Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
On the Case With Paula Zahn will look into the murders of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley. The episode “Wrong Place, Wrong Time” airs on ID this Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. A synopsis reads, “Police investigate the terrifying mystery behind the murder of two teenage girls; either they were victims of a targeted attack, or they had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
CBS News stated that on July 31, 1999, Hawlett and Beasley left for a party and never returned home. The following day, their bodies were found in the trunk of Beasley’s black Mazda in Ozark. Both girls, 17 at the time, died of gunshot wounds to the head.
The murders remained unsolved for 20 years as police failed to make an arrest. Eventually, in 2019, they used DNA evidence from the crime scene to find a suspect using an online genealogy database. This led to the arrest of a truck driver and preacher, Coley McCraney, who was convicted of capital murder. McCraney received a life sentence without parole.
How was Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley’s murder case solved?
According to Al.com, in the years following the murders of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, investigators looked into over 70 potential suspects. They also conducted more than 500 interviews and overworked forensics experts, trying to find matches for the DNA from the crime scene.
The Ozark Police Chief claimed that the 2018 arrest of the Golden State Killer via the use of a genealogy and DNA database sparked their investigation. The following events would ultimately give them a break in the cold case and lead to the arrest of the killer. They reportedly contacted Parabon NanoLabs. This Virginia-based company specializes in DNA engineering.
Per the report, the process began in August 2018 and eventually led to the arrest of Coley McCraney. CBS stated that Parabon NanoLabs ran the crime scene DNA through an online genealogy database. Authorities identified an extended family member and asked McCraney to submit a DNA sample. The said sample matched the DNA from the crime scene, prompting his arrest in 2019 for the murders of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley.
Law & Crime reported that McCraney’s trial began on April 17, 2023. ABC affiliate WDHN reported that he took the stand in his own defense. The defendant claimed that he had consensual sex with J.B. Beasley on the night of the murders. The defense attorney David Harrison argued that the prosecution only had McCraney’s DNA on Beasley and questioned their lack of other evidence.
McCraney claimed he had previously met the girls at a local mall a couple of months before and knew them. He also alleged that they had plans to meet up that night. According to his story, Beasley was late, so he decided to go home when he finally met up with the girls after spotting them at a pay phone. The defendant further alleged he had sex with Beasley before the girls took him home in their car sometime after midnight.
Meanwhile, the prosecution stated there was no plan for the three to meet. They argued Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley were lost in Ozark that night while heading home. They called Hawlett’s parents from the gas station when Coley McCraney appeared with a gun. He then ordered the teens back into their car and drove them to a second location where he raped Beasley. McCraney then loaded them in the trunk of the Mazda and shot them each with a single shot to the head.
In April 2023, a jury convicted McCraney on four counts of capital murder in the 1999 deaths, per the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. The same jury sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On the Case With Paula Zahn’s episode on the murders of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley airs on March 6, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.