Celeste Beard - Crime

Crime

On October 2, 1999, Beard was shot in the stomach while sleeping at his and Celeste's home and died as a result of an infection caused by the open wound on January 21, 2000. Local police tied the shooting to Johnson's lesbian friend, Tracey Tarlton. The women had met in a mental health facility, Saint David’s Pavilion, after Johnson threatened to commit suicide when she and Beard began fighting over her constantly spending his money on expensive clothes and jewelry for herself. Tarlton was arrested at her home six days after the shooting and charged with assault. The police thought there was more to the story when people who were interviewed said that Johnson had spoken negatively about Beard. Further building their speculation was her refusal to let them interview Beard during his hospital stay, oddly casual behavior after his death, and sleeping in a different room the night Beard was shot.

Despite mounting suspicion on Johnson, Tarlton remained silent, having romantic feelings for Johnson, until July 2000 when she discovered through a local newspaper that she had remarried after Beard’s death. Realizing that their relationship was a sham and none of what Johnson told her about her marriage was true, she told police just before her murder trial began in March 2002 that Johnson had persuaded her to shoot Beard, claiming that he had been emotionally abusing her to the point where she wanted to commit suicide and getting rid of him was the only way the women could be together.