3 June 1 - 7, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents KEEPING A COLD CASE WARM SEVEN YEARS AFTER MISSY BEVERS’ MURDER, TRUE-CRIME FANS CONTINUE TO FUEL FASCINATION WITH HER CASE. BY SIMONE CARTER S everal townsfolk murmured softly as they stood before the young red oak tree on Tuesday, April 18. Nearly as many members of the me- dia planted themselves on the side- lines, cameras aimed and ready. A reddish-brown stone bore the inscription “In Loving Memory of Missy Bevers.” It was signed “Friends of TCB.” The podcasters from True Crime Broads had invited their listeners to the tree-plant- ing ceremony at a park in Midlothian, a city of around 40,000 located roughly a half- hour’s drive southwest from Dallas. Some wore custom black T-shirts to the event, the words “Justice for Missy, 4/18/2016” scrawled onto a large red heart. That Tuesday marked seven years since 45-year-old Terri “Missy” Bevers, who had lived in nearby Red Oak, was murdered in a Midlothian church. Many residents were cer- tain that her case would be solved in the days after. That confidence has gradually waned in the weeks, months and years since. Attendees bowed their heads in prayer during opening remarks. Then, dressed in one of the custom shirts, True Crime Broads’ Renae Rodden thanked the modest crowd for showing up and lending support. “Missy was a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter — and, you know, it could have been any of us,” Rodden said, her speech punctuated by the sound of kids horsing around on the park’s playground. “Together, I think that we are able to just come together, make sure that tips keep coming in, people keep talking about this case,” she continued. “Because when people quit talking, when tips quit coming in, the case goes cold.” The ceremony was brief. A former Midlo- thian police officer offered reassurance that investigators are still sorting through pieces of the jigsaw puzzle behind the scenes. But many in Midlothian are vexed by what they view as a relative lack of momentum in solving a murder that, for a time, was heavily featured by the national and international news media, including by true crime titans like Nancy Grace. Stories about the case have since largely dwindled to local news briefs on anniversaries of Bevers’ killing. Bevers’ widower and three daughters desperately want justice. So do true-crime lovers who’d never met the fitness instructor in real life before becoming transfixed by her bizarre death. When the speakers had wrapped up, Midlothian residents bantered about Bev- ers’ murder and other cases covered by True Crime Broads. They marveled at a lack of developments. They floated their own theories. Attendee Pepper Kuykendall gestured to the overcast sky and wondered aloud whether it would rain. The recently planted red oak could probably use it, after all. “It’s that time of year, you know,” Kuyken- dall said. “April showers bring May flowers.” But the rain never came. B lue and orange wildflowers painted the field adjacent to the Creekside Church the afternoon of the tree-planting cere- mony. A woman exited the imposing taupe building and beelined for her car. The church’s exterior doors shut and locked be- hind her. On April 18 seven years earlier, Bevers en- tered the church at around 4:20 a.m., ac- cording to police. She was there to teach a class for Camp Gladiator, an outdoor fitness program. She posted on Facebook the night before that they would still be training, de- spite an April shower that forced the session indoors. By the time Bevers arrived, the killer had already been plodding up and down the church halls for some 30 minutes. Video later released by police shows the suspect in SWAT-like tactical gear, clutching what looks to be a hammer, the Observer reported in 2017. The perpetra- tor vandalized the church. They opened and closed doors. They walked with a pe- culiar gait. And, before long, they encoun- tered Bevers, whose body was discovered by students around 5 a.m. She died of puncture wounds to her chest and head. Reports of the suspect’s height varied: anywhere from 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-8. The person’s strange walk could have Alicia Anthony >> p4 In Midlothian, True Crime Broads podcast listeners and internet sleuths commemorate Missy Bevers.
