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You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking killers in true crime history and the authors that have written about them. Gasey Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker VTK. Every week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous killers in true crime history True Murder with Your Host journalist and author Dan Zufanski.
Good Evening. Multi millionaire Stephen Beer Junior fell hard for Celeste Martini Martinez, a shapely Blowe waitress who served him as nightly cocktail at the local country club, as well as sexual favors. In nineteen ninety five, the seven year old widow Beard married the thirty two year old mother of twin teenagers and gave her homes, cars, and more jewelry and designer clothes than she could ever wear. But
it wasn't enough for Celeste. Claiming she was depressed, she checked into a psychiatric facility where she met fellow patient Tracy Tarlton, a prominent bookstore manager. Celeste seduced Tracy, convincing her that the only way they could be together would be to kill Steve, claiming in the wee hours of an October morning, Steve awoke to a shotgun blast to his gut. Tracy was arrested, but refused to implicate Celeste
until she learned the truth about her lover. In as sordid trial sensationalized even more by the antics of fame, Texas Defense attorney Dick to gain. The depths of Celeste's lies were revealed in a Tale of Lust, Betrayal and Regret. The book that we're profiling this evening is The Fortune Hunter with my special guest journalist and author, Susie Spencer. Welcome back to the program, and thank you for agreeing to this interview. Susie Spencer.
Thank you for having me again.
Well, thank you very much. It hasn't been that long, but it's was my great pleasure to have you on just a while ago. And here we are again with another wild tale. So let's talk a little bit about because there's so much information jam packed in over four hundred pages in this book, and very deservedly too. There's
no padding whatsoever, just crazy stuff. Let's start a little bit with Celeste with her original maiden name, and because she goes through a succession of marriages, so just to start to describe Celeste and her character, let's just talk about her first marriages. Let's start at that point in her life and talk about the characteristics that mar her relationships and then are characterized in her relationships right from the very beginning.
Well, Celeste has always had a rocky start in life. She was adopted by a mother and father who could not have kids, but adopted four overall, and they were not, shall we say, the most emotionally stable people in the world. People would tell me that her father was an alcoholic and drug addict who then became very religious, changed his name Jedediah, and wanted to become a university professor, whereas he had been a Volkswagen car mechanic. Her mother was, Oh,
let's face it, she was crazy. I mean, is Lee crazy. She was put in psych words several times. At one point she tried to believe stab a friend. I know that she was beating up a friend, and the friend and her family kicked her out. And then Celeste went and stripped off her clothes and went banging on not Celeste. Celest's mother went, you know, stripped off her clothes and went banging on doors. And so this was kind of
the life where Celeste grew up. She claims that her father molested her from starting at age four up until about twelve. She then claims that her eldest adopted brother, Cole Johnson, molested her. She claims that her first husband, Craig Bratcher, who she married at seventeen when she was pregnant, that he raped her and abused her. Then she had her twins, who are very predominant in the book. And
then she and Craig divorced. Then let's see, I start getting her marriages mixed up, as she married a military guy after that, and somewhere in there between the military guy and the divorce from Craig, she says that Craig raped her again and that she gave that child up for adoption, which she did, truly did give a child up for adoption. Then when she was with this Harold wolf who was the I believe the number two husband who was in the military, there are claims that she
went into another psychiatric facility or a psychiatric facility. There's also hints that her mother had her like incarcerated when she was in high school. At this point, Celeste was getting known for sleeping with anyone and everyone who could give her money and get her out of trouble. Because when she married Harold Wolfe, she was living in Arizona and she got in deep trouble with the law there for insurance frauds, stealing from people, and developed a little
record there. She claims that she dated an attorney who bought her new breast. Then she split with him when she found out he was going to having an affair with someone else, and she picked up in a bar Jimmy Martinez, who I believe was her third husband. And one day she was working in a restaurant and the lid on an ice machine fell on her breast, and then they sued the icemaker and the restaurant where she
worked because she supposedly had injured her implants. Now this is sort of important because Slith had a thing about her breast and they seemed to come up a lot in the story. So even though her implants were fine, she had one of them removed. So that then apparently she had one saline and one gel implant, you know, silicon. But then and so that the lawsuit was that because of this, her husband, Jimmy Martinez, was deprived of her love,
shall we put it politely. They eventually moved to Texas and she was working in a at the Austin Country Club as a cocktail waitress or waitress. At this point, she only had her daughter. Of her two twin daughters that she'd had earlier, she only had Christina with her because her other daughter, Jennifer, had stayed with Craig Bratcher
and she wanted Ennerfer back. Supposedly, and so allegedly Jimmy was mistreating Christina, and Celeste wanted out of there, And there happened to be a lonely, obese, alcoholic, seemingly alcoholic, multi millionaire whose wife was dying from cancer, who frequented the country club every night, and who befriended so she when his wife died two weeks later, they started dating, and that multimillionaire was Steve Beard. At this point, ce
is Celeste Martinez on her third marriage. She leaves Jimmy Martinez to get together with Steve, and Steve gets both of her children back. He gives her when they marry, like a year, year and a half later, he gives her a half million dollars and that's immediately gone. And then a few years later he gives her enough half million dollars that's immediately gone. Bottom line is, it doesn't matter how much money he gives her, it's never enough.
So she wants the money bad, so she conspires. Am I going too far?
Let's talk a little bit about the daughters as well, because we have the real, you know, just a relationship here because we're talking about Steve Beard and Big Daddy and how is it that he that he comes to his fortune, And really we didn't talk about his character that much. He's an obese guy. He's sixty nine years of age. She is less than half his age at thirty or thirty two years of age, and like we're
talking about a three hundred pound guy. But we didn't talk about bout the sort of the gruff character he is, but the very very successful entertainment mogul that he ends up being and respected guy in his field. So let's talk a little bit more about Big Daddy and then we'll talk about again as you mentioned that he gets the other Jennifer to come into the home and Christine and then we see this relationship early on this new dynamic,
and so we'll talk about that. So tell us a little bit about Big Daddy, how he came to the money that he does have, and we'll talk about the family dynamic that.
When I think about Steve or Big Daddy, I think about his daughter, Becky Beard, who I spent a lot of time with and got to know. And Becky always told me that Steve would have really liked me. And I think of Becky as a reflection of Steve, because she was a hard worker, and Steve was a hard worker. He was a self made multi millionaire who traveled all over the country and the radio business and the advertising business, working like a dog, raising three kids, had a devoted wife.
This was all primarily in Dallas, Texas, and he just moved up the ranks and radio and advertising till that he was like the number two guy I think at Blair Advertising. And then he decided that he wanted to own a TV station and he moved to Austin, and like say, he was already well respected in the world of radio and advertising and opened up an independent station that eventually became a Fox affiliate. But Fox was going to yank the affiliation and they wanted to be a
CBS affiliate now again. Steve gruff, big guy, hard talking. I mean, he could be a tad on the racist side, he could be a tad on the the I don't know, harsh. He was a hard talking guy. When he wanted something, he went after it, and he did not, you know, temper his language for anyone. But yet people loved him because he worked so hard and he was so loyal to the people that you know that were in his group,
and he was funny, and he was lively. He wanted to live life to the ultimate and so you know, he was he was kind of lost and devastated when the TV station, like I said it was, they were trying to become a CBS affiliate since they were losing their Fox affiliation. And the CBS folks said, We're not gonna do this to you. You have to sell your station to this other company. Otherwise you're just add on
your own. So he reluctantly sold the station and got millions and millions of dollars on this and that's where he became the multi millionaire guy, you know, who had time on his hands and started delving into real estate. But the bottom line is the people who knew him cherished him because he was so loyal and such a hard worker, and I believe, from what I understand, very honest in his business dealings.
Now, this guy larger than life. What we say we talked about introducing the dynamic that went on, and also, which is very important, that these young girls have boyfriends Christopher Deuce and Justin Grimm. So let's first talk about even before this, because we skip over the the marriage and some of the bizarre stuff that goes on, and more importantly, the difference for Becky because you say, well, just as just a few weeks later after Steven's wife dies,
but also Becky's mother. So yeah, you talk about the surprise that Becky has in terms of the new housekeeper. So tell us that little story, which is very demonstrative.
Oh gosh, yeah, it's poor Becky. She was obviously the closest of the children. His eldest son, Steve, lived in Chicago. His youngest son, Paul, was in the navy. Becky was in Dallas, so she stayed more in touch with him, and so her mother died in October. Like I say, two weeks later, Steve moves in with this woman, you know,
and or moves in a woman. He dates her and starts moving her in, and Becky talking to her dad and she says, he says, oh, I'm going to hire a housekeeper, And she thinks it's going to be some nice, elderly person. And she never expected to be a thirty something year old blonde bombshell, and she's just totally stunned. In fact, all of his friends are stunned, like what are you doing? And his friends are saying, what are
you doing? And he said, hey, man, I don't want anyone to think I'm gay, and they go, well, no one's going to thank you that. And when they ask why she was moving in, he would say, also, well she's great at sex, and he and his wife hadn't been having sex for years. And so then the next thing, you know, the Becky calls a few months later and this young girl answers the phone and Becky's like, who is this and she goes, well, this is Christina and she's like, well, who are you? And Celestie's on the
phone and starts screaming at Becky, why are you? You know, yelling and questioning my daughter. And ever since Celeste came into her life, that's what would happened to Becky when she would talk to her dad. It always seemed to be like some big shocker coming up.
You know.
It's it's like he almost had this secret life and she just he didn't come out ever and never say this is what's going on. It's just imagine because he knew she wouldn't approve because she loved as all kids loved her mother, well I say all kids, Celestier didn't love her mother.
What was exactly was Big Daddy's health? What was the some of the ailments he had other than being overweight. He's a big man, so, but what were specifically how how sick was this guy or how she was this guy.
When he met Celeste. Okay, he couldn't necessarily function sexually, he had asthma, he had to have a sleep apnea machine. But in truth, he wasn't a man who got sick. He was you know, he was hid, blow and gun, so to speak. You know, he was other than a few little ailments that were all under control, he was
fine until he met Celeste. And then after he as Celeste move in, he started going to the hospital constantly being rushed there, starflighted, you know, ambulance rides whatever, constantly going to the hospital.
And what was the dynamic with the two daughters and Big Daddy and Celeste? What was characterized Not to give too much away too early here, but what was that dynamic like for everybody? According to we'll say the girl, their their perspective, What was it like this new experience for them?
Well, Allegedly, Christina when she first met him couldn't stand him because he was this old, old, you know, obese guy, and she didn't want her mother with him. Allegedly, she grew to love him. Jennifer when she met him, and she she did not really meet him until her father committed suicide and she was just brought home, you know when I say brought home, brought to Austin, and they
didn't like each other at first. I got the feeling that Jennifer and Steve began or you know, developed a relationship. What the truth is about Christina and Steve, I'm not sure. And court she portrayed it is that they grew close and that she was he was her dad because he wanted to adopt them, and his attorney and other people advised him not to because this was when they were about fifteen. They were saying, look, they're going to turn
eighteen soon. Don't do that. And then he changed his will and he said, I'm adopting them, and even if the adoption is not completed by the time I die, they're still supposed to be treated as my children. And he totally embraced them and loved them and wanted to be there for him. Even Becky grew to love them, and that after Steve died and she got to know the children, the twins. I don't know how it ended up, but at one point she made the twins some of the beneficiaries of her.
Will you tell the story of Steve Beard being admitted into the hospital and at the same time as he's rushed to emergency with something I guess you know, life threatening, his wife is picking out her own birthday president. So tell us the story of the car lot.
Well, what is said to have happened is that Celeste would want to go out and party and do her own thing. So Steve loved to drink cheap vodka, and she would switch out his vodka with Everclear, which has a higher proof, to knock him out. And then on top of that, she would you know, slip him sleeping pills so that he would then pass out and she could go out and do what she wanted. One night he passed.
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Details, and they would find them all over the place in the house, usually after he hit wet his pants or something, and they just kept maneuvering around the house I think callie the emergency EMS or anything, even though he was passed out. And so the next day, after they put him to bed again, I think at like five o'clock in the morning, when he was found wandering around in the house, she got up and said, let's go buy me a Cadillac for my birthday. So they
went and picked out a Cadillac. She and the girls came home. Steve was still passed out. So after buying the Cadillac, and we're talking many many hours since you know, he had gotten so ill, they called EMS got him rushed to the hospital. She and the kids stood in front of the Cadillac to kind of hide it so that Steve wouldn't see it through his blurry eyes as he was hauled out of the house. And then he
got to the emergency room. He was already by then coming out of the stupor and was doing okay and stee so listed. Now I can't come pick him up
right now, I've got things to do. So she made him wait a few hours, and then I believe she went and picked him up in the Cadillac and said, oh, by the way, you need to send a check to the car dealership because I haven't paid for this, And she drove the Cadillac for a few weeks and decided she didn't like it after all and gave it to her daughters, who then proceeded to get so many speeding tickets that Steve took the Cadillac away from them too, But that was of the list.
Now included with this behavior, this successive behavior, and again this very spoiled brat entitled behavior that she's exhibiting. She's depressed as well. So tell us about how she becomes to be in institutionalized and where she meets Tracy Charlton. But how does it come that she is going into a hospital of what are the conditions?
Well, there are like numerous explanations of this. One is that she and Steve were fighting over money, and this is the generally accepted one that they present in court because he would realize how much money she was going through and said, you've got to stop this, and she got upset and you know, threatened to kill herself. So
she was initutionalized. Another theory is that and this is the one that Celess says, her mother and stepfather had moved to Texas and we're living I think in one of the Beard houses and seeing her mother brought back all the bad memories of her childhood of being molested and being raped, and that's what made her suicidal and sent her to the hospital. So what the reality is or if it was both? And there's also another a third reason that I am sorry that is just flipped
out of my brain. But you know, the general consistency consensus is that they were fighting over money and thee last whenever she was arguing with Steve over money would always this was a pattern in her life, say oh I'm depressed and fake suicide or attempted suicide and then go into a mental health facility where then he was would turn around and you know, be loving and caring and trying to take care of his wife.
So she had a history of this, yes, as at least a threatening and yes, some people taking that threat seriously. So tell us about the occurrence of when she is institutionalized and she meets Tracy Tarleton. Tell us about those circumstances.
Well. Tracy Charleton was a manager of book People Bookstore in Austin, which is considered the largest most important independent bookstore in Texas. It's a very high profile job, pretty powerful in the world of books. It's where you know, if you're a number one New York Times bestseller or a star like you know, that's where you go and do your book signings. That's where Jimmy Carter does his signings,
where Hillary Clinton does her signings. And because of this, Tracy was always dealing with celebrity and was on c Span a lot talking about books and authors. And she was also bipolar and an alcoholic and a drug addict. And she lost it and went to Saint David's Pavilion, which is a psychiatric facility here in town, and that is also where celest was institutionalized after her suicide attempt,
and they became friends. As Celeste tells it, when you're in a place like that, you have no family around, you don't know anyone, so you tried to bond with someone.
And according to Celeste, it was her daughter Christina who saw Tracy Charlton looked at her and just felt so sorry for this woman who just looked totally, you know, spaced out and depressed and at this point drugged out on psychiatric meds, and encouraged her mother to befriend her and so they became friends there in the psychiatric facility.
Was there any history, because I I know this answer, but was there any history that you saw that there was any blatant or bisexuality or any history of Celeste with other women? And then tell us, you know, we talked about the blonde bombshell that was thirty two years old, the breast implants. So tell us what was Tracy Tarlton's appearance, just for a visual.
The Tracy's about five to seven, a little on the chunky side. She she's a tomboy, always has been.
Uh.
I refer to her as sort of carrying her, carrying herself like a linebacker a lot of times with dress and you know, plaid shirts and dot Martin's Uh wore glasses. Had a wonderful smile though. But she she is the type that and I hate to be this cliche, but if she's walking down the street, you would not be surprised that she was a lesbian. Whereas Celeste is usually decked out in gold jewelry, an updo, painted fingernails, uh,
Saint John clothes, you know, or chanel or something. You know, she's gonna have the gold jewelry all over her, and and Tracy's just trouncing down the street being a you know, normal human being. And were you hinting about whether Celeste had ever been bisexual or whatever?
Well, just about that. It's not something that's very evident, you know, from people that would just encounter or meet her. So what did you find? And and uh, yeah, what did you find?
Well, I mean, I I there is no way that I believe Celeste Martinez, or Celeste Johnson or Celeste Beard bless Bratcher, There's no way I believe that she had that Tracy Tarlton was the first person she had ever had lesbian sex with. Now, whether it was to like flirt with someone, you know, with hey I'll kiss this girl, to turn on these other guys or whatever, you know. But but she would claim that she had never had lesbian sex, and she may even say that to this day.
But according to Tracy, Celeste was flirting with her and sexually attract the tour from you know, the moment they met. It's St. David's pavilion.
You write in the book that the people that were monitoring them in Saint David's they were reports of them in inappropriate behavior and they were criticized for that a couple of times. So those were in the reports, weren't they.
That may have been more like when they went to Timberlawn, And I may be mistaken on that also, but they eventually went to another psychiatric facility up in Dallas where they were roommates, and they got caught and compromising positions several times. And yes it was, it was written up, but Celeste would always you know, deny it that and say, oh, Tracy's after me. I'm happily married. No, no, no, you know,
I don't want this. But yet they were meeting in hotel rooms, like while Celeste was still in there and Tracy was out patient, and then when Tracy got out, I mean when Celeste got out and Tracy was still
doing outpatient up there. When I say up there in Dallas, I mean every time I drive through Waco, Texas, I look at the Lakita Hotel or motel that's right next to Baylor University, and I always have to point out that's where Celeste and Tracy would meet, you know, on weekends when they were supposed to be in Dallas at timber Lawn or in Austin or something, and they were hooking up there right by Baylor University, which is you know, then it's my schools where I went to college, but
it's also a Southern Baptist university, So I always get kind of a giggle out of that.
Right now, with Tracy Charlton, she's got this high pressure job, she's responsible for a lot of people, and she has a certain character. What was she prone to in terms of was there any indication of any violent behavior on her part at any point in the management of this bookstore?
A You know, I used to have a lot of friends who work there, and they would talk about Tracy blowing up. You know that she would she had a hair trigger temper and she would just flip out on people. But I also know that Tracy was incredible at her job, just from my experience as a writer an author who you know, has done book signings there. I Tracy was one of the best managers that they've ever had. And so, yes, she got difficult where she couldn't necessarily do her job
because she was flipping out on people. And then once she was hospitalized and tried to come back and Celeste was in her life, she would be, you know, drugged out, on psychiatric meds, so that she was like one of the first times that the book People's staff met Celeste was when they she and Tracy came in together, and some of the book people employees thought Celeste was her handler or something, because Tracy was slurring her words so and glazed over, and they try, you know, immediately began
to rush her upstairs to the offices so that she wouldn't scare away customers. But then she, you know, eventually got functional at her job again, until things got worse and worse and worse, you know, after Steve was shot.
Let's talk about just before we talk about the shooting itself, let's talk about briefly Justin Grimm and Krista reduced, just because it's very important that these people are around very often in the home. So tell us where one of the boyfriends, I think it's Justin, I'm not correct, is more prone to be there all the time. We're regularly staying over at the house before we talk about why that's important. So talk about Christopher Duce and Justin Grimm.
Well, Jennifer and Christina each had a boyfriend. Jennifer at that point was dating Christopher Doci, who was a very, very very wealthy young man. And when I'm saying young man, I'm talking we're talking like eighteen nineteen year olds. Christopher may have been a little bit older where he was, maybe twenty twenty one or something. But Christopher was a kid who had everything you could ever dream like. He would talk about five hundred thousand being a small amount
of money, and he was around quite a bit. And he and Steve he got along. They loved each other and respected each other. And then there was Justin Grimm, who was Christina's boyfriend, a tall, slim, dark haired guy that I basically consider a nerd. He had big dreams, but I'm not sure he had the brain power to accomplish everything. But he was, and that's probably an overstatement on my part, but he had sort of a high tech mind. He was considered the codemeister and that I've
got your code, I know your code. That he knew the codes to everybody, and a lot of people considered that after Steve died, that Justin controlled the kids and Celeste, that he was considered himself the man of the house and he was there often. They were basically Christina and Justin were inseparable, and Celeste would kind of comes and goes.
Her notes indicated that she really liked Justin, but now she refers to him in horrible terms and how she couldn't stand him in what a horrible person he is, but she leaned on him to take care of things and he was kind of the responsible person. When she celested through a graduation party for the twins, Jennifer was there partying with her boyfriend and they were getting drunk.
Justin and Christina weren't at the party because they were running shuttle service for you know, being the sober drivers for everyone. So he took on a lot of responsibility in the family.
So let's talk about the day in question, what everybody was doing, and what happens.
What happened when Steve was shot with a shotgun blast to his belly. They were Steve and to Lest on October second, nineteen ninety nine or thereabouts, were supposed to leave on a long trip for Europe, I think a three week trip to Europe, and the night before or a few nights before, she wasn't packing, and Justin said, Lest why aren't you packing? Do you need some help?
And she just wouldn't do it, and she also made sure that that night, or October first, which was a Friday night, she insisted that Jennifer and Jennifer's boyfriend and their friend Amy Cozart all went out to the Lake House and took Steve's dog, Meghan with them, and Megan never left Steve's side and Justin often spent the night at the Beard House, and that night she said Justin couldn't spend the night and Christina had to be home
by midnight that day. Earlier in the day, she met with Tracy because they were planning for Tracy to kill Steve on the early the wee hours of October second. So Tracy came over to the house and they did a walk through with Celeste saying this is where I want you to enter, this is what I want you to do, and let her through the entire thing. Then later on in the day, Celeste changed it up and said, no, we're not going to do it this way. We're going to do it another way. Tracy was very very nervous
about that. So the kids went out and when I say the kids, I'm talking Christina, her boyfriend and their friend, Damy Cozart, and the dog went out to the lake house at some point. The time is debatable, but around ten eleven thirty somewhere like that, Celeste went out to the lake house, eventually got back home and got to you know, said hi to Christina. Again, that's debatable. Some stories say that Christina and Celeste saw each other that night.
Anothers say no, they didn't until after Steve was shot. But the bottom line is that Christina and Celeste were there in Christina's wing of the house, Steve was over in another wing, and about two three in the morning they were awakened by flashing lights and the police in the house. Because Steve had been blasted in the stomach. He didn't know how, He just know that. His phrase was, my gut jumped out of my stomach. And when he called nine, and the nine to one to one operator was,
you know, legitimately saying what are you talking about? What are you talking about? How could that happen? He says, I don't know. I just woke up and my guts were out of my stomach. And the bottom line is that in the middle of the night, Tracy had put plastic over her car seats and in the floorboard, got dressed got her shotgun that had her name etched in it,
come over to the house, backed in quietly. I remember her talking about how the gravel crunched under her tires and how when she got out of the door, out of the car, she just closed the door with a slight click, tried not to make any noise, sneaked in around the house, walked in, held her dun face, you know, at Steve's stomach, and she had told Celiste, if I shoot him in the stomach, he's not going to die.
And Celis said, oh yes, oh yes, And she said what about the shotgun shell, because she used a shotgun, and Celeste said, don't worry, you know, pick it up, and if you don't, I'll pick it up. And she blasted Steve out of this in the stomach, couldn't find the shotgun shell, and got out of there and ends up. Celeste didn't go to the room, didn't pick up the shotgun shell, but the police found it and the next day, or I say I say the next day. It was
actually a few hours later. Tracy was you know, picked up for questioning with her shotgun and taken in and was soon arrested.
How did the police arrive at that conclusion so quickly with just that shotgun shell. Well how did they get to Tracy Tarlton that idea so quickly?
Well, when they went to the hospital after, you know, Steve was airlifted to the hospital and all the kids went there. The kids out at the lake house got a phone call, get here, you know, Steve's been shot. They all gather, supposedly felicious, don't mention Tracy Tarlton to anyone, but the cops are sitting there. He's sitting on the floor trying to get the kids relaxed and talk to them and just saying, you know, hey, come on, tell me what happened. And they're like, well, we don't know
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Who did This's somebody you know who would have done this. And one of the boys said that crazy Tracy Charleton, And they're like, who's Tracy Charleton? And they start filling him in, and so eventually they go And when I say she was arrested immediately, it really wasn't. But she was brought in for questioning that day because they went and did some checks on Tracy saw that she had been arrested previously for drunk driving and everything. So they went over to the house and asked if she had
a shotgun. She said yes, reluctantly, she gave it to them. They took her in, took the shotgun in and it was Tracy's, you know, tested for ballistics and it matched the shotgun shell at the crime and all along Tracy denied that she had done this.
Now did the two daughters know about the relationship that Tracy had with their mother and what kind of evidence gave them that kind of idea. They did get that idea well.
Christina says that she saw her mother and Celeste kissing on several occasions, and they would talk about that. Celeste would spend the night over there sometimes, and I think there was a part of them that wanted to deny it, and then there was a part of them that knew it, and so yeah, they knew. I don't think they went around announcing it, but it was something that was kind of hard to deny because Tracy was obviously in love
with Celeste, and Celeste obviously encouraged it. One of the things that the talks about is what they call the Fashion Victims Party, which was a party Tracy threw for her you know, coworkers at book People, and it was out at the Beard Lake House, and celest was the one who came up with the idea and the theme for the party and the food. And there were pictures of Tracy and Celeste, you know, sitting in each other's lap. There were people talked about how they acted like a couple.
They were holding hands, they kissed, the couple talked about walking in on Tracy and Celeste and they were in a middle of a passionate kiss and it embarrassed the people who walked in on them. So there was there was just evidence all over the place, even though Celeste constantly denies that they were ever lovers.
So let's talk about the shooting itself and his hospital and Steve's hospitalization. Let's talk about that incident itself.
Well, he was, like I say, rushed to the hospital. He had like a fifty to fifty chance of living. Steve told his friends that the doctor said the reason he lived was because he had he was so fat. There was so much patting that you know, it took a while for everything to get to him. And this just shows what a fighter he was. That he survived like six seven surgeries, I believe, and a long time in the hospital and he wanted to be around his friends and talk to him, and Celeste would not let anyone,
including the police, talk to him. And he was in the hospital from let's see October, November and December and a little bit of January, and then he was finally released to come home, and Celeste made sure that his time at home was very brief. He was only there for two or three days before he was back in the hospital and died. That's the real formation of it.
Yes, that was quick.
We uh, you can drag it out.
I want to talk about is the I wanted to ask this question, and I'm sure the audience would would ask this as well. Was he familiar with Tracy Tarleton and the relationship that she had with his wife? And did he or did he know of Tracy at all? And then let's talk about you mentioned it that Celeste stopped everybody from communicating with her husband, including the police. So what was the police again their their attempt to be able to question him about Tracy Tarleton.
Well, well, let me go back to the first part of the question. First, Steve did know about Tracy. He just didn't know that they were lovers. He had invited her to the high school graduation for the kids. He had thanked Tracy at points, saying thank you for being such a good friend to my wife. But then he also had suspicions because Trey is celest I think would showing cards where Tracy would write how much she loves Celeste and Steve like, what are you a lesbian? And
she says, no, Tracy is. But you know it's nothing, and you know, supposedly he saw one of the kisses and said get out of the house, don't ever come back. But other people deny that. But yes, he was. He knew Tracy was in her life, he knew she was a lesbian. He was concerned about the relationship. I don't know that he knew how far it was. But yet he also paid the bills where he saw that Celeste was racking up big bills at some of the gay
bars in town. He wondered about why Celeste would say she was one place when she wasn't there, so he kind of And the other thing to know is that while Tracey, I mean Celeste was having an affair with Tracy, she was also having an affair with her ex husband Jimmy Martinez. Which now that makes me remember the third reason that some people say that she went into the mental health facility in February of nineteen ninety nine, not only the fights about money, but because Steve supposedly found
out about that time about her affair with Jimmy Martinez. Reputedly, Celeste would have sex with Jimmy Martinez and Tracy Charlton on the same day. So but as far as the police, they went there to question him on the day of the shooting, and when they said, you know, Tracy Charlton, they said that Steve's fifth clenched and he tried to say something, but he had a tube down his throat. But it was obvious something was going on, but you know,
Celeste would always kick him out of the room. And then when they tried to come back and talk to Steve again, there was a sign up that said no one is allowed him to talk to Steve Beard, including the police. And one of the things that the complaints that the prosecutors had was that they believed that the police did not pursue this hard in us that they should have, you know, worked harder to get Steve in there. And supposedly Steve wanted to talk to the police, but Celeste prevented it.
Now, in terms of his behavior at that time, Steve did he have any idea suspicion about his own wife and the possibility she may be involved and as a result he had a certain type of behavior or did he think it might be Tracy or what was his behavior and how did he treat it Celest as a result, I mean, he.
Believed that it was Tracy because you know, she was pulled in so quickly, and like a month later it came out in the newspaper and Steve's friends all immediately thought Celeste was involved, and they would even call the police, you know, and say, hey, check into her, and the police wouldn't return their phone calls. And Steve he totally accepted that Tracy was behind it and Celeste. It's like it would come and go that he would sometimes feel like yeah, yeah, and then go, no, no, no, that's
not my wife. My wife would never do that. But Becky thought this. The detectives told Becky to try to get their dad to talk about it, to record their conversations. So everyone seem to know that Celeste had done it, and Steve would convince himself that she hadn't, but nobody had absolute proof that she had done it, because the only real absolute proof would come through Tracy Carlton.
Right now, Tracy Charlton is rounded up. It takes a little while, but she's arrested and charged. So we will
fast forward to about a year later. And if I'm mispronouncing this gentleman's name, the police now are Rick Whines, and we're talking about Bill Menge and we're talking about ghost, right, And so we're talking about the investigation right now and the result of having Tracy Tarlton incostody awaiting trial, and that results will fast forward to a year later and what happens with Tracy Charlton and what happens with the development of this case and c Beard.
Well, Tracy was not going to turn on Celeste and she was not going to admit her involvement in this. Tracy's father was a prominent attorney in Fort Worth, her brother, at least one of her brothers, was an attorney, so she knew things. You know, She's not a dumb person. I mean, she did a stupid thing, but she is
not stupid. In fact, she is brilliant. And she was not going to turn on Celeste until one day she opens up the newspaper and Tracy's sitting in jail at this point and sees that within six months, actually less than six months are after Steve's death, Celeste had gotten married again to a bartender in Austin's downtown sixth Street bar district. And with that it hit Tracy that she
had been used. And so it took months to happen, but she eventually struck a deal with the DA's office that if she would, you know, give truthful testimony against Celeste, that she would get a lighter sentence.
Now, were the police and investigators using that information to their advantage, sort of leveraging that information to be able to because they had a very good idea that Celeste was involved with that was from their initiative, and use that information to finally break a Tracy Charlton.
Well, actually it was after stieve you know, he was shot in October of ninety nine. He died in January of two thousand and the day of the funeral, Becky Beard and her brother went to the cops, I mean to the DA's and talked to him and said, Celeste did it. Here's proof, here's proof, and Bill Man is still saying, no, this is not proof. Constantly. Bill Man
just said no, this isn't proof. Then, and I believe it was April of two thousand, the twins and their boyfriends came to a Bill Maninge and said, look, we have all this information, and they had tons of photographs, cards, checks, financial records and everything that implicated Celeste. But Bill Mainge still didn't quite feel like he had a case in the meantime, another huge case had happened where a cop was shot, and so he was focused on that and
it dragged things out. But after Celeste got married, Tracy's attorneys kept coming to Bill Manage, the prosecutor, and saying, we can give you Celeste, we can give you Celeste. And he kept saying, I don't care, I don't care. You know I'm not interested. You know, I'm not going to do a deal. And eventually he did do a deal and Tracy took a lie detect her test, which proved that she was telling the truth. She then Bill
Manage left the DA's office. A new proseccutor was brought in, Alison Wetzel, which is good because Tracy did not like Manage, and she and Wetzel got along really well, and they just built a fabulous case against celest and where they not only had Tracy's testimony, they had both of the twins testified against their mother, the boyfriends testified against her, their friend Amy Cozart testified against her. In fact, there
was really not a case that to gear and put on. Yeah, well he was who was Celeste Beard's defense attorney?
Yeah, we talked about that because it Originally Celeste was given an eight million dollar bail and we get the to say the least the colorful gearon comes in and knocks that down the five hundred thousand dollars. But you talk about the antics of de Geuron, and that's an amply a way of describing his as courtroom behavior and outside the courtroom behavior. So tell us a little bit about what Dick Jigurin does and his strategy with this.
Oh gee, I'm not sure what his strategy was. And that's how weak his case was. And I think he knew that because the only thing that he had that I could see was the stuff that didn't make it into the courtroom, and that was bad. Back when in the summer of two thousand, the kids, the twins tried to I guess you would say, sue a Celeste, and they gave all this testimony because they wanted their freedom
from her. They were terrified of her, and things that they testified to their testimony kind of changed over the years, and he was which would make the children's testimony not as strong, but he could not get that into the courtroom, so he just I don't know, Dick got really upset with me about the book and told me I put the things in there that I shouldn't have. And I've always guessed that one of the things is that Dick has some tells, you know, like when you're playing poker
and you have tells. I noticed that he has tells. And when he's upset and scared and stressed, his face turns red and he gets really angry, and his face turned red a lot of times. And he could not get particularly Christopher Docy, Jennifer's boyfriend. I remember his testimony so well because well and also Amy Cozart, Dick would try to get them shaken up, you know, and twist
up their testimony, and they would not budge. You would have thought that they were the courtroom pros and he was the amateur, because it was like they controlled him
instead of vice versa. And I find this so interesting because you know, he handles Robert Durst, who you know is coming up eventually sometime, I guess, on trial for a murder out in la and Robert Durst is the real estate mogul from New York who has always been suspected of killing his wife in New York and then he did kill a guy in Galveston, Texas, and Garon got him got free. So we were all expecting, you know, that maybe this would happen, and Dick was just he
he couldn't do any he could not accomplish anything. Of course, it didn't help that he has a client who is probably lying to him constantly, and so it was this is one time where I got, I say, and I hate to say this, but you got to read the book because to watch Garon in action, and I really wanted to focus because he is such a ICoD in the world of law, and to see him this where two young attorneys from Austin, Texas just whipped the pants off of him, you know, because he would bring up
things that in Austin, Texas, which has alleged Lee a liberal, you know image. He would do things like this horrible lesbian and everything, and he would forget that there were gay people on the jury. He would talk about insanity and stuff, but he would forget that there were people on the jury who had, you know, had mental health issues. He would harp on the fact that they were smoking pot well weed is very common in Austin. It's like he forgot his audience. And yet Degaron grew up in Austin.
It was just it's it's like he thought, this is my personal opinion, he thought he was doing a trial in the much more conservative Houston, Texas rather than in Austin, and it's it's like he had no concept of the audience he was going to or the strength of Tracy Charleton, Christopher Doci, Amy coz Art, Alison Wetzel, and Gary Cobb, the other prosecutor on the case, who were just absolutely amazing.
What do you point out as the again, they were young attorneys with against this veteran, but it looked like the veteran just showed up and put in his time as opposed to these other people. Was it the preparation of these because it looked like in the beginning that a lot of this testimony, like you say that the daughters had stories that changed, and the boyfriends were very solid in this. But what do you attribute this? You talked about the brilliant strategy that the prosecutors had, but
what was it? Was it the preparation of those witnesses.
The preparation of Alison we and Gary Cobb. Of the witnesses, Dick de Garin will tell you he and his staff worked like a dog on this. But like I say,
he constantly offended the jurors. One of the things that he did that would make for great TV is at the very end and closing arguments, climbed up on the defense table, put a pillow on his stomach to represent a fat Steve Beard and pulled a sheet over it and talked about how then you know, Tracy shot him in the gut, and it was just I'm sure he thought this was a dramatic, wonderful recreation, but it was
just laughable and offensive. Yes, And then in closing arguments, when he was arguing, you know, the guilty not the punishment phase, he just downright insulted the jurors over and over and told them how stupid they were basically for coming to this. And you could just see the jurors getting angry or and angrier, and from what I if I remember correctly, when they broke to deliberate, they had to spend a great deal of time calming down, you know,
getting over their anger at Dick Degaron. It's like he just misread everything and why, I.
Don't know, what was the demeanor of Celeste Johnson by this point, and we didn't talk about her husband, Cole Johnson, that she had married right after, you know, she became a widow and then shortly after. But what was what is his story and is he supportive of his wife? Tell us a little bit about Cole Johnson.
Well, Cole Johnson, you know, again you have to look at she was married to this fat, rich old man who was gruff and everything. And Cole Johnson was a handsome, tall, somewhat slim, you know, young guy around fortieth or so, and so the comparison of the looks whoe. But when you you know, he was in a way a drifter kind of guy that went around tending barns, playing music
and laying women. But he, you know, he sees Celeste and she's a wealthy widow, and he hooks onto her, and he stayed loyal to her through the entire trial and for a while thereafter. And now when I ask people about him, they they will just say he kind of disappeared, that's all they'll say. You know, he's not around anymore. But throughout the trial he was there every day. He was supportive. She would he would write poetry to her,
song lyrics. He would say, I will. He got up in court and say, I will work two jobs to you know, because we're going to fight this and prove that she is innocent. There is nothing that proves that she is guilty. And when he's saying that, he will, you know, you work two jobs. Well, at that point he didn't have any jobs. You know, he was going to put on his Armani suit to court and friends said, hey, don't do that. You know, we're trying to go for a low bell. You can't go in with an Armani suit.
And I found him to be a nice, pleasant guy, but you know, he's not going to be a society guy that's you know, going to be respected in the country club, even though he might be in there with Celeste. He's not going to be respected like Steve Beard.
Right now, obviously, the outcome is she's imprisoned. And of course what's a big feature is the interview. So don't give everything away, but tell us about the conditions under which you were able to interview Celeste.
Well, we had to fight for interviews in the past. We could and I say we I'm talking about true crime writers in general. We could go into the prisons and do interviews and then say, oh, you can only have an hour, that's what we say officially, but just take as long as you want. And when I did my first true crime book, Wasted, I was put a loan in the room with the killer, who was allegedly a hip man for the Mexican mafia. We sat literally
knee to me. I took a tattoo tour of his body, and we were together for I think four hours approximately. By the time Celeste and Tracy were in prison, a new regime so to speak, had come in and taken over, and they considered true crime writers not journalists, and we were not allowed to do interviews. We fought for this.
We got where we could do interviews, but like say in the past, Nita knee, now we were literally timed down to the second and we had somebody sitting there observing her the whole time, and so and one of the things though that worked out good, is because when I'm interviewing Celeste and I always wondered, how could this happen? How could this crime really? How could people have been sucked into her? And then when I sat across firm or for an hour or I understood she's a blast
she's charming, she's funny. I had a great time with her. I didn't really want to leave because we were laughing. And then I got I get it. I get it now. But as we were being ushered out, she's being let out one way, I'm being let out the other. And we haven't finished our interview, and I'm shouting her questions and I'm like, well, what about the walkthrough? You know, why did Tracy do this or something? You know? And Celeste at this point, because she's being rushed out, she
doesn't really realize. I think what she's saying to me, and do I dare tell you this? You know what she did say? And actually it's like I've got to look it up because uh, I'm trying. I want to get it correct. Oh gosh, And now I can't see it. But basically, oh I can't find it in the book.
Oh rat.
But she basically when I left, not realizing it, she confessed to me because she said something to the effect and I wish I could look and find this and
then look it up and tell it to you. Specifically that Tracy wouldn't have screwed up if she hadn't have been mad at ceclast and if she had remembered the walk through, because remember how I said they did a walk through the day before and so let yeah, and Celeste basically admitted that there had been a walk through, and then she caught herself and said, oh, if there had been one, And I'm like, dang, I got it. You know, to me, that was like a confession.
Well sure, I mean there's a lot of cases where despite all the evidence, despite the appeals, despite twenty five years, they're still professing their innocence. That's their ploy, right, that's right, simple. There's no benefit to confessing for those people like her that have been lying and conning right from the very beginning.
And there are a lot of people who give me a hard time about my respect for Tracy Charlton because they say, how could you respect someone who tried to kill someone? And it's because of interviewing so many killers who always deny what they did. And I respect Tracy because she admits what she did and takes full responsibility for the actions.
What was her You talked about the charm that exuded from from Celeste. What was when you spoke with Tracy? What did she say?
Well, see, Tracy and I have a little a mutual history, and that we went to the same summer camp, and that we know a lot of the same people. In fact, one of my friends was a mentor to her, and she when God can't believe I'm telling this. When I first met Tracy, which was right after the trial, and we were all exhausted and stressed out, and I walked into the meeting with Tracy singing one of our camp songs, and she was furious. I learned this later from other people,
because she thought I was being disrespectful to Steve. What Tracy did not know was that almost every night after court, Becky Beard and I were going out to dinner together, and Becky and I formed a bond where we were each other's support through the trial, because I know it sounds ridiculous, but these trials are emotionally wearing on the riders too. So Becky and I would go out at night, would have steaks or whatever, and we would talk and we would laugh a lot, would do black humor. We
would also cry, particularly Becky would cry. So she didn't know that Becky and I had established this bond of laughter and tears, and that Becky wouldn't have objected to this fact. She probably would have been laughing. And so Tracy always didn't feel like I was respectful for the enough and got this. So even though I interviewed her twice and she was very giving to me as far as information, we did not create a particular bond. Does that make sense?
Sure? But I ready to go ahead, go ahead.
Well, I was just saying, I just know her through our summer camp together. We did not know each other at camp, but we knew so many people. I know our personality from book people. Because she does not remember this, but she helped me a lot with my first book. I'm selling it at book people. So I know I feel and this shouldn't be this way because I'm a journalist. I shouldn't have this. But I do feel a loyalty and respect for Tracy because I know how smart she is,
I know how caring she is. I know what kind of family she came from and how screwed up it was, and how she says, don't blame this on my family, don't blame this on my youth, you know my growing up. Don't blame this on my mental illness. I did this. This is my fault, and I admire that.
She was diagnosed as bipolar, as you write in the book, and the deal was twenty years, so there is a she will be released someday and.
She's already out.
She's out, Yeah, she's out. Wow. Now, what was interesting in the book too, is that Celeste by that time, Celeste Johnson was incarcerated and so used to being spoiled and pampered that she had a real tough time. And it's not you don't write it as humor, but I found it really, you know, I could just it was very vivid in her requests and her her complaints while she was in prison. Maybe it does tell us a little bit about how she fared in prison.
Now, this was primarily when she was in jail here in Austin, and it was she couldn't get over that she wasn't the diva at the country club. You know. She would complain about how the shampoo in prison was bad and that it was making her hair braak and frizzy and fall out, and she wanted her sixty seventy
dollars hair shampoo and stuff. She would complain that she wasn't getting her medications on time, and that she wasn't seeing a doctor, and she kept saying this, you know, I have health insurance, why can't I see a doctor. She complained that they weren't giving her her books, that she wanted her books to read, and the Garran sent a letter saying why can't she have her books?
And the the.
You know, officers at the jail would say, hey, she's not telling you the whole story. We only allow I can't remember. It was two or three books and she has six. And what was also amazing what she loved to read is true crime and that's one of the things that she would tell Tracy, like when Tracy said, it's not going to kill him if I shoot him in the gut, and Celeste said, oh, yes, I know these things. I read all these true crimes and mystery novels. I know what I'm doing, you know.
Yeah. What was the what was the dynamic between Tracy at trial, the demeanor of Celeste at trial and that faithful event when Tracy is testifying against Celeste. What's what was that dynamic?
Like at court, celest would usually glare at someone when they you know, thinking that she could intimidate them, and the people usually wouldn't look at her. But what I found most interesting is at the very beginning of the trial, Celeste was this demure girl who would sit there all prim and proper in her twin sets. And as the trial went on, that demure, proper demeanor would leave and she would constantly whisper and talk and roll her eyes, which she got in trouble with the judge for doing,
like I say, glare at people. And then when there were breaks, she would be over there laughing with her defense team. At one point they were talking about Celeste wrapping a house and I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact joke, but I think it was that they were wrapping Jimmy Martinez's house and that Celeste was angry and you don't have to correct me if I'm wrong, and she urinated on his lawn or something like that.
Yes, yeah, And.
That testimony was on her fortieth birthday, and she laughed and loved that and said that that was her birthday present. Was hearing that testimony. Yeah, her life is on the line, and she's like giggling about people testifying that this grown woman is urinating on her ex husband's lawn.
Come on, Yes, interesting What was it like for the daughters at this, because you know, I mean, there's no no win situation for these people at all.
The daughters they were totally stressed by this, you know, in court, refusing to look at their mom and everything. But they have a sense of humor and so they could sort of turn it on and off that they can be laughing and joking one minute and then serious the next. I believe when they when the jury was deliberating and they were you know, shuttled away in victim services or the DA's office, I believe they were making jokes about Celeste getting the electric chair, you know, and
watching her fry. So it's I don't they get really upset if anyone says they're like Celeste, But they you know, they are their mom's daughters, and it doesn't mean that they're completely like Celeste, but they do have that ability to laugh and see weirdness in tragic situation.
What was the media's take on this? Did they were you guys sort of in line or where did they go with this? I know they love beautiful people and rich people, and then talk of lesbian sexual affairs and somebody commissioning somebody else to murder. They must love that. So tell us what the media response was and what their sort of take was on it.
Well, the local media when this first happened pretty much stayed away from it. There's a scene in the book where I have a lot of the people in Austin who were friends with Steve sitting there at Gossipine and the local grocery store, going what's going on? Why isn't this, you know, being you know, on the news, And all they could figure out was why wasn't Steve. You know, it must be because Steve didn't want this, because he
knew everybody in the media, being in radio. And then right afterwards, one of the local radio shows though on a country western station, where is there you know, kind of the I won't say Howard Stern of country music, but they're rather irreverent group, and Celeste called in to their radio show and saying, oh, everybody's making this totally trashy.
And they're being very respectful Celeste and saying, you know, our prayers are with you, and you know, and then they hang up and then they're like going, holy cow. And so I think the media, the local media was rather respectful. It was all the whispering that's going on, and the grocery store aisles at the country club and that kind of stuff. Now, if you're talking about the national media, yeah, they ate it up. You know court
TV was here back when court TV existed. ABC News was following, the CBS News was following, so you know it did attract a bit of media.
Absolutely. Well, it's a fascinating tale. I want to thank you for coming on and talking about The Fortune Hunter. For those that might want to look further into some of the other books you. You mentioned the book Wasted, and we talked about Breaking Point with about Andrea Yates. Tell us where they might be able to contact you through Facebook or you have a website find out a lot more of your work.
Yeah, on my website Susie Spencer dot com and that's spelled s uz y so that people get it correctly and find it. I'm I'm on you know, my website. You can email me through there. I'm on Facebook. I believe that Susie Spencer dot author something on Facebook. You can email me through there. I'm on Twitter at Spencer writer w R I T E R and you can contact me there. So I'm easy to reach. Just don't come at you with a shotgun.
Yes, absolutely, because it could kill you.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Thank you very much Susie for coming on and talking about that, and I know we'll be talking again in the near future. So thank you very much, and have a great evening
You too, Thank you, good night, good night.