Renee Rodden [35:18]

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Important Timestamps

• [01:13] — Introduction, murder timeline, and security footage details
• [02:47] — Renee Rodden narrates Missy's arrival and last moments
• [04:49] — Murder described
• [06:16] — Host Zoe sets up the scope and stakes of the season
• [09:40] — Characterization of Missy Bevers
• [12:18] — Renee's family connects with Missy
• [16:23] — Case goes public; internet and media obsession
• [18:12] — The formation of online Facebook groups and rise of amateur sleuths
• [19:43] — Renee and Crystal’s friendship and investigation partnership
• [21:12] — Launch of “True Crime Broads” podcast
• [24:07] — Motivation for citizen investigation/podcasting explained
• [26:52] — Problems with amateur sleuthing and wild accusations
• [27:44] — Focus on Brandon Bevers; alibi and public suspicion
• [29:17] — Media’s role in keeping cold cases active
• [32:12] — Zoe’s attempt to interview Brandon and family perspectives
• [33:00] — Discussion on the “burglary gone wrong” theory

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Conclusion & Next Episode Teaser

The episode sets the stage for a season-long quest to uncover new leads and push for justice in a case that has haunted Midlothian for a decade. Zoe promises a deeper investigation of the crime scene, police work, and potential suspects in subsequent episodes.

Next episode preview:

• Zoe visits the church where Missy was killed ([34:24])
• Questions persist: Was it a random burglary or a targeted killing?
• More revelations and rumors teased around the investigation and key players.

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For listeners: Even if you’re new to the case, this episode provides a compelling, deeply personal, and rigorously investigated foundation for understanding the murder of Missy Bevers—and the passionate online community determined to solve it.

Transcript

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[Zoe Culkin]

in the wee hours of the morning on Monday, April 18, 2016, a person dressed in full police tactical gear broke into Creekside Church in Midlothian, Texas suburb of Dallas. Creekside Church has security cameras and you can watch footage of the break in online. Whoever this person is, they're wearing a helmet, a mask, what looks like a bulletproof vest fully concealing their identity. They wander the halls, fiddle with the doors and swing around a hammer they found on site. It's not clear what the person's objective is. They don't seem to be looking for anything specific and they aren't taking anything, just lurking from room to room in no hurry at all, opening up as many doors as they can, getting a sense of the space. At one point they use the hammer to seemingly break through the glass on one of the doors. It's roughly 4 o' clock in the morning. There's no one else at the church but this masked person with almost no identifying features. It's not even clear whether they're a man or a woman, although they do walk with a kind of limp. That's the only thing remotely identifiable about them. Maybe they have an injury, or maybe the boots they're wearing are too big for their feet, causing that funny walk. Maybe they borrowed or stole the boots along with the rest of the Gear marked with the word police. But aside from the busted lock and broken glass, the person doesn't seem to be causing a whole lot of damage until Missy Beavers arrives.

[Renee Rodden]

Her class started at 5am this is

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee Rodden, a friend of Missy's.

[Renee Rodden]

But she had early birds that was going to come in at 4:30 because they wanted to be able to get their class done and be able to get to work.

[Zoe Culkin]

Missy was a fitness instructor and taught all over the Dallas metro area. And this morning's class happened to be at the church. It was beating down rain and Missy didn't want her students to be discouraged. So she made a Facebook post before setting up. The post read, if it's raining, we're still training.

[Renee Rodden]

So she arrived at like 4:16. She parked under the awning and she opened her car door. She went to the tailgate of her truck and I guess she had keys that unlocked it. And so she put the key in the tailgate, she opened it up, she got some of her stuff out, she went in.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee lives just five minutes from the church and has lived in the area pretty much her whole life. She's thought of this particular morning so often she knows the story by heart.

[Renee Rodden]

The door that everybody goes into is the awning door. And she went into that door and you go all the way down that hall. That was approximately 4:20. So we're talking just minutes after arriving in the church.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee can explain this so vividly because she's seen the security footage of this moment thousands of times.

[Renee Rodden]

She walks down that hall and she sees something and she kind of jerks her head like she heard something and she continues down that hall.

[Zoe Culkin]

None of her students were set to arrive for at least another 10 minutes and none of them would have had a key to get in anyway. What could she have heard?

[Renee Rodden]

It's something out of a horror movie because you see her go in and you want to tell her, don't go because you know what's going to happen.

[Zoe Culkin]

Missy continues further down the hallway. Maybe she thought she was being paranoid. I know when I'm by myself in the dark, I always think I'm hearing something. But Missy wasn't being paranoid when she

[Renee Rodden]

got to into that hall. That's where she was attacked and that's where she was killed.

[Zoe Culkin]

Waiting for her around the corner was the masked person, the one with all the tactical gear and the hammer.

[Renee Rodden]

It was just mind boggling.

[Zoe Culkin]

At 4:35am Missy's first students arrived. And what they found would scar them and the entire community forever.

[Renee Rodden]

Police Are trying to figure out why somebody dressed as a police officer ambushed and murdered a fitness instructor at a church. Mother and fitness trainer Terry Missy Beavers was murdered inside a Midlothian church.

[Brandon Beavers]

The woman murdered was a mother of three who taught fitness classes.

[Zoe Culkin]

Apparently the police do have footage of the actual murder, but because of the violent nature of the crime, it's never been shown. Despite the fact that the murder was captured on the church's surveillance system and the fact that we just hit the 10 year anniversary of that fateful morning at creekside church, this case still has more questions than answers. And I am determined to find out why that is. Missy's murder is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of the last decade. Definitely in the Dallas area, maybe even all of Texas. What is being hidden from the public and who is hiding it?

[Renee Rodden]

Some innocent woman was brutally murdered. And that's not, you know, it shouldn't happen and somebody needs to pay for it.

[Zoe Culkin]

From free range productions, this is the who killed Missy Bevers? I'm Zoe Culkin. This is episode one, murder at the church. Once word got out about a murdered woman, Midlothian and the surrounding areas were sent into a tailspin.

[Brandon Beavers]

Several law enforcement agencies have joined Midlothian police hunting for the person who murdered a fitness instructor.

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They've had hundreds of leads come in, but only about a dozen have been

[Zoe Culkin]

solid enough for police to follow up on.

[Brandon Beavers]

There are so many troubling aspects to this crime. A murder committed inside a church, A murder in a town that hasn't seen a murder in years, and a suspect caught on surveillance camera wearing full police tactical gear.

[Zoe Culkin]

Although Midlothian sits just under 30 miles outside of Dallas, this is not a metro area. I drove up from Austin during my reporting of the story to get a feel for the town. It was pouring, not unlike the morning Missy was killed. I am crossing into the city limits of Middleothean. You can also probably hear my windshield wipers. I'm originally from South Carolina and grew up in a suburb of Charlotte, Kind of like what Midlothian is to Dallas. Plus I've worked on the true crime beat for years now. Many of them set in towns that look like Midlothian. So part of it was familiar. Like it's lots of fields, but then random, little like planned communities that look a little bit out of place. But Midlothian seemed to be in a pretty transitional period, maybe 10, 15 years behind my hometown when it comes to development. It's becoming less rural, more suburban. Maybe it's not quite there yet. It Was rural. But then all of a sudden, you'd see houses that look like they belonged in one of those nice neighborhoods in Dallas. It was kind of hard to get a grasp of the socioeconomic makeup of the town, but it definitely did not seem like somewhere a lot of murder took place. Here's Missy's friend, Renee Rodden, again, is

[Renee Rodden]

a nice city town, Whatever you want to call it, you know, upper middle class. I mean, it's not a place where you would be afraid to raise your family.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee was born and raised in Texas and has lived in the Dallas suburbs for decades.

[Renee Rodden]

I live about five minutes from the church, so it's a neighboring city to midlothian.

[Zoe Culkin]

When she first heard about a dead body found at the church right up the street from her house, she thought for sure it was some kind of medical emergency, like maybe a janitor had a heart attack.

[Renee Rodden]

You're not instantly thinking murder. I was just shocked that it wasn't something like somebody just died or whatever. Somebody was actually killed, murdered in church. And it just blew my mind.

[Zoe Culkin]

She's been invested in missy's case from the very beginning, and not just for the obvious reasons of it being so close to home. She remembers the moment she heard about it on tv.

[Renee Rodden]

You hear missy beavers of renault, texas, was found murdered at a church. And I thought, what? Oh, my God. I knew her. Like, I couldn't believe it.

[Zoe Culkin]

She had known missy for years and had fond memories of the time she spent with her.

[Renee Rodden]

She was one of those people that you just. You never would think anything bad about her. She had that demeanor. Like, she was just kind, she was caring, and you would trust her. Like, you would trust her with your kids or your purse or whatever. It was just mind boggling.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee has worked many odd jobs throughout her life. Like a lot of moms, she needed something with flexibility so she could be there for her kids when she needed to be. Missy, a mother of three daughters, the oldest being 16 at the time of the murder, needed the same.

[Renee Rodden]

I met Missy in 2013. I was working for a company called vault denim.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee had heard of vault denim through some other women in town and thought it would be the perfect side hustle. Truthfully, it was an mlm, a jeans mlm, like think Mary kay beauty, but it was jeans.

[Renee Rodden]

So I was looking for something where I could work from home, but, like, make some legit money. I didn't want it to be, you know, something that wasn't real. And I found out that you actually got the inventory and you would actually have Jean parties. And I thought, that sounds really cool.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee had been selling jeans, but she wasn't a jeans dealer. She didn't call them dealers, but it's easier to think of in those terms and kind of more fun. But anyway, there were only a few women that actually held all the jeans inventory from vault denim hq. All the sellers would have to pick up their inventory at the jeans dealer closest to them. And the jeans dealer closest to her was really starting to piss her off.

[Renee Rodden]

So there was this woman that had them in Waxahachie. So I would go to her house, and she just didn't seem to be very friendly. So I kind of got irritated, and I thought, there's got to be somebody else that doesn't make you feel guilty when you go over there. Even though you set up everything with her. She acted like it was such an inconvenience that she was just, like, just puffing and puffing.

[Zoe Culkin]

So she contacted the company and found another woman she could go to. It was 20 minutes out of the way, but to Renee, it was worth it.

[Renee Rodden]

They said, well, we have this woman in red oak, so it's going to be further for you, but she's available.

[Zoe Culkin]

Red oak is about 10, 15 miles tops from midlothian.

[Renee Rodden]

Well, I was like, I don't care at this point. I would rather drive to red oak, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever, than deal with this woman who's always mad. So they said her name is Missy beavers, and this is her address. So I contacted her.

[Zoe Culkin]

Missy was Renee's jeans dealer for about a year. She would go to her house every week to pick up inventory, often bringing members of her family with her to help her carry everything. At one time or another, Renee's whole family met Missy. She said her daughter specifically connected with her.

[Renee Rodden]

They were over there chatting like they'd known each other for 20 years and laughing and having a wonderful time. And I'm over there picking up jeans, and I was like, I want to be, you know, hanging out with y'. All. This little party are having. They were just laughing and haha, you know, and all that. So I just thought it was cool how everybody in my family connected with her in such an easy way.

[Zoe Culkin]

Renee and Missy's friendship never really progressed outside of their business relationship.

[Renee Rodden]

If we would have saw each other in the store, we would have been like, hey, you know, like that. We would have definitely, you know, because we kind of connected. But I'm one of those people. I never want to seem like that creepy person that's like adding, you on Facebook right away. So I never did that. You know, looking back, I kind of wish I would have only because she was such a nice person.

[Zoe Culkin]

But Renee always felt like Missy really cared about her. In fact, when Renee told me that Missy tried to get her on the fitness train too. Missy was known around town for her passion for fitness.

[Renee Rodden]

She was trying to get me involved in some of her other things. Fitness related, of course. And I just was kind of intimidated because she was super small and she was very fit and I wasn't. And she was like, hey, I haven't always been this size. And she got out a picture and showed it to me, I guess to make me feel better. So you could just tell she really cared about people and she wasn't just trying to make a dollar or whatever. She was just really trying to be friendly. Like I said back then, I was just so intimidated that I was just like, I couldn't even consider it. I was like, nothing new.

[Zoe Culkin]

Because of Missy's kindness in that year of working together, her death hit Renee hard, but she was far from the only one. Missy's case made news need nationwide and thousands of people, most of whom had never met her, would start demanding justice.

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[Zoe Culkin]

as more information began to come out about Missy's murder in the spring of 2016, the Internet went wild because of the unbelievability of this case. People really clung to it. First of all, this was the first homicide in Midlothian in seven years. So obviously the locals were rocked. But it was also just so absurd. A mom of three brutally murdered at a church, of all places, and the culprit was caught on video. And yet police didn't seem to have a promising suspect. I mean, they didn't even know if the person in the video was a man or a woman. All they had was this video of a person in full tactical gear, completely masked and covered. They couldn't even accurately gauge their height. At first they said the murderer was five' two to five' eight, but then later went back on that, saying they were most likely five' eight or taller. Between the lack of answers, the unlikeliness that something like this would happen to a suburban mom like Missy, and the true crime boom that was happening around the time of the murder. This case was a recipe for obsession. And that's exactly what people were obsessed.

[Crystal Lawson]

I've always been interested in true crime, but this was next level because this was somebody I could really relate to.

[Zoe Culkin]

That's Crystal Lawson. She's a real estate agent in Frisco, a town not too far from Midlothian.

[Crystal Lawson]

I know a lot of people that go to that church, and I just know a lot of people live in Midlothian. So I was really obsessed with it. And then I found out that Missy's three children are the same age as my three kids So I just kind of became really enveloped in this case, and then I joined the Facebook groups about it, and I immediately started meeting people in there that were also interested in it.

[Zoe Culkin]

The Facebook groups. The first thing I came across when researching this case were the Facebook groups. Now, remember, missy was murdered 10 years ago, and today there are multiple active Facebook groups of people trying to solve her murder. Who killed Missy Beavers? The unsolved murder of Missy Beavers badge and blood. The Missy Beavers investigation, just to name a few. Some of these groups have almost 10,000 members, and they're made up of people not just from Texas, but from all over the country, even all over the world. Crystal and Renee actually met in one of these groups.

[Crystal Lawson]

We didn't really start talking until about January of 2018. We started talking on the phone, and we realized that we had about the same level of obsession.

[Renee Rodden]

We both apparently messaged this guy at the same time.

[Zoe Culkin]

Neither Crystal or Renee can remember the fine details, but they both remember commenting on the same post some guy in one of their Facebook groups made.

[Renee Rodden]

And so I guess I saw her commenting, she saw me commenting, and I thought, she seems normal.

[Crystal Lawson]

We both commented on a post at the same time, and we were asking the same questions. So we jumped in each other's DMs and said, Hey, I was wondering the same thing, that kind of thing.

[Renee Rodden]

So I asked her if I could talk to her on the phone because I just want to make sure I was talking to a normal person, not some wacko. She said, okay. So we talked to the phone, and I was like, thank God somebody normal. It's not cuckoo, you know, or whatever.

[Zoe Culkin]

It's like a true crime. Meet cute.

[Crystal Lawson]

Over the course of time, we just became good friends, talked on the phone frequently, got to know more about each other and our families.

[Renee Rodden]

We just started a friendship. And, you know, I think we both enjoyed knowing that neither one of us was going to come after the other one.

[Zoe Culkin]

Crystal and Renee began calling each other every day and meeting up when they could to discuss the case.

[Crystal Lawson]

We had had exhaustive conversations about every little piece of this case and gone over search warrants, and we would take turns doing, you know, public record requests.

[Zoe Culkin]

As someone who has to submit a lot of public records requests, I can say with certainty that it's not fun. It can be a tedious process, and that's not to mention how difficult it can be to read them. I asked Renee why she felt called to take this investigation into her own hands.

[Renee Rodden]

I've always been investigative by nature. I grew up Looking for my family because I didn't grow up with my family. So I've always been researching and looking and investigating. So I kind of think from all the years of doing that, it's just made my mind very investigative. And so I was looking for all my family, my mother, my father, my sister, my brother, everybody. And that started when I was 11. So I've been doing this my whole life. And so I think it's just natural for me, you know, to investigate and research and look. And it's almost like I can't stop until I figure it out.

[Zoe Culkin]

And she hasn't stopped trying to figure out who was in that church. Seemingly waiting for Missy for a full decade, after many years of her and Crystal's sleuthing sessions, they needed a bigger platform.

[Crystal Lawson]

We had so many notes and so many people we had talked to and kind of informally interviewed, you know, and we just decided one day in maybe late 2019, early 2020, I'll never forget, we're on the phone, we said we should just do a podcast.

[Zoe Culkin]

And thus True Crime Broads, Crystal and Renee's podcast, dedicated to finding Missy Beaver's killer, was born because we had a

[Crystal Lawson]

lot of people joining the Facebook groups, and then we would try to get them up to speed, like in messenger, and that became time consuming, and we started cut and pasting as much as we could. And we finally just decided it would be really cool to take all this information and just start a podcast where we could get the information out there for whoever wants to listen.

[Renee Rodden]

And so we did. We just started the podcast and I don't think there's probably been maybe two days in the last, my God, nine years. There's maybe even two days that we haven't talked.

[Zoe Culkin]

True Crime Broads took off.

[Crystal Lawson]

Welcome to True Crime Broads. This is Crystal and Renee, and we're so happy to have Renee back in the studio.

[Zoe Culkin]

Yay. They've interviewed members of Missy's family, legal experts, and even persons of interest in the case, many of whom I'll get into in later episodes. Over the past six years of making the podcast, it has garnered a loyal fan base. It also has its own Facebook group now, and from what I found, it's the largest one, with just under 10,000 members. This was fascinating to me. Crystal and Renee are two middle aged moms with no professional experience in journalism, production, or law. And here they were reading through public records, talking to key players in the case, and leading a group of thousands of passionate online sleuths in the name of justice for Missy. I figured the creation of this podcast could not have been easy for them. I mean, to be honest, on my call with Crystal, it took us nearly 30 minutes for her to connect her AirPods to her computer.

[Crystal Lawson]

I don't know how to do anything technical. I mean, you saw how hard it was for me to get my EarPods

[Renee Rodden]

connected to my laptop.

[Crystal Lawson]

So you can imagine how she and I publishing a podcast was very funny, but there were nights where we were almost crying. I was calling her and going, I can't get the freaking MP3 to upload.

[Zoe Culkin]

This part was not shocking. When I went back and listened to early episodes, I could tell the technical aspect of this podcast had come a long way.

[Crystal Lawson]

We don't do a lot of editing. We just kind of let conversations rip.

[Zoe Culkin]

I talked to Crystal about some of those first recordings.

[Crystal Lawson]

We sound really stupid because we sound like we're on a phone call. We started off going, hi, Renee. Hi, Crystal. It was so goofy.

[Zoe Culkin]

I didn't think they sounded stupid at all. These women weren't doing it to make money or even to get famous. They were getting out of their comfort zones and putting themselves out there, all for Missy, in hopes that they could keep a focus on her story and bring her justice.

[Crystal Lawson]

And we really were hoping, too, that the podcast would trigger somebody else to go, oh, I need to add something to that that I know that they don't know. You know what I mean? Well, and more importantly, reach out to the police. We always, always, always direct them to the police first.

[Zoe Culkin]

I will get into how the police has handled this investigation over the past decade throughout the season, but let's just say homegrown Internet sleuths like Renee and Crystal have brought a lot of things to light.

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[Zoe Culkin]

While reporting this story, I talked to a handful of these so called Internet sleuths, many of whom are active in Crystal and Renee's Facebook group on a daily basis. But I have to be clear here. These people are hard to vet and they don't all have the pure intentions or ethics of the true crime broads. Many of them told me they knew for certain who killed Missy.

[Online Sleuth/Internet Commentator]

I don't believe anyone could argue with that walk and the perps walk in the video that they are not identical.

[Renee Rodden]

Like oh my God, like people don't think he did it. Like what the hell.

[Zoe Culkin]

But I had to take all these convictions with a grain of salt as I learned they had never met Missy or her family or the person they were accusing of murder. I mean, many of them didn't even live in this state and certainly had never been to Midlothian. They meant well, but most of their information came from online gossip. However, I did hear them out. You never know who could give you a tidbit of information that could blow the case wide open. A common opinion online, as with most cases like this, is that the spouse must be involved. In this case, the spouse was Missy's husband and father of her three children, Brandon Beavers.

[Brandon Beavers]

My wife was a she was a godly woman.

[Zoe Culkin]

This is a clip of Brandon from an interview he did with Fox Ford, Dallas Fort Worth, outside of his home the day after Missy was murdered.

[Brandon Beavers]

And she was a very she was very passionate about changing people's lives with fitness and changing their mental Attitude towards their body and themselves and their abilities in life.

[Zoe Culkin]

Now, anyone who follows true crime knows that the first place you look is the husband. But Brandon had an airtight alibi.

[Brandon Beavers]

I was in Biloxi, Mississippi, about to go on a fishing trip down on the Chandelier Islands.

[Zoe Culkin]

Police said they confirmed this alibi. But people online to this day still think Brandon is involved in his wife's death somehow, some way. The clips you just heard of him are from local news interviews in the days following Missy's murder. But his relationship with the press has been rocky over the last decade. Even then, he did not want media attention.

[Brandon Beavers]

I guess this is your last time. You're not going to speak again after this, is that correct? This isn't. I really don't.

[Zoe Culkin]

Brandon had already made it known he would not make a habit out of speaking to the press in terms of

[Brandon Beavers]

obtaining a story to pull at heartstrings and stuff like that. I don't, I'm not looking here for the media to sensationalize a tragedy, okay? My family needs, we need our privacy. And that's why I wanted to do this in one time only. But we need our privacy.

[Zoe Culkin]

I actually understand Brandon's skepticism when it comes to the press. True crime is a massive industry that a lot of people, including myself, make a living off of. But at the heart of all good reporters is the desire to not let victims be forgotten. It's the job of the media to put pressure on institutions. And in cases like Missy's that go years and years without being solved, it's journalists that make sure their stories never die and the hope that their families can get answers remains alive. A member of the Fox 4 team offered this perspective to Brandon.

[Renee Rodden]

You understand, sir, that we are here

[Zoe Culkin]

because we want to help the police catch whoever did this as well.

[Brandon Beavers]

Yes, yes. But as far as any, you know, one on one interview, tug at the heart strings, you know, kind of stories sensationalized, I, I, I just, I'm not here for that. I don't think any of us are trying to say sensational. I mean, this was a. Your wife was a mother and a woman who touched so many lives through her work, correct? You are correct. And that's why, I mean, we'll want

[Zoe Culkin]

to share her story, unfairly or not. Brandon's aversion to talk to the press came off to some people as him having something to hide. He was torn to shreds in the Facebook groups on Reddit. And some sleuths told me Brandon started to clap back.

[Online Sleuth/Internet Commentator]

He will get on Reddit and make scenes, kind of weird statements sometimes.

[Renee Rodden]

Oh, he gets very defensive.

[Zoe Culkin]

Some people told me about personal interactions they had had with Brandon that felt aggressive, but they didn't feel comfortable sharing for the podcast. Over the past decade, he has gone through phases of being open and sharing about the investigation to writing nasty comments and then quickly deleting them. Once. After Crystal and Renee had a certain guest on their podcast who I will talk about more in a later episode, Brandon got upset. He wrote a post in their Facebook group demanding they take down the episode or we will show up to your tree planting to explain ourselves personally. Brandon tagged two of his daughters and others in the comment and was referencing an event Crystal and Renee were hosting to honor Missy. This was years ago, but he remains active online today. Just recently, he commented on a Facebook post from the Waxahachie Daily Light, a local paper that released an article about Missy. The comment is long and details the relationship he's had with the Midlothian Police Department. Give them a break, Brandon writes. The public doesn't know all the details. We want resolution as well. I just can't blame MPD for no resolution. The people I spoke to all seemed very, very wary of picking a fight with Brandon, even warning me against talking to him.

[Renee Rodden]

I wouldn't reach out to Brandon, but

[Zoe Culkin]

of course I didn't listen.

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[Zoe Culkin]

Hi, Brandon.

[Brandon Beavers]

Yes, it is.

[Zoe Culkin]

Hi, Brandon. Is now a good time? Do you have like a couple minutes,

[Brandon Beavers]

depending on what it is?

[Zoe Culkin]

Okay. While I was hoping to get a full interview with Brandon for the podcast and give him the opportunity to defend himself from online sleuths that are constantly hurling accusations at him, he told me that he's just not interested in talking to anyone in the media. He doesn't trust it. And honestly, I get it. His wife's murder is probably the most traumatic thing to ever happen to him. Why would he want to talk to a stranger like me about it, especially all these years later? He did talk with me on the phone a little bit, though I won't play any more of the audio of our conversation out of respect for him and his family's wishes. But I was grateful he took the time to speak with me. It was a pleasant conversation. He wasn't mad I was doing the podcast. He just didn't want to be a part of it. I reached out to Missy's oldest daughter, Hannah, too, in hopes she'd want to speak with me. She shared a similar sentiment to her dad. Her email back to me said, I appreciate you reaching out and wanting to do something honoring my mom. She truly was the best mom I could have ever asked for. Unfortunately, I am not wanting to participate in any media coverage. As I am sure you learned from my dad. It's been a struggle dealing with the backlash from people on social media right now. I am not wanting to open the floodgates again, if that makes any sense. Thank you for thinking of me and I wish you the best. This was an incredible, incredibly nice response. I was disappointed that Missy's family's voices wouldn't be present here, but it felt good to know that they weren't against it. They didn't want Missy's story to be forgotten either. When talking with Brandon on the phone, I did pick his brain a little bit about what he thought happened. Who did he think did it? He told me he's entertained many theories over the years and at this point he leaned towards this being a burglary gone wrong. Missy was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I hadn't considered this before and in all fairness, it seems pretty unlikely. I mean, it's a church, not a bank. I decided to run this theory by Crystal and Renee.

[Renee Rodden]

It's the stupidest thing ever.

[Crystal Lawson]

That's actually comical to me.

[Zoe Culkin]

On the next episode of the who killed Missy Beavers? I go to the scene of the crime. What a wonderful opportunity to say, look

[Renee Rodden]

at the power of the Lord.

[Zoe Culkin]

Do you realize that Jesus would still be who he is and God would

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still be good even if this. If this had not been the outcome? Even if this had not been the outcome?

[Renee Rodden]

Because here's what radical belief does. Radical belief says, God with you. You are my ride or die, no matter what. What?

[Zoe Culkin]

Could this really have been a burglary gone wrong? Or was someone really out to kill Missy Beavers? Coming up on this season of the unforgotten. Who killed Missy Beavers?

[Crystal Lawson]

Okay, she was stabbed. No, wait a minute. It was a hammer. And come to find out, she was shot.

[Online Sleuth/Internet Commentator]

Midlothians won your capital of the world.

[Renee Rodden]

So I don't give a crap if she had 15 affairs with 15 different men in two week time period. That is not an open invitation to murder someone, period. Because if it is, there's a lot of people going to be dead.

[Online Sleuth/Internet Commentator]

I don't believe anyone could argue with that walk and the perps walk in the video that they are not identical.

[Crystal Lawson]

Obviously the only thing anyone's talking about is the Missy Beavers murder, Right? So you've got a beaver, same spelling, coming in here with a shirt with blood all over it, she calls the police.

[Zoe Culkin]

The Unforgotten is a free range production. Season 6 who Killed Missy Beavers is written and hosted by me, Zoe Culkin. Our executive producer is Wes Ferguson. Audio editing by Aislin Gaddis Engineering and sound design by Austin Sisler with Eastside Studios. Get our [e-mail] thanks for listening.

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