TX - Terri 'Missy' Bevers, 45, killed in church/suspect in SWAT gear, Midlothian, 18 Apr 2016 #45

[BeachSky]

It’s all in what the motive is. If you are breaking and entering, which involves some damage in order to breach what you’re trying to get to, I don’t personally call that vandalism.

What I call vandalism is stuff like spray painting on walls, putting holes in walls with a hammer, taking whacks at pews, turning on all the water faucets so that sinks overflow and flood... things that are done for no purpose other than to tear something up. There is no evidence that the perp did any of those things. So absent a big surprise of something to the contrary, we’re left with either targeted (came there for Missy) or Untargeted (came there for the building, to perhaps commit theft although maybe they failed to find anything worth taking, or cosplay).

IMO
The perp targeted Missy
Knew her schedule
Knew the area
Personally connected to her
Knew where the cameras were in the church
( possibly surrounding business also)
Got there early to stage it..as if perp were surprised by Missy during the faux vandalism.
Possibly this perp had a car waiting out of camera range.

I’ve tried to squeeze a jealous wife of a ripped male trainer into this rabbit hole ...but she would of had to of known most of the above things...purposely walked that way...not afraid of being caught.
This was a stocky, older man IMO who had a personal vendetta, a plan...that he had waited for the perfect day...was privy to Missy’s schedule and was excited to kill her in this manner.
Devalue her ...by ending her life....erasing her.
And with the perp getting away with it...made her not matter.
Dangerous perp to be out there still IMO.

 

[Deleted member 102539]

re: alibis
I still think about that side by side body comparison video


MOO

I think of a killer (maybe young, between 25+30 yo) with a client (maybe 20 years older or even much more).
I once saw a pic of Swat gear man (saved, but lost meanwhile ), where one could see his eyes rather distinctly, and my impression was that of young eyes. IMO

 

[Deleted member 102539]

IMO
The perp targeted Missy
Knew her schedule
Knew the area
Personally connected to her
Knew where the cameras were in the church
( possibly surrounding business also)
Got there early to stage it..as if perp were surprised by Missy during the faux vandalism.
Possibly this perp had a car waiting out of camera range.

I’ve tried to squeeze a jealous wife of a ripped male trainer into this rabbit hole ...but she would of had to of known most of the above things...purposely walked that way...not afraid of being caught.
This was a stocky, older man IMO who had a personal vendetta, a plan...that he had waited for the perfect day...was privy to Missy’s schedule and was excited to kill her in this manner.
Devalue her ...by ending her life....erasing her.
And with the perp getting away with it...made her not matter.
Dangerous perp to be out there still IMO.

bbm
I would question the predicate "stocky, old", but otherwise I agree.

 

[BeachSky]

bbm
I would question the predicate "stocky, old", but otherwise I agree.

Sorry ...older than a jealous wife IOW

 

[BeachSky]

I think of a killer (maybe young, between 25+30 yo) with a client (maybe 20 years older or even much more).
I once saw a pic of Swat gear man (saved, but lost meanwhile ), where one could see his eyes rather distinctly, and my impression was that of young eyes. IMO

...this side by side was with an older man than that
Google it, it’s out there .

MOO

 

[windrower]

Damage that we know about for sure:

N/NE corner of building most secluded from highway - NE entrance doors broken, 1 or possibly 2 window screens to room 7/8 were twisted/pried, and kitchen service door had its window broken in order to reach in and unlock. Possibly tried to pry that same door (news reports show entire latch gone, but unclear whether killer did that or CSI removed).

Storage room 9 at NE of church - glass window broken in order to reach in and unlock.

Janitorial closet #1 - Door jamb may have been damaged in brief attempt to pry open locked door.

W side of church - unknown source of broken glass found around Missy, possibly broken during struggle, possibly glass table.

And that’s it. No damage to doors at SE, SW, W, or NW that we know of. No damage to walls that we know of. No damage to doors other than those that were locked to the killer.

I wouldn’t hang my hat on a warrant using the term “tools” in conjunction with the wounds. A gun could certainly fall into that category. Police have also made a number of factual errors in these warrants, including saying that Missy was found at the SW corner of the interior.

bbm

I followed this case from the beginning, and I don't recall reading about factual errors in the LE warrants. But I surely could have missed that detail. Do you have a link for the bolded statement?

Way back then, we had quite a bit of discussion, iirc, about what the "SW corner of the interior" meant--either right inside the doors between the porte-cochere (where Missy parked) and the main hallway, or inside the auditorium/sanctuary area.

Many churches have the same type of design--an interior squarish auditorium/sanctuary area, with a hallway on all four sides, and rooms (offices, kitchen, classrooms, etc.) on the outer sides of the hallways. In Creekside's case, the middle of the westerly hallway was the main entrance.

I probably have maps and drawings and information from this case stored on a hard drive; I haven't looked at any of it in a long time.

My theory is the perp is a female, closer in relationship to Missy than most people think, who felt her spouse or significant other was too supportive and/or friendly with Missy, actual or perceived. The bonus for her in killing Missy was also taking care of a problem for Missy's husband, whether that problem was actual or just perceived as such by the perp. IMO

I think the perp did lie in wait for Missy, knew about what time Missy would show up to set up for her class, and blindsided her once she was in the building. She knew a lot about Missy's schedule, and the schedule of other family members, because of her close relationship with the family. IMO

Of course, the theory is all my supposition and opinion, based on the crime, and a few comments, thoughts, and some information shared by other posters in the early threads. Which seems so very long ago. I hope Missy will have justice someday.

 

[Lhughessk]

bbm

I followed this case from the beginning, and I don't recall reading about factual errors in the LE warrants. But I surely could have missed that detail. Do you have a link for the bolded statement?

Way back then, we had quite a bit of discussion, iirc, about what the "SW corner of the interior" meant--either right inside the doors between the porte-cochere (where Missy parked) and the main hallway, or inside the auditorium/sanctuary area.

Many churches have the same type of design--an interior squarish auditorium/sanctuary area, with a hallway on all four sides, and rooms (offices, kitchen, classrooms, etc.) on the outer sides of the hallways. In Creekside's case, the middle of the westerly hallway was the main entrance.

I probably have maps and drawings and information from this case stored on a hard drive; I haven't looked at any of it in a long time.

My theory is the perp is a female, closer in relationship to Missy than most people think, who felt her spouse or significant other was too supportive and/or friendly with Missy, actual or perceived. The bonus for her in killing Missy was also taking care of a problem for Missy's husband, whether that problem was actual or just perceived as such by the perp. IMO

I think the perp did lie in wait for Missy, knew about what time Missy would show up to set up for her class, and blindsided her once she was in the building. She knew a lot about Missy's schedule, and the schedule of other family members, because of her close relationship with the family. IMO

Of course, the theory is all my supposition and opinion, based on the crime, and a few comments, thoughts, and some information shared by other posters in the early threads. Which seems so very long ago. I hope Missy will have justice someday.

for Missy to have been at the southwest corner of the interior, she would have to have been literally right inside the southwest entrance, basically straight in front of the doors or else just to the left where the bathrooms are. If she had turned right to go down the Dutch door room hallway, she would’ve been south instead of Southwest. To go further North from the entrance doors, she would’ve been either on the west side of the building or if you kept on walking, the north side of the building.

we know she wasn’t found at the south west of the building. The Ellis County CSI report states that the technician was led through the southwest entrance doors and continuing North into the foyer. His language is pretty clunky, but the best interpretation is that Missy was in the west entrance foyer, off the hallway. Definitely not the southwest corner. Whoever wrote the warrant probably just got the directions mixed up.

Another factual error in a warrant that I can remember offhand is the one for BWH. They claimed that he attended the same church as the Bevers family. But he didn’t. He Attended Avenue Church, and was on the security team there. The Bevers attended Cowboy Church of Ellis County.

 

[SteveS]

for Missy to have been at the southwest corner of the interior, she would have to have been literally right inside the southwest entrance, basically straight in front of the doors or else just to the left where the bathrooms are. If she had turned right to go down the Dutch door room hallway, she would’ve been south instead of Southwest. To go further North from the entrance doors, she would’ve been either on the west side of the building or if you kept on walking, the north side of the building.

we know she wasn’t found at the south west of the building. The Ellis County CSI report states that the technician was led through the southwest entrance doors and continuing North into the foyer. His language is pretty clunky, but the best interpretation is that Missy was in the west entrance foyer, off the hallway. Definitely not the southwest corner. Whoever wrote the warrant probably just got the directions mixed up.

I think it's more a matter of semantics and interpretation rather than error or mixup.

You can define "southwest" and "corner" narrowly or broadly, as well as "interior," and all are relative terms. (For example, if you divide the building into 4 quadrants, the SW Corner quadrant is a fairly broad area, and would include ALL of the areas you see as possible.) And we don't even know exactly where Missy was attacked so as to quibble with the description that was selected.

Yes, perhaps the description could have been more precise. But it's also possible the attack occurred in a somewhat different spot than we choose to assume.

 

[Lhughessk]

I think it's more a matter of semantics and interpretation rather than error or mixup.

You can define "southwest" and "corner" narrowly or broadly, as well as "interior," and all are relative terms. (For example, if you divide the building into 4 quadrants, the SW Corner quadrant is a fairly broad area, and would include ALL of the areas you see as possible.) And we don't even know exactly where Missy was attacked so as to quibble with the description that was selected.

Yes, perhaps the description could have been more precise. But it's also possible the attack occurred in a somewhat different spot than we choose to assume.

The Ellis County CSI technician noted in his report where her body was:

 

[darring21]

The Ellis County CSI technician noted in his report where her body was:

View attachment 286571

How do you know who was correct?

 

[Lhughessk]

How do you know who was correct?

This is the report from the second CSI tech:

 

[SteveS]

Yes when you go in those SW doors, you are in a broad hallway (or main foyer) that heads to or extends to the north side of the church. But nothing in any of that (from either account) says how far up that hallway that goes "to the north side" they went - whether 1 foot or 100. All we know for certain is the direction. (And step 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc for quite a ways are all in that SW Corner quadrant.)

Beyond that, it's all about semantics, and interpretation. We can argue about it, but there's plenty of room for all sorts of actualities.

 

[Satchie]

It’s all in what the motive is. If you are breaking and entering, which involves some damage in order to breach what you’re trying to get to, I don’t personally call that vandalism.

What I call vandalism is stuff like spray painting on walls, putting holes in walls with a hammer, taking whacks at pews, turning on all the water faucets so that sinks overflow and flood... things that are done for no purpose other than to tear something up. There is no evidence that the perp did any of those things. So absent a big surprise of something to the contrary, we’re left with either targeted (came there for Missy) or Untargeted (came there for the building, to perhaps commit theft although maybe they failed to find anything worth taking, or cosplay).

Ok, but I'm assuming a church isn't the place to go if you're looking for a lucrative haul. Jewellry stores, parked cars and private homes are what a thief should target if they're out at 4 am and actually want something, other than very old computer equment. Whereas, some people do have an attitude about churches, and have ideas about desecrating them. We just don't know about graffiti or whatever else is shown on the footage, police always keep details back.

So quite apart from jumping into theories and speculation, IMO vandalism as a motive cannot be ruled out as impossible, based on the actual facts we know.

 

[Lhughessk]

Ok, but I'm assuming a church isn't the place to go if you're looking for a lucrative haul. Jewellry stores, parked cars and private homes are what a thief should target if they're out at 4 am and actually want something, other than very old computer equment. Whereas, some people do have an attitude about churches, and have ideas about desecrating them. We just don't know about graffiti or whatever else is shown on the footage, police always keep details back.

So quite apart from jumping into theories and speculation, IMO vandalism as a motive cannot be ruled out as impossible, based on the actual facts we know.

You seem to be assuming that thievery only takes place when it’s “grand” theft. Untrue. Remember the term “petty” theft? Theft happens on different scales. It doesn’t have to be someone looking to retire after the job. It can be a drug addict just trying to finance their addiction.

A church has more than “old computer equipment”. It can also potentially have cash. From tithes and offerings. As for “desecration” - respectfully, THAT is definitely in the theory and speculation category. There is zero indication of that on the footage we have seen. And police have said that on the unseen footage, the perp is basically doing the same type of behavior as on the seen footage. So on the subject of desecration I would quote @Tippy Lynn I believe who said all things are possible but not all things are probable.

 

[Mistree]

The Ellis County CSI technician noted in his report where her body was:

View attachment 286571

So this would mean she was north of the west (main foyer entrance) and not the one her truck was parked by?

 

[SteveS]

So this would mean she was north of the west (main foyer entrance) and not the one her truck was parked by?

Perhaps, but not necessarily. Again, it's matter of semantics and interpretation.

It says "We walked through the south breezeway doors into the main foyer to the north side of the church. I saw a white female laying on her back...."

There's only one place that she was actually found, to be sure, but if you don't know where that was, you can read that a lot of ways. Two obvious possibilities (but there are more) ....
1 You can read it as meaning they went through the breezeway doors INTO "the main foyer [that goes or extends to] to the north side of the church" and as they stepped into that foyer, they saw her right there.
2 You can also read it as meaning they went through the breezeway doors "into the main foyer [and we continued walking until we came to] to the north side of the church" where they saw her.

Not that the answer really makes any difference to finding the killer, however. We know she was killed in that church, in some place she was discovered. It's just idle speculation that can't be resolved unless someone who was there tells us the answer, and even if we knew the answer it wouldn't lead us any closer to identifying the killer.

 

[Satchie]

So this would mean she was north of the west (main foyer entrance) and not the one her truck was parked by?

That's what the technicians statements imply to me.

I wonder, why was she there, why would she be there? Why were the truck doors, at the SW, open then? Was she moved there? Did she try to get away from the attacker? ETA: was she lured there by a 'policeman'?

I'm interested in trying to visualize the crime, if that seems a waste of time to other posters, they can pass by.

 

[Lhughessk]

I think it's more a matter of semantics and interpretation rather than error or mixup.

You can define "southwest" and "corner" narrowly or broadly, as well as "interior," and all are relative terms. (For example, if you divide the building into 4 quadrants, the SW Corner quadrant is a fairly broad area, and would include ALL of the areas you see as possible.) And we don't even know exactly where Missy was attacked so as to quibble with the description that was selected.

Yes, perhaps the description could have been more precise. But it's also possible the attack occurred in a somewhat different spot than we choose to assume.

Perhaps, but not necessarily. Again, it's matter of semantics and interpretation.

It says "We walked through the south breezeway doors into the main foyer to the north side of the church. I saw a white female laying on her back...."

There's only one place that she was actually found, to be sure, but if you don't know where that was, you can read that a lot of ways. Two obvious possibilities (but there are more) ....
1 You can read it as meaning they went through the breezeway doors INTO "the main foyer [that goes or extends to] to the north side of the church" and as they stepped into that foyer, they saw her right there.
2 You can also read it as meaning they went through the breezeway doors "into the main foyer [and we continued walking until we came to] to the north side of the church" where they saw her.

Not that the answer really makes any difference to finding the killer, however. We know she was killed in that church, in some place she was discovered. It's just idle speculation that can't be resolved unless someone who was there tells us the answer, and even if we knew the answer it wouldn't lead us any closer to identifying the killer.

I think the thing that has thrown us all off about this guy’s language is the use of the word “north”. I don’t think he meant to say that she was at the north end of the church. JMHO but I think a reasonable interpretation is that he walked thru the southwest awning doors and straight up the hallway, where he was led INTO the main foyer that is to the north (It’s certainly north of where he came in - at least 80 feet or more if memory serves). There is no foyer on the north side. The only foyer is on the west side, and there is no suggestion that he was taken somewhere else. No left turns or right turns or mention of rooms.

But even if you wanted to interpret it as being led into the main foyer and then somewhere else, that presents two issues. One are the cameras. We’ve seen the camera angle pointing north but there was also a camera pointing south from the other end. If Missy were attacked north of the foyer, it would have been on camera; we know from police that it was not captured.

The other issue making it extremely unlikely for Missy to be north of the foyer is that the campers who were gathered under the awning would have seen her and called 911. But they didn’t. They did not locate her until making entry to the building at 5.

Then you add in the photo of the west entrance with crime scene tape; faintly visible through the reflective glass are what appear to be several yellow evidence markers. And the LE traffic that morning was directed to enter thru the awning entrance, not the west entrance.

So JMO that somewhere in the main foyer is where she was. I think it’s a useful mental exercise to work through these issues no matter what they are or how insignificant one might think they are. It’s an unsolved crime with no public suspects and no clear motive, so we really don’t know what is going to be important and what isn’t. That’s why we are here, to discuss those things.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Damage that we know about for sure:

N/NE corner of building most secluded from highway - NE entrance doors broken, 1 or possibly 2 window screens to room 7/8 were twisted/pried, and kitchen service door had its window broken in order to reach in and unlock. Possibly tried to pry that same door (news reports show entire latch gone, but unclear whether killer did that or CSI removed).

Storage room 9 at NE of church - glass window broken in order to reach in and unlock.

Janitorial closet #1 - Door jamb may have been damaged in brief attempt to pry open locked door.

W side of church - unknown source of broken glass found around Missy, possibly broken during struggle, possibly glass table.

And that’s it. No damage to doors at SE, SW, W, or NW that we know of. No damage to walls that we know of. No damage to doors other than those that were locked to the killer.

I wouldn’t hang my hat on a warrant using the term “tools” in conjunction with the wounds. A gun could certainly fall into that category. Police have also made a number of factual errors in these warrants, including saying that Missy was found at the SW corner of the interior.

Maybe this has been suggested before, but maybe the perp did some of this door/window damage first, then waited across the highway to see if any alarms had been tripped and were being responded to. Then they entered the building when they were convinced no LE had been alerted. This might explain their rather casual stroll, knowing that no alarms were present.

 

[SteveS]

Maybe this has been suggested before, but maybe the perp did some of this door/window damage first, then waited across the highway to see if any alarms had been tripped and were being responded to. Then they entered the building when they were convinced no LE had been alerted. This might explain their rather casual stroll, knowing that no alarms were present.

That's possible. But what might argue against it is that they weren't there very long to see if anyone came, they spent much of the time while circling the forearms store with no view of the church, and there was apparently a LONNNNGGG gap of time between that relatively quick lap around the firearms store and the time of the break-in at the church.