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Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode

January 12, 2021 / 44:15

This episode of Women Behind Bars covers the stories of Celeste Johnson and Bernice Ahrens, two women involved in brutal crimes. Celeste Johnson was convicted of murdering her wealthy husband, Stephen Beard, while Bernice Ahrens was an alleged accomplice in the fatal beating of a mentally impaired man, Buddy Musso.

Celeste Johnson's story begins with her tumultuous life, including multiple marriages and a relationship with Stephen Beard, who was 40 years her senior. After a series of conflicts and a deteriorating marriage, Celeste allegedly conspired with Tracy Tarleton to murder Stephen for his fortune. The episode details the events leading up to the murder, including Celeste's mental state and her relationship with Tracy.

Bernice Ahrens' narrative reveals her friendship with Suzanne Basso, who manipulated her into participating in the abuse of Buddy Musso. The episode describes how Bernice and her children became involved in the horrific treatment of Buddy, leading to his death and the subsequent investigation.

The episode highlights the police investigations, trials, and the eventual convictions of both women, emphasizing the complexities of their situations and the tragic outcomes of their actions.

Through interviews and testimonies, the episode provides a chilling look at the circumstances that led to these crimes and the impact on the victims' families.

TL;DR

Celeste Johnson murdered her husband for money; Bernice Ahrens was involved in a fatal beating of a mentally impaired man.

Episode

44:15
00:00:04
on this episode of women behind bars
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one woman is convicted of murdering her
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millionaire husband
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the first jewelry he gave me was like a
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three carat diamond ring and a
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42 diamond cocktail ring i can see him
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laying in bed he's got a phone in his
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hand it's
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covered in blood and he's literally
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holding his intestines in his hand
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then bernice ahrens tells her story she
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was an alleged accomplice in the fatal
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beating of a man held captive
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in her home they administered their
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beating of him including pouring
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ammonia or bleach in his wounds all i
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know is that
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one day i went to work and i came home
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and buddy's dead two women two brutal
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crimes
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these are the stories of celeste johnson
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and bernice ahrens
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in the early hours of october 2nd 1999
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a deputy responded to a frantic 9-1-1
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call
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originating from the home of aging
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multi-millionaire stephen beard
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and his wife celeste
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hello do you need an ambulance
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he said that he's woken up in the middle
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of the night and his intestines are in
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his hands i believe the term used was
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guts
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have blown out it first appeared to be a
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medical emergency
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however it was soon apparent that
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someone had tried to murder stephen
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beard
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it was clear that he had been shot that
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night
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the hunt for the shooter eventually led
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to the arrest of a mentally unstable
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woman
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named tracy tarleton who was a friend of
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stephen's wife celeste
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tracy fell madly in love with
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celeste tracy tarleton was trying to
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eliminate
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the competition by eliminating
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celeste husbands was celeste johnson
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behind a cruel plot to get rid of her
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husband for his fortune
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or did she take the fall for a woman who
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wanted celeste
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all to herself
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i grew up in southern california i was a
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few days old when i was adopted
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celeste was one of four children to be
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adopted by edwin and nancy johnson
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the family lived in a quiet suburb about
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an hour north of los angeles california
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i went to private schools and my
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life was real structured as far as the
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school and swim team but our home life
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was very crazy
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she was a very bright precocious
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beautiful child
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but she had this kind of dark side too
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where she would
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she would just go off on her brothers
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and her mother did take her in for
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psychiatric treatment but it didn't seem
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to actually help
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by the time celeste reached high school
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her parents had divorced
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and the financial strain forced the top
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student to enroll in public school
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suddenly i'm thrown into this new
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environment all these people have all
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these
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freedoms that i never experienced so
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when i was about 14 or 15
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i got involved with craig who happened
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to live right around the corner
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at 17 craig bratcher was two years older
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than celeste
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and according to celeste their
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relationship was dysfunctional from the
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very start
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he would have me come over like at 2 30
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or 3 o'clock in the morning
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and he would have sex with me and
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then in the morning i would clean his
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house and i thought that was
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left when celeste was 17
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she gave birth to twin girls christina
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and jennifer fathered by craig
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the twins were born several months early
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they were in the incubator for
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a few months and at first i couldn't
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even take them out or touch them or
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anything so i think we never really
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bonded celeste describes her eventual
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marriage to craig
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as on again off again and highly
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volatile
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[Music]
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crime writer catherine casey spent over
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a year researching the murder
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she uncovered records and spoke to the
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beard's friends and family members
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according to casey more than anything
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else celeste dreamed of a different life
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celeste saw herself as being entitled
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to more in life and craig didn't make a
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lot of money
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she needed that in her life she needed
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money
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by 1988 celeste had left craig she would
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ultimately be married five times
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but claimed that her kids were her
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primary concern if the person i married
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couldn't get along with my kids then i
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just left them
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but records uncovered by catherine casey
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paint a picture of celeste's kids
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spending months at a time
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in the custody of people other than
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their mother she was
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reported for leaving the kids home alone
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she dropped them off at foster homes
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from early ages on
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when they became inconvenient for her
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in 1990 when the girls were 10 celeste
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gave up custody and sent them to live
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with their father craig
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then in 1991 the 27 year old divorcee
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met 30 year old jimmy martinez
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we met at a bar in phoenix and he walked
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up and said
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i'm going to marry you and move you to
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texas and so
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two weeks later i was gone
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celeste and jimmy settled in austin
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texas but it didn't take long for
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problems to arise in celeste's marriage
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to husband number three
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before long he found out that the credit
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card bills were going up
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and it caused friction in the
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relationship
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through interviews with celeste children
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and those who knew her
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casey discovered that when things got
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tough celeste would threaten to commit
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suicide
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there was the time when she tried to
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jump out of the car on the middle of the
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freeway
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and jimmy grabbed her by the arm she
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reported him to the police saying that
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it was domestic abuse
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while still married to jimmy in 1993 30
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year old celeste took a job as a
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waitress at the exclusive austin country
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club
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it's where everyone and especially the
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old money
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in austin society that's where they hang
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out
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one of its members was 69 year old
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stephen beard who had recently sold his
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share of a local television station
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making him worth an estimated 15 million
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dollars
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he had three adult children in their 40s
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he was a big gregarious
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man demanding but i guess what attracted
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me to him was
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his wife had a stroke and he would bring
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her in and
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he would be feeding her scotch and i
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mean it would just be running down her
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chin
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to me that showed how much he left her
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eventually she died
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in october of 93 and i went up to him
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and i gave him a hug
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and he told me later on that that hug
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meant so much to him
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just imagine if you're less beard you're
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a waitress working for tips and all of a
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sudden you see this lonely old very
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wealthy man who just wants companionship
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mr beard probably thought it was the
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greatest thing in the world
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so ten days later we started uh dating
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and i moved in with him by christmas
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when we went into the clothing store you
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know he picked me out of shirt it was
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like six hundred dollars
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and then the first uh jewelry he gave me
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was like a three carat diamond ring and
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a
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42 diamond cocktail ring i mean he just
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lavished me
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with all this stuff shortly after moving
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in with stephen
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celeste filed for divorce from jimmy
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martinez and
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in february of 1995 married steven beard
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despite the near 40-year age difference
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to some the two
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seemed like a perfect match you couldn't
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help it like celeste she had a
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great sense of humor and a nice laugh
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she was easily amused
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he found a woman who could make him
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happy and that he wanted to shower
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attention on
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but the honeymoon wouldn't last long
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when women behind bars continues
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she became obsessed with me celeste
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asked tracy
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to kill steve she said if you don't i
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will kill myself
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and tracy agreed to kill steve to save
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celeste's life
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when 32 year old celeste married 71 year
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old steven beard in february of 1995
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her life suddenly felt like a dream come
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true he just put me on this pedestal and
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i never felt like that before with
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somebody i felt safe
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with him she saw his bankroll
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she saw the money he was able to give
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her the life she thought she
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deserved but problems began to crop up
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almost
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immediately celeste claimed stephen
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still wasn't over the death of his
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ex-wife elise
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we were living in the mansion that he
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lived with the lease
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everywhere i looked you know with my
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hair everything i felt like he was
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trying to turn me into her
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and i didn't want to be her i wanted to
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be me
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after less than five months of marriage
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the couple filed for divorce
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but within a week they reconciled and
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stephen made plans to build a brand new
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mansion and lake house for celeste
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he also agreed to help her regain
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custody of her 13 year old daughters
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the whole deal was if i married him he
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had to get
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my kids back i wanted to make sure that
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no matter what my kids were set for the
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rest of their life
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steven funded a costly legal battle and
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celeste was eventually granted custody
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of her daughters
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he also gave celeste a half million
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dollars to spend as she wished
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her closet was as big as most people's
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living rooms she had a shoe collection
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that rivaled
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mel de marcos i think one six-month
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period she went through half a million
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dollars
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the rate it was going she would have
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bankrupted him
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despite his generosity according to
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celeste life with stephen beard became
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increasingly unbearable
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all i had to do was be there at five
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o'clock
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when it was cocktail hour and we would
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have to sit
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sometimes till 10 o'clock and just our
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whole life revolved
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around cocktail hour and it drove me
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crazy
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they were both pretty volatile people
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she was a compulsive spender
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steven had some issues he drank very
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heavily i
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would always use the divorce card
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because i had been married
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so many times he knew that i would walk
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but celeste never did walk for one thing
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she'd signed a strict prenuptial
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agreement
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he was in love with celeste but he was a
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businessman and he understood money
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if they divorced during the first three
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years of the marriage she got nothing
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besides her personal property
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if she was married to him at the time
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that he died
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well then celeste was the primary
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beneficiary
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of the trust in the spring of 1999
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after a confrontation with stephen over
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money celeste threatened suicide and
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admitted herself to st
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david's pavilion a psychiatric hospital
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in central austin
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she goes the same day and basically
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she's got friends coming over
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and having pizzas delivered it's like a
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party but while there she strikes up
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this friendship
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with tracy talton according to
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authorities tracy was an alcoholic who
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was suffering from serious depression
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and had recently tried to commit suicide
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there was this pathetic lump of a person
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that my heart
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just went out to her tracy was at a low
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point in her life
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she was truly someone who had lived a
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horrific childhood
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she'd gone to st david's because she was
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drinking again and she'd become
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seriously suicidal
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celeste beard gave every indication to
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tracy tarleton
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that celeste beard wanted to be in a
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sexual relationship
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with tracy taught before long there were
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kind of stolen
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kisses and little romantic embraces
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somebody walked in one day
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and found tracy uh giving celeste a back
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rub
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celeste had her shirt off on the bed she
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soon fell in love
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with some less beer just like many
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people who have come in contact with her
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dead
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celeste insists the relationship was
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strictly platonic and denies any kind of
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sexual contact with tracy
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i really left her as a as a friend i
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didn't
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care that she was a lesbian i had just
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finally found
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somebody that i could talk to
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the two women then went to another
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institution called timberlawn together
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and actually lived together as
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outpatients at the end of their stay
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there
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they became lovers according to
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testimony the affair continued after
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celeste's release in the summer of 1999
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a relationship which celeste says had
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evolved into a one-sided obsession
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she became obsessed with me it finally
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escalated at my kids graduation party
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at the end of august photos show celeste
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dancing with tracy and sitting on her
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lap
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later on someone found the two in bed
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together celeste ate
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a lot of marijuana brownies and drank a
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lot of straight vodka
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did sex occur between them i think it
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did but i think it did
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in times when celeste was so out of it
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she didn't realize it
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in the fall of 1999 celeste's husband
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discovered the two women kissing during
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a dinner party at the beard mansion
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what finally happened was that steven
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beard
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kicked tracy out of their house told her
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never to come back
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tracy tarleton would later testify to a
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very different version of her
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relationship with celeste
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celes beer was telling tracy tarleton
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i'm in this
00:14:12
very very bad marriage i don't want to
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be there so she was
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always talking about committing suicide
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about hurting herself
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stephen determined to take celeste on a
00:14:24
worldwide tour they would be gone for
00:14:27
months
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he told quite a few people that this
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trip was a test
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to see if he and celeste could get along
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together
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if this didn't work out the implication
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was there that he would go forward with
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the divorce
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prosecutors theorized celeste feared
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that stephen would divorce her
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cutting off access to his funds so in
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order to maintain her lavish lifestyle
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celeste needed to stay married but life
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with stephen had become intolerable
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so because of having to spend time with
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a person who she was telling everybody
00:14:57
disgusted her she decided that something
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had to be done quickly
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she was not willing to take another
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extended trip
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with her husband she asked tracy
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to shoot and kill steve for tracy balk
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didn't want to do it celeste
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said if you don't i will die i will kill
00:15:19
myself
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and tracy agreed to kill steve to save
00:15:23
celeste's life
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in order to get steve beard's money she
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needed him dead
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in the early hours of october 2nd 1999
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the travis county sheriff's department
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received a 911
00:15:49
rookie allen howard was dispatched to
00:15:51
the scene
00:15:52
i go to the left side of the house and i
00:15:54
can see him laying in bed
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he's got a phone in his hand it's
00:15:57
covered in blood and he's literally
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holding his intestines in his hand
00:16:00
i take an expandable baton and actually
00:16:02
break out that glass door
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at this time i've been joined by one of
00:16:05
the medics and it does not look good at
00:16:06
this time
00:16:07
and he points out a shotgun shell to me
00:16:09
at that point everything changes
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the light finally goes off while we have
00:16:12
a shooting
00:16:14
when women behind bars continues a
00:16:16
scheming wife
00:16:17
tries to get away with murder she
00:16:19
started screaming what happened to my
00:16:20
husband what happened to my husband
00:16:22
over and over and over what happened to
00:16:24
my husband
00:16:25
and later in this episode of women
00:16:26
behind bars a middle-aged mother claims
00:16:29
her friend forced her to take part in a
00:16:31
fatal beating
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when that gun comes out you don't play
00:16:35
games with her
00:16:36
she snapped and i wasn't going to mess
00:16:38
with a
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crazy person
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in the early morning hours of october
00:16:54
2nd 1999
00:16:56
a deputy responding to an emergency call
00:16:58
at a mansion in southwest austin
00:17:00
discovered that a wealthy 74 year old
00:17:02
stephen beard had been shot in the
00:17:04
stomach
00:17:05
it first appeared to be a burglary gone
00:17:07
awry
00:17:08
when his much younger wife celeste
00:17:10
emerged the plot began to thicken
00:17:14
he started screaming what happened to my
00:17:15
husband what happened to my husband over
00:17:16
and over and over
00:17:18
it's not where is he going is he in
00:17:20
danger of dying is there anything i can
00:17:22
do
00:17:22
with some deputies she was almost
00:17:24
hysterical but with other deputies she
00:17:27
seemed almost giddy according to reports
00:17:30
that wasn't the only thing strange about
00:17:32
celeste's behavior
00:17:34
it was suspicious that she had not heard
00:17:36
the shotgun
00:17:37
being fired it was suspicious that there
00:17:40
was clearly a
00:17:41
scene set up there to make it appear
00:17:44
that a
00:17:45
burglary had occurred while stephen
00:17:47
beard was rushed to the hospital the
00:17:49
police wasted no time in interviewing
00:17:51
celeste daughters
00:17:53
one had been in the beard house that
00:17:54
night and the other had been staying
00:17:56
with her boyfriend at the family's lake
00:17:57
house
00:17:58
a name that immediately comes up is
00:18:00
tracy taulton
00:18:03
and they go to tracy talton's home and
00:18:05
she admits to them that she does own a
00:18:06
shotgun
00:18:07
and that shotgun turns out to be the
00:18:09
shotgun from which
00:18:11
the bullet that injured mr beard
00:18:14
was fired from six days later
00:18:18
tracy tarleton was arrested and charged
00:18:20
with injury to an elderly person
00:18:22
she quickly posted the 25 000 bail and
00:18:24
remained free for more than a year
00:18:27
as the weeks wore on investigators
00:18:28
became convinced that celeste beard was
00:18:31
somehow involved
00:18:32
and that her primary motive was to
00:18:34
inherit her husband's fortune
00:18:35
they zeroed in on celeste because
00:18:37
celeste was acting so oddly
00:18:40
she put a sign up on the door banning
00:18:43
the police from going in to interview
00:18:44
him
00:18:45
he didn't want to talk to the police he
00:18:47
just wanted to put everything behind us
00:18:50
critically injured stephen was taken by
00:18:52
life flight to a local hospital
00:18:54
he underwent emergency surgery but was
00:18:56
stabilized after several days
00:18:58
evidence shows that while her husband
00:19:00
was in the hospital celeste remained in
00:19:02
constant contact with tracy tarleton
00:19:04
at times he was very close to death but
00:19:07
he hung in there and he improved
00:19:10
and over a period of months continued to
00:19:13
get stronger
00:19:14
in january he's finally released from
00:19:17
the hospital
00:19:18
just one day after his release stephen
00:19:20
beard was readmitted to the hospital for
00:19:22
complications relating to his injuries
00:19:25
in a matter of days the 75 year old was
00:19:28
dead
00:19:31
for a long time it looked like it would
00:19:33
just be tracy tarleton who'd go down for
00:19:36
this
00:19:36
she was indicted first for the shooting
00:19:39
and then
00:19:40
after steve died for the murder
00:19:43
there was this lesbian relationship
00:19:46
going on between celeste beard and tracy
00:19:48
tarleton the only thing that stood
00:19:49
between
00:19:50
her and celeste beard getting together
00:19:53
with steven beard
00:19:55
but tarleton would find out differently
00:19:57
tracy taulton happened to read
00:19:59
a newspaper one day that had a wedding
00:20:02
announcement in it
00:20:03
and it was a wedding between celeste
00:20:05
beard and her new husband
00:20:08
at that point tracy talton realized
00:20:11
there was no relationship between her
00:20:13
and celeste beard
00:20:17
in february of 2001 tarleton was
00:20:19
formally charged with capital murder
00:20:21
she was arrested and held on five
00:20:23
hundred thousand dollars bail
00:20:25
in march 2002 while still in jail and
00:20:28
awaiting trial
00:20:29
tarleton finally agreed to cooperate she
00:20:32
told prosecutors celeste convinced her
00:20:34
to enter the beard home in the middle of
00:20:36
the night
00:20:36
and shoot stephen as he slept around two
00:20:39
o'clock in the morning
00:20:40
tracy drove to the beard mansion she'd
00:20:43
got out of the car
00:20:45
the door was unlocked and celeste had
00:20:47
told her that it would be
00:20:49
she walked into the bedroom stood at the
00:20:52
foot of the bed
00:20:52
saw steve sleeping in the bed put her
00:20:55
gun up
00:20:56
took a deep breath and pulled the
00:20:58
trigger
00:21:01
meanwhile celeste's relationship with
00:21:03
her twin daughters had deteriorated
00:21:05
due to her irrational behavior following
00:21:07
steven's death
00:21:09
just before their 18th birthday stephen
00:21:11
had legally adopted the twins
00:21:13
naming them as partial heirs to his
00:21:15
estate
00:21:16
after his death the twins joined
00:21:18
steven's natural children in a lawsuit
00:21:20
to regain control of steven's estate
00:21:22
from celeste to keep their mother from
00:21:24
spending the beard fortune
00:21:27
they saw her on the day of his funeral
00:21:30
practically celebrating his death
00:21:32
laughing about him having died
00:21:36
on march 29 2002 celeste was arrested
00:21:39
and
00:21:39
indicted for the murder of her husband
00:21:41
stephen beard
00:21:43
opening arguments in her trial were
00:21:44
presented the following february
00:21:46
the prosecutors did a pretty good job of
00:21:48
showing was that
00:21:50
she definitely moved into the starting
00:21:52
to plot steven's death
00:21:54
the night that stephen witnessed the
00:21:57
celeste beer and tracy tarleton
00:21:59
kiss she's willing to enter into a
00:22:01
lesbian relationship
00:22:03
in order to manipulate that person
00:22:06
into killing her husband dicta guerin
00:22:09
argues for celeste
00:22:11
that tracy tarleton is just plum crazy
00:22:14
that this woman is an aggressive
00:22:16
predatory lesbian
00:22:18
who has gone after celeste tracy
00:22:24
is an evil person she's
00:22:27
really is as close as someone can be
00:22:31
to being a homicidal uh
00:22:34
maniac prosecutors then presented
00:22:38
testimony from a woman named donna
00:22:39
goodson
00:22:40
who claimed that celeste paid her to
00:22:42
hire a hitman to kill tracy tarleton in
00:22:44
2000
00:22:45
after steven's murder tracy is the one
00:22:48
who can really
00:22:49
pull it all together and give the
00:22:50
complete picture it all really hung on
00:22:52
her testimony
00:22:53
if she came off as unbelievable on the
00:22:55
stand the prosecutors would not win
00:22:58
prosecutors did a good job of showing
00:23:00
that celeste beard
00:23:02
went through a lot of pains to
00:23:05
strike up a close personal relationship
00:23:08
with tracy tarleton and that
00:23:13
she was doing this with a thought in
00:23:14
mind of using tracy tarleton
00:23:18
in the end a jury believed that
00:23:21
celeste used tracy to get rid of steven
00:23:24
beard
00:23:32
when the verdict was read and i looked
00:23:34
over at celeste and she had this lost
00:23:37
quizzical look in her face as she didn't
00:23:39
understand
00:23:40
[Applause]
00:23:42
[Laughter]
00:23:46
celeste johnson who is serving her
00:23:47
sentence at a maximum security prison in
00:23:50
texas
00:23:50
has a message for her 27 year old twin
00:23:53
daughters
00:23:53
whose testimony helped put her away for
00:23:56
life
00:23:56
i would tell them that i love them and i
00:23:59
hope that someday that they'll be able
00:24:01
to forgive me for whatever i've done
00:24:04
to make them turn on me like this and
00:24:08
i'm sorry but i don't feel like it's
00:24:12
right either that i have to live
00:24:14
here for the rest of my life for a crime
00:24:17
that they know
00:24:18
that i did not commit
00:24:21
in accordance with his will stephen
00:24:23
beard's estate was divided between his
00:24:25
three biological children and celeste's
00:24:27
twin daughters
00:24:35
i just keep thinking that the truth is
00:24:37
going to come out and that i'm going to
00:24:39
be able to
00:24:40
to walk out of here with
00:24:44
all these life lessons that i've learned
00:24:46
and
00:24:48
live my life different be a
00:24:51
be a better person
00:24:53
[Music]
00:24:56
next up on women behind bars a mentally
00:24:59
impaired
00:25:00
man is allegedly abused and beaten to
00:25:02
death by a gang of six
00:25:03
led by two older women she was
00:25:07
hitting him and she wouldn't feed her
00:25:10
and let him eat
00:25:11
and i told her you can't do that he's a
00:25:13
human being
00:25:17
for more information on women behind
00:25:18
bars go to www.wetv.com
00:25:28
on august 26 1998 police found the body
00:25:32
of a 59 year old mentally handicapped
00:25:34
man
00:25:35
buddy musso in a ditch on the side of a
00:25:37
road
00:25:38
[Music]
00:25:40
at first the authorities could not id
00:25:42
the victim
00:25:43
because the injuries were so extensive
00:25:46
his body
00:25:47
was beaten literally from the top of his
00:25:50
head
00:25:51
to his toes investigators were led to a
00:25:54
gang of six
00:25:55
including 54 year old bernice aarons and
00:25:58
the ringleader
00:25:59
suzanne basso
00:26:02
bernice claimed she was forced to
00:26:04
participate while police believed she
00:26:06
was a willing accomplice to the other
00:26:07
woman
00:26:09
suzanne used a lot of manipulation and
00:26:11
threats
00:26:12
to get these folks to do what she wanted
00:26:14
they all said they were scared of what
00:26:16
she might do to them
00:26:17
if they did not comply with her orders
00:26:22
was bernice ahrens a willing participant
00:26:24
in buddy musso's sadistic death
00:26:26
[Music]
00:26:27
or was she forced to follow the orders
00:26:29
of her domineering friend
00:26:38
fifty-one-year-old bernice ahrens was a
00:26:40
lonely widowed mother of two
00:26:42
living in houston texas with her 25 year
00:26:45
old son craig and 22 year old daughter
00:26:47
hope
00:26:47
she had never had any brushes with the
00:26:49
law bernice ahrens
00:26:51
was a middle-aged woman with two adult
00:26:53
children craig and hope
00:26:56
she had a job had an apartment she lived
00:26:58
with her children
00:26:59
both craig and hope were slow
00:27:03
in 1995 bernice met suzanne basso
00:27:06
a 41 year old security guard for
00:27:08
apartment complexes and businesses
00:27:11
i worked in the harris county marriage
00:27:14
license and
00:27:16
dba office and she came in as a customer
00:27:19
and
00:27:20
i helped her we got to talking and
00:27:23
she asked me to go to dinner that
00:27:25
evening
00:27:27
and i went i was just
00:27:31
wanting friendship suzanne and bernice
00:27:34
became fast friends
00:27:36
she was always warm and friendly
00:27:39
and helpful and if i needed to go
00:27:42
someplace
00:27:43
if i needed some extra money if i didn't
00:27:46
have
00:27:46
she would you know she was
00:27:50
a person i could i thought i could count
00:27:52
on
00:27:53
but suzanne also had a mysterious past
00:27:56
she just had a lot of aliases a lot of
00:27:59
identifications
00:28:00
i don't know that anybody truly really
00:28:02
knew her or what she was about
00:28:04
because she tried to be somebody else
00:28:06
all the time
00:28:08
in july 1997 a few years after meeting
00:28:10
bernice
00:28:11
suzanne traveled to new jersey to visit
00:28:13
friends and met cognitively impaired
00:28:16
louis buddy musso at a church bazaar
00:28:19
buddy musso was a 59 year old man
00:28:23
who probably had
00:28:26
the mindset of an eight-year-old he was
00:28:28
mentally challenged
00:28:30
lived in cliffside park new jersey
00:28:33
at an assistant living facility everyone
00:28:36
in the assisted living facility just
00:28:38
loved him
00:28:40
suzanne i think targeted him you know
00:28:42
honed right in on him
00:28:44
saw him alone saw him by himself started
00:28:46
communicating with him by phone
00:28:48
and by letters he got very smitten with
00:28:51
her
00:28:52
and they started this so-called
00:28:54
relationship where he
00:28:57
saved up money to buy her an engagement
00:28:59
ring and he was saving up his money to
00:29:01
come to texas buddy wanted to be loved
00:29:04
he wanted to be part of a family
00:29:06
and i believe that suzanne
00:29:09
told him that that's what was going to
00:29:11
happen if he moved to houston
00:29:13
he bought a greyhound bus ticket had
00:29:15
bought some cowboy boots and a shirt and
00:29:18
a
00:29:18
necktie and got on the bus and headed
00:29:20
for texas
00:29:24
in june 1998 buddy moved to san jacinto
00:29:27
texas to live with 44 year old suzanne
00:29:29
basso
00:29:30
and her developmentally delayed 23 year
00:29:32
old son
00:29:33
james o'malley when buddy
00:29:36
arrived in texas his dreams of having
00:29:40
a wife and a family never materialized
00:29:43
he was living with suzanne basso in a
00:29:46
rental home and basically lived a life
00:29:48
of servitude
00:29:49
she had him carry groceries take out the
00:29:52
trash
00:29:53
you know do all the grunt work she took
00:29:55
him away from his support system and
00:29:58
so was able to have her will with him at
00:30:00
that point in time
00:30:02
according to court testimony suzanne
00:30:04
started to abuse buddy as soon as he
00:30:06
arrived in texas
00:30:09
she beat him many times for not doing
00:30:13
what she wanted him to do
00:30:15
soon after his arrival suzanne
00:30:17
introduced buddy to bernice
00:30:20
when she told me that she met him in new
00:30:23
york
00:30:23
that he was a friend of her sons and
00:30:27
he was going to come and live with them
00:30:29
and
00:30:30
i was surprised you know
00:30:33
that i thought he had a family boy come
00:30:36
here
00:30:38
meanwhile suzanne immediately laid claim
00:30:40
to buddy's assets
00:30:41
[Music]
00:30:43
she typed up a last will and testament
00:30:46
for betty which bernice aaron signed as
00:30:49
well as some of the other
00:30:51
kids signed as witnesses that upon
00:30:53
buddy's death all of his property would
00:30:55
go to suzanne
00:30:56
one of the provisions in it is that
00:30:59
suzanne basso is to get all of the
00:31:00
insurance policies that i have
00:31:02
and all the money that is to be in the
00:31:04
policies no one else is to get a cent
00:31:06
from it bernice claims suzanne forced
00:31:09
her to sign the will as a witness
00:31:12
one day she made me sign something
00:31:16
and i don't know what it was but she
00:31:18
says you gotta sign this and
00:31:20
and i i didn't even read it fourteen
00:31:23
months after buddy had moved to texas
00:31:25
forty-four-year-old suzanne brought
00:31:27
buddy and her son james
00:31:28
to stay at bernice's apartment saying
00:31:30
she had a leak in her home
00:31:33
according to bernice's statement to
00:31:34
police buddy was in bad shape when they
00:31:37
arrived
00:31:37
she says that suzanne brought buddy over
00:31:40
to her house friday
00:31:41
he had two black eyes several cuts on
00:31:43
the back of his head
00:31:44
buddy would sit on the mat in the
00:31:45
hallway and pick his head where he had
00:31:47
cuts and make it bleed
00:31:48
and it would make suzanne mad and she
00:31:50
would beat him with anything that was
00:31:51
handy
00:31:52
she hit him with a belt hands a wooden
00:31:54
bird anything she had
00:31:57
bernice didn't call the police instead
00:32:00
she allowed suzanne
00:32:02
buddy and james to move into her home
00:32:04
that she shared with her adult children
00:32:06
craig and hope ahrens and hope's fiancee
00:32:10
terence singleton and i suggest
00:32:13
that was the wrong thing to do
00:32:17
that was the wrong thing to do because
00:32:20
that's when everything
00:32:21
happened bernice claims that suzanne
00:32:25
took over immediately after moving in
00:32:27
she claimed that suzanne brandished a
00:32:29
gun to control the situation
00:32:31
every time she would leave the apartment
00:32:34
she would have one of my kids with her
00:32:37
i could have got the cops and said
00:32:39
something
00:32:40
but i didn't know what she would do with
00:32:44
my kids
00:32:45
i wasn't going to take that chance when
00:32:48
that gun comes out you don't play
00:32:50
games with her
00:32:51
[Music]
00:32:53
according to the testimony of each
00:32:55
participant the group including the
00:32:56
adult children
00:32:57
became involved in beating and torturing
00:32:59
buddy right away
00:33:02
you know their mom's there and so they
00:33:04
were going to do what their mom wanted
00:33:05
them to do
00:33:06
and again were involved that way
00:33:09
the abuse continued round the clock for
00:33:11
the next four days
00:33:13
they all took part each one whether they
00:33:17
slapped him
00:33:18
they kicked him they hit him with the
00:33:19
bat hit him with the
00:33:21
vacuum cleaner attachment dumped him in
00:33:24
the tub
00:33:25
all of the torture that he endured was
00:33:28
at the hands of all six
00:33:29
all of them took part in one way or
00:33:32
another i believe that it was very easy
00:33:34
for suzanne
00:33:35
to lead them she was the ringleader of
00:33:37
the group and because of their slowness
00:33:39
and probably because they wanted to
00:33:41
please her they participated
00:33:43
in what she began we were scared of her
00:33:48
of one person that had that gun
00:33:51
that mighty gun that could have done a
00:33:53
lot of damage
00:33:55
i was scared and the kids followed
00:33:58
my lead buddy
00:34:01
was such a sweet soul and i don't think
00:34:04
he really fought back
00:34:05
and so they had an open field to abuse
00:34:08
him
00:34:09
at will under suzanne's direction and
00:34:11
consent
00:34:13
the punishments kept getting worse and
00:34:15
worse and worse
00:34:16
i think at some point they just didn't
00:34:18
even see him as a human being
00:34:20
this was a primitive tribal
00:34:23
animalistic act that
00:34:26
was so far removed from
00:34:29
the social norms that it's difficult to
00:34:32
conceive
00:34:35
bernice claims she was either at work or
00:34:37
away from her home
00:34:38
during most of the beatings but police
00:34:41
allege that bernice didn't just watch
00:34:43
she actually took part in the brutality
00:34:46
in her statement to police at the time
00:34:48
of her arrest bernice admitted to
00:34:50
participating in the abuse
00:34:52
although now she claims having no
00:34:54
recollection of it
00:34:55
i don't i don't remember this
00:34:58
i don't remember seeing any of this
00:35:02
what do you want me to say
00:35:06
i don't remember it there wasn't
00:35:09
any person there that was strong enough
00:35:11
to prevent this from happening or to say
00:35:13
you know hey we shouldn't do this
00:35:15
she was hitting him and she wouldn't let
00:35:19
him eat
00:35:20
and i told her i said you can't do that
00:35:22
he's a human being what are you doing
00:35:25
and she says to me you shut up
00:35:29
four days after suzanne buddy and her
00:35:31
son had moved into bernice's apartment
00:35:33
suzanne went to the police to claim that
00:35:35
buddy had disappeared
00:35:38
she tried to set up a defense for
00:35:40
herself
00:35:41
she called the family and told them that
00:35:43
buddy was missing and then he'd possibly
00:35:46
run away with a little spanish lady that
00:35:48
he had met at the washitaria
00:35:51
which was a complete lie and she also
00:35:54
made a police report saying that that he
00:35:56
was missing at 10
00:35:58
15 p.m on tuesday august 25 1998
00:36:02
after five days of vicious beatings
00:36:04
buddy musso received a fatal blow
00:36:06
in the bathroom of bernice aaron's
00:36:08
apartment
00:36:09
they administered their final beating of
00:36:11
him including
00:36:12
scratching him with the wire brush on
00:36:14
his body and pouring
00:36:16
ammonia or bleach or ponzol in his
00:36:18
wounds and
00:36:19
dumping him in the bathtub where he
00:36:21
eventually died
00:36:24
in her statement to the police bernice
00:36:25
claimed that she was in the house when
00:36:27
buddy died
00:36:28
but passively waited for suzanne to
00:36:30
orchestrate the disposal of the body
00:36:32
she told the boys to get him dressed
00:36:36
that we would have to get rid of the
00:36:37
body and i
00:36:39
says no we're calling 911 she says no
00:36:42
we're getting rid of the body that's
00:36:45
when they
00:36:45
put clothes on him they put shoes on the
00:36:48
wrong foot
00:36:49
put him in the trunk of the car drove
00:36:50
him to a remote area
00:36:53
and dumped his body out on the side of
00:36:54
the road
00:36:57
when women behind bars continues the
00:37:00
medical examiner described a person who
00:37:02
just slowly was beaten to death
00:37:12
[Music]
00:37:16
after suffering weeks of abuse 59 year
00:37:19
old buddy musso was tortured and killed
00:37:21
by six accomplices
00:37:23
including 54 year old bernice ahrens
00:37:26
on august 26 1998 the day after he was
00:37:30
killed
00:37:30
a jogger discovered musso's brutalized
00:37:33
body in a ditch on the side of a road
00:37:35
the victim
00:37:36
had been severely beaten
00:37:39
we knew we had a homicide the first
00:37:42
thing that we noticed was that the
00:37:44
with the extent of the injuries of him
00:37:46
that the body had
00:37:47
on clean clothes very very few blood
00:37:50
stains
00:37:51
he had one shoe on it and it was on the
00:37:53
wrong foot
00:37:54
there was no identification on the body
00:37:56
at all well at that point i'd called the
00:37:59
dispatcher and
00:38:00
had her check for missing persons and
00:38:02
she notified us that a lady had reported
00:38:05
a missing person
00:38:06
they were able to put the two and two
00:38:08
together and recognize that the person
00:38:10
that was found in the field
00:38:11
was in fact the person that was reported
00:38:13
missing by suzanne
00:38:15
i went to the address of the lady that
00:38:17
reported that particular person missing
00:38:20
and made contact with her
00:38:24
chief pruitt drove suzanne basso and her
00:38:26
son james to the crime scene
00:38:29
i stopped the car back beyond the other
00:38:32
side of the bridge
00:38:34
and got out with uh james o'malley and
00:38:37
walked him up to about
00:38:38
where he could see the victim buddy
00:38:40
museum
00:38:41
and asked him if if that in fact was
00:38:44
buddy
00:38:45
and he immediately confirmed that it was
00:38:48
buddy
00:38:50
under questioning james o'malley
00:38:52
suzanne's son
00:38:53
confessed that they had killed buddy but
00:38:55
suzanne insisted
00:38:56
she was innocent she just broke down and
00:38:59
she went into her it's not my fault they
00:39:01
did this
00:39:02
and they did that and i told her i said
00:39:04
well your son
00:39:06
just confessed of everybody's
00:39:08
involvement in this
00:39:10
o'malley also named bernice erins and
00:39:12
her two adult children
00:39:13
hope and craig in his confession later
00:39:17
on police searched bernice's apartment
00:39:19
and questioned her
00:39:20
her kids and her daughter's fiance
00:39:22
terence singleton
00:39:23
we knew that they were probably involved
00:39:25
we detained them and
00:39:27
then we started safeguarding evidence
00:39:30
when the cops came i look like breathed
00:39:33
like a sign of relief like i'm glad it's
00:39:36
over
00:39:36
it's over and i'm glad the six
00:39:39
accomplices were booked in the harris
00:39:41
county jail
00:39:42
and charged with capital murder
00:39:49
i was in so much shock this you know
00:39:52
just being there
00:39:54
because i've never gotten into any kind
00:39:55
of trouble before
00:39:57
and i never was in a courtroom or
00:40:00
anything so i didn't know what to expect
00:40:03
and i'm just sitting there like like a
00:40:05
dummy
00:40:06
we tried her for capital murder and we
00:40:09
were seeking a life sentence
00:40:11
for capital murder i think that bernice
00:40:14
was willing to do whatever suzanne asked
00:40:16
i don't know if it was just for the
00:40:17
friendship
00:40:18
or the fact that bernice was just kind
00:40:20
of lonely and looking for
00:40:22
somebody you know just to sort of give
00:40:23
her positive feedback i don't know
00:40:25
[Music]
00:40:28
bernice's defense attorney argued that
00:40:30
her role in the crime was minor and
00:40:32
blamed suzanne vasso
00:40:34
he claimed that suzanne had masterminded
00:40:36
the murder in order to get money from
00:40:37
buddy's insurance policies
00:40:39
of which suzanne was the sole
00:40:41
beneficiary everybody's defense
00:40:43
primarily pointed to suzanne basso as as
00:40:46
the ringleader and she was
00:40:47
bernice had a full-time job so her part
00:40:50
was well you know i was working
00:40:53
how can i know what's going on when i'm
00:40:55
at work all i know is that
00:40:57
one day i went to work
00:41:00
and i came home and the house was empty
00:41:03
and then they all started coming in she
00:41:06
says
00:41:07
but he's dead but the prosecution argued
00:41:10
that bernice knew about the abuse and
00:41:12
participated
00:41:14
they presented as evidence a typewritten
00:41:16
signed copy of bernice's verbal
00:41:18
confession at the time of her arrest
00:41:20
in which she admitted to some
00:41:21
culpability
00:41:23
it was clear that suzanne was the one in
00:41:26
charge
00:41:27
and bernice was willing to do her
00:41:28
bidding they tried to argue that they
00:41:30
were just present
00:41:31
the law says that merely being present
00:41:34
doesn't make you responsible for a crime
00:41:37
they were all willing and active
00:41:38
participants
00:41:39
and as a result of all of them acting
00:41:41
together this man died
00:41:43
[Music]
00:41:46
the cornerstone of the prosecution's
00:41:48
case were photos and testimony
00:41:50
which proved that musso had suffered
00:41:52
greatly the autopsy photographs were
00:41:55
extremely
00:41:56
important in this case because that was
00:41:58
our case
00:41:59
to show how badly that man had been
00:42:01
beaten the medical examiner described a
00:42:03
person who
00:42:04
just slowly was beaten to death
00:42:12
the jury found bernice aaron's guilty of
00:42:14
murder and they gave her 80
00:42:16
years in the texas department of
00:42:17
corrections i was in total shock
00:42:20
because i didn't do it i kept saying i
00:42:23
didn't do it i didn't do it
00:42:26
and i felt that all right
00:42:29
if i was in the house when it happened
00:42:32
which i was
00:42:33
i'm admitting that at least i could have
00:42:37
been
00:42:37
charged with cynics you know an
00:42:39
accessory
00:42:40
or something but not for the crime i
00:42:43
didn't do the crime
00:42:45
i was glad that the jury gave bernice 80
00:42:48
years because that's a lot of time
00:42:50
and i thought that was appropriate for
00:42:51
her actions
00:42:53
bernice's children were also found
00:42:55
guilty 26 year old craig was sentenced
00:42:57
to 60 years
00:42:58
23 year old hope got 20 years for a plea
00:43:01
bargain where she confessed to murder
00:43:03
and testified in suzanne's trial against
00:43:05
her
00:43:06
suzanne was found guilty and convicted
00:43:08
of capital murder on august 27
00:43:10
1999 the jury also convicted james
00:43:14
o'malley and terence singleton
00:43:16
of capital murder they were sentenced to
00:43:18
life in prison
00:43:19
suzanne basso was tried for the capital
00:43:21
murder of buddy musso
00:43:22
we sought the death penalty and the jury
00:43:25
ultimately sentenced
00:43:26
suzanne basso to death for that crime
00:43:29
suzanne is a death row inmate at a
00:43:31
medical facility in a maximum security
00:43:34
prison
00:43:35
i don't believe in the death penalty but
00:43:37
that's one person that i believe
00:43:38
should get the death penalty for ruining
00:43:41
other people's lives
00:43:43
yes in 2002
00:43:46
bernice was transferred to a maximum
00:43:48
security prison in marlin texas
00:43:50
the same facility where her daughter
00:43:52
hope is serving her sentence
00:43:54
she sees her daughter once a week
00:43:56
bernice maintains her innocence
00:43:58
but does regret her actions if i didn't
00:44:00
open up my house to her
00:44:03
none of this would have happened and i
00:44:05
blame myself for the whole thing

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most heartbreaking
  • 75
    Biggest twist
  • 70
    Most dramatic

Episode Highlights

  • Murderous Obsession
    Celeste Beard's life spirals into chaos as she plots against her husband for money.
    “She became obsessed with me.”
    @ 08m 31s
    January 12, 2021
  • A Dangerous Pact
    Celeste convinces Tracy to kill her husband, fearing for her lavish lifestyle.
    “If you don't, I will kill myself.”
    @ 15m 15s
    January 12, 2021
  • The 911 Call
    A frantic call reveals the shocking scene of Stephen Beard's shooting.
    “He's literally holding his intestines in his hand.”
    @ 15m 57s
    January 12, 2021
  • Celeste Beard's Arrest
    On March 29, 2002, Celeste Beard was arrested and indicted for the murder of her husband, Stephen Beard.
    “She definitely moved into the starting to plot Steven's death.”
    @ 21m 36s
    January 12, 2021
  • The Brutal Murder of Buddy Musso
    Buddy Musso, a 59-year-old mentally challenged man, was brutally beaten to death by six accomplices.
    “After suffering weeks of abuse, Buddy Musso was tortured and killed by six accomplices.”
    @ 37m 19s
    January 12, 2021
  • Sentencing of the Accomplices
    Bernice Ahrens and her children were found guilty in the murder of Buddy Musso, receiving lengthy sentences.
    “The jury found Bernice Ahrens guilty of murder and they gave her 80 years in prison.”
    @ 42m 12s
    January 12, 2021
  • Bernice's Regret
    Bernice maintains her innocence but regrets her actions, feeling responsible for the outcome.
    “If I didn’t open up my house to her, none of this would have happened.”
    @ 44m 00s
    January 12, 2021

Episode Quotes

  • I never felt like that before with somebody, I felt safe.
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode
  • If you don't, I will kill myself.
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode
  • What happened to my husband?
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode
  • I just keep thinking that the truth is going to come out.
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode
  • This was a primitive tribal animalistic act that was so far removed from social norms.
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode
  • I blame myself for the whole thing.
    Women Behind Bars - Season 1, Episode 9 - Celeste and Bernice - Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Frantic 911 Call00:07
  • Murder Plot08:31
  • Desperate Plea15:15
  • Manipulation and Betrayal22:01
  • Testimony's Impact22:50
  • Brutal Murder37:19
  • Family Visits43:54
  • Innocence and Regret43:56

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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