Someone shot an American millionaire Steven Beard while he was sleeping in his mansion in Westlake, Texas. A lot of stories have revolved around the murder mystery, Was it a love triangle? Was it planned murder?
Keep reading to know more about Steven Beard, who he was, what happened to him, who killed him, and much more!
Who Was Steven Beard?
Late Steven Beard was born on November 27, 1924. He was an American businessman and local TV personality from Dallas, Texas, United States. He was also a co-founder of the Austin-based TV station KBVO, which was later changed to KEYE.
Steven married his first wife Elise Helen Adams who passed away from cancer in 1993. After two years, on February 18, 1995, he tied the knot with his second wife, Celeste Johnson. Johnson married twice more before Steven Beard while she was a waitress at a country club in Austin, Texas.
Steven was a millionaire and offered her and her twin daughters every bit of materialistic happiness from previous marriages. He had a net worth of more than $10 million. One of his neighbors, Robert Dennison said.
Seven were a simple, and kind guy. Shortly after marrying Celeste, he adopted her twin girls, giving them a life and a world they had never known.
What Happened to Steven Beard?
The story explains it was a female intruder who made their way into Steven and Celeste’s home on October 2, 1999. She shot Steven Beard in the stomach and he called the ambulance and they hurried him to the hospital.
On February 16, 2001, a woman named Tracey Tarlton was charged for her involvement in the late Steven’s death. Tracey was one of the patients at the same mental health facility where his wife, Celeste Beard, was also a patient.
During the period when both Celeste and Tracy stay together at the mental health facility, they started loving each other. On March 28, 2002, they uncovered the truth and the culprit behind his death. She was also charged with her part in Steven’s murder.
How Did Steven Beard Die? Who Killed Him?
An American millionaire Steven Beard was shot in the stomach by Tracey Tarlton while he was sleeping in his mansion, in Westlake, Texas on October 3, 1999. He was later released from the hospital but died of a blood clot on January 22, 2000.
Tarlton confessed to the shooting and was arrested at home six days after the shooting, and was charged with assault. Tracey said in her statement: “I shot Beard because her lover, Celeste Beard Johnson, claimed that he was abusing her.”
Celeste Beard persuaded her lesbian lover to shoot her millionaire husband when he cut off her monthly allowance of $35,000.
Tarlton later testified against Johnson after learning that Johnson had remarried and had hired someone to kill her. Tarlton was released from prison on parole in August 2011 after serving 10 years. Johnson, who denied she and Tarlton were ever intimate, was convicted of capital murder in 2003, and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
Celeste Beard, 53, has spent 14 years behind bars in Texas after she was given a life sentence for manipulating her former lesbian lover into shooting her fourth husband, 70-year-old TV tycoon Steven Beard.
On March 19, 2003, Celeste, the accused murderer of Steven Beard was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, her former lover and accomplice Tracey was sentenced to 20 years behind bars but was released in August 2011. Steven’s final resting place is located at Cook-Walden Capital Parks Cemetery and Mausoleum in Texas.
