When a husband is violently murdered, his wife and her alleged lover become suspects. Originally aired: 11/18/22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened in the murder case of Stephen Beard?
Imagine what's possible when learning doesn't get in the way of life. At Capella University, our game changing flex path learning format lets you set your own deadline so you can learn at a time and pace that works for you. It's an education you can tailor to your schedule. This is Deborah Roberts. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault.
Each week, we reach back into our archives and bring you a story we found unforgettable.
He broke her teeth.
He broke her bones.
Poisons that you could use that would be undetectable.
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Chapter 2: Who were the key figures involved in this true crime story?
Oh my goodness! What have you done? Take a listen.
Tonight on 2020, we're in Texas for one of the trickiest possible love triangles we've ever covered. And like many of them, it ends with a dead body. Was she trying to kill the two of you?
She was trying to get us on the ground for sure.
I ran into Celeste and I said, what's wrong? And she says, well, Steve and I are getting divorced. And I said, you just got married.
Steve was at wit's end with Celeste. She was going through money like crazy.
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Chapter 3: What led to the tumultuous relationship between Celeste and Stephen?
There was a time she pointed a gun to your head.
She started like, just like waving it around, you know, like everybody was fair game.
You were depressed.
I was very depressed, and I felt like I was losing everything, and I just wanted to die.
She was completely off the rails.
She would call and leave me messages saying, I'm going to make you pay for this in every single way. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what. The intruder went in the house.
Tainted love. My whole world just ended right there. And then the betrayals started.
I'm here in Austin, Texas for a twisted tale of deceit that played out more than 20 years ago. One woman's fairy tale turned into betrayal and murder in a case that tore apart an entire family. And it all began with a fateful meeting right here at the Austin Country Club.
Austin Country Club is Old Guard, Texas. It was founded in the late 1800s, and it's considered to be quite prestigious to belong there.
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Chapter 4: How did Celeste's mental health impact her actions?
Celeste was beautiful and smart and you never knew quite what Celeste was going to do and there's something rather alluring about that.
This story of Celeste Beard is one of the wildest stories we've covered from beginning to end. My name is Melissa.
My name is Mandy. The name of our podcast is Moms and Murder. This story is even more appalling than you could possibly imagine. There are numerous victims in this story. I think people find the Celeste Beard story fascinating because there are so many different elements to it, and there's more twists and turns around every page of this story.
Celeste Johnson was born in the California town of Culver City on February 13, 1963.
She was adopted by Edwin and Nancy Johnson almost immediately.
She enjoyed swimming. She loved the animals in kindergarten. In fact, she brought home Thumper the bunny, and she brought home Parakeet. I was supposed to take him back to school after the summer vacation, but we always kept him.
But her mother says Celeste became troubled as an adolescent and she sought help for her.
I could tell Celeste was traumatized. She never really revealed any of the stuff that was going on.
Celeste marries Craig Bratcher when she was 17 years old, but she was pregnant at the time.
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Chapter 5: What evidence linked Tracy Tarleton to the shooting?
I went from one man to another because I was always looking for somebody to bring me happiness.
You could never get that happiness.
When I did find a good man, I would leave them because I just figured I would ruin everything.
She was working as a waitress and she met Jimmy Martinez.
At 28, Celeste was married for the third time. She was crazy about Jimmy.
And Jimmy got a job in Austin.
At some point, Jennifer decides she wants to live with her father and leaves Christina alone with her mother. And Jennifer is now in another state.
Growing up with Celeste was very unstable. There were times where we would get dropped off in foster home and not even understand what had happened.
She had her moments where she was nice, you know, but you don't know what's going to happen. I was always in fight or flight mode. She was not a homemaker. She was not a baker or a cooker or a cleaner. She was a shopper.
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Chapter 6: Why did Celeste's behavior raise suspicion after Stephen's death?
She was rubbing shoulders with people who had millions of dollars, and she saw how they lived.
The dining room manager just adored her. He'd say things like, I wish I had two dozen of these, you know, referring to Celeste.
And she meets a man, a member, Stephen Beard, who's going to change her life. For everything Celeste had been through in her life, looking at Stephen Beard, he represented what she was looking for, stability, wealth, someone to take care of her.
When they met, Steve was 69 years old and Celeste was 30 years old.
Within two weeks, Stephen asked Celeste out on their first date and she said yes.
Steve told people that he really wanted a younger woman that wanted him for his money so that he could show her the world.
Soon, Celeste divorces Jimmy Martinez, her third husband. Did the family seem happy?
Steve provided money and a lifestyle that Celeste wanted.
It seems that Celeste has found what she's looking for in Steven Beard. But is her erratic, unpredictable behavior going to hurt this relationship too?
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Chapter 7: How did the recording change the course of the investigation?
Recorded live from Austin, Texas, it's Austin City Limits. Austin City Limits was a very prestigious gig. Its stage has played host to the Who's Who country western southern rock and roll music. And it continued to be a popular cult program for many years. This all coincided with the rise of the tech boom that happened where Austin became Texas' version of Silicon Valley.
And wealth was coming to Austin. People are becoming millionaires, and one of them is Steve Beard.
Beard, a dashing young advertising executive back then that all the television stations dealt with.
Stephen was known to be super funny, super generous.
He was a teddy bear, open and honest.
Stephen Beard grew up without having a lot of money.
He cared about people, but he also had spent quite a bit of his time amassing his fortune.
One of his first jobs was at Neiman Marcus, where he eventually meets his wife, Elise. She was a model for Neiman's.
And they were so close, the two of them.
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Chapter 8: What was the outcome of the investigation and trial?
Steve was really hands-on as a dad.
We had a ranch, and he loved on the weekends to go and hang out and ride horses and go fishing.
He really worked hard, started at the bottom, was able to develop a very successful advertising business.
Stephen started a cable station in the Austin area that he eventually was able to sell, and he made millions of dollars overnight.
He had made a fortune for himself and for his family.
How did you meet Stephen Beard? He was a member of Austin Country Club where my husband and I belonged, and that's how I knew Steve.
Elise came down with cancer, and it broke Steve's heart. And he took such good care of her. He put her lipstick on in the morning. After Elise died, Steve began frequenting the club most evenings. He was living alone, and he was incredibly lonely, so he liked talking to people. And he always sat at a table near the window by himself. Celeste was one of the waitresses.
Steve had been a businessman all of his life, and he believed that he could size a person up. Of course, he had never quite met anybody like Celeste before.
Steve moves Celeste into his mansion quickly. When his friends wonder who she is, Steve tells them Celeste is working for him.
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