Speaker 1: Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 1: Previously on Murder on Songbird Road. We're going to head
Speaker 1: over to hucks now, but there are three hooks in
Speaker 1: the general vicinity.
Speaker 2: Which one did she go to?
Speaker 3: It's going to be the one on the Young Street,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 4: So took us nine minutes fifteen seconds to get here
Speaker 4: catching that light, which we knew. She caught the light
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: The prosecution contends it would have taken Beverly six to
Speaker 1: seven minutes to make the drive.
Speaker 2: She would have known because.
Speaker 1: You manage a gas station, that would probably be the
Speaker 1: worst possible place if you wanted anonymity. Samples weren't collected
Speaker 1: from Beverly's car until the evening of the murder, after
Speaker 1: it had been moved by someone on the scene and
Speaker 1: not Beverly. Then they go to the dump and find
Speaker 1: three unrelated items.
Speaker 4: When knives are in introduced of any kind an a juror's.
Speaker 2: Mine, the damage is done. In the victim impact statement.
Speaker 1: Darkness the light.
Speaker 2: Oh that's what I wrote down.
Speaker 3: Yeah, fucking witch.
Speaker 4: It could be a motive as to why this girl
Speaker 4: was railroaded.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: I mean that kind of shit is frowned upon down here.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco, and this is murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 1: Within weeks of her arrest, while being held in Williamson
Speaker 1: County custody awaiting trial, Julia Beverly made a shocking but
Speaker 1: not entirely unexpected discovery. Here's Renee high Tower.
Speaker 3: She found out she was pregnant in jail.
Speaker 6: I was happy for her, but I was hurting for
Speaker 6: her because I knew the situation.
Speaker 3: I knew they wanted another child.
Speaker 1: Beverly and her now estranged former fiancee Mike Beasley had
Speaker 1: been trying for a third child together, hoping for a son.
Speaker 6: Julie has issues with her cervix and she wanted a
Speaker 6: boy with him, so they were trying one last time.
Speaker 6: When all this happened.
Speaker 1: For Beverly, the pregnancy was a light in a sea
Speaker 1: of darkness.
Speaker 3: She wanted to nurture this baby as best she could
Speaker 3: in the situation she was in. But it was it
Speaker 3: was rough.
Speaker 1: It was rough, the best possible blessing at the worst
Speaker 1: possible time.
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: Upon learning her daughter was pregnant, high Tower immediately began
Speaker 1: to petition the courts for a home based pregnancy. While
Speaker 1: awaiting trial.
Speaker 6: We went to get her a bond reduction so she
Speaker 6: can come home with her pregnancy and be around people
Speaker 6: that care about her, people that love her, and people she.
Speaker 1: Loves, and see her children because her bond was set
Speaker 1: for two million dollars.
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, two million dollar bond, and we went in
Speaker 6: for a reduction and Judge Green denied it. So her
Speaker 6: attorney said that she was going to try again at
Speaker 6: a later time, and his response was, I know you will.
Speaker 6: So we tried again when she was around eight months pregnant,
Speaker 6: and he denied it again. She even suggested worrying an
Speaker 6: ankle monitor. She wasn't going to go anywhere if she did,
Speaker 6: they would immediately know about it, and he denied it again.
Speaker 6: He gave two different reasons for each time we went.
Speaker 6: One was he was afraid that she was a flight risk,
Speaker 6: and the second one was my mother wouldn't be able
Speaker 6: to defend herself if anything were to happen, because my
Speaker 6: mother was living here as well. He said, my mother
Speaker 6: was on an oxygen machine and she was not capable
Speaker 6: of running away.
Speaker 3: If Julie ever attacked her.
Speaker 6: That my mother wouldn't be able to defend herself if
Speaker 6: Julie got out of control.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong in remembering that there was also some
Speaker 1: issue that your house was too close to a school?
Speaker 3: They brought it up in courts.
Speaker 1: What was the implication that Julie was some kind of
Speaker 1: a threat to children in general?
Speaker 6: Yes, keep her away from children and elderly. We appealed it,
Speaker 6: and then the appellate court denied.
Speaker 3: It as well and upheld the judge's decision.
Speaker 1: Keep in mind that Julia Beverly had no priors, and
Speaker 1: this was while she was awaiting trial, when she was
Speaker 1: supposed to have been given the presumption of innocence. Renee
Speaker 1: high Tower had immediate concerns about how her daughter was
Speaker 1: being treated after she was taken into custody in Williamson
Speaker 1: County before she even knew she was pregnant.
Speaker 6: I was trying to get a hold of her, and
Speaker 6: the second or third day she was in there, I
Speaker 6: was calling and calling. When I finally did talk to her,
Speaker 6: she said that the correction officers were almost parading her
Speaker 6: charges to everyone in there, saying that she.
Speaker 3: Was child killer.
Speaker 6: And not only that, they said that her father was
Speaker 6: a police officer trying to rile up people in jail
Speaker 6: to do things to her, to harm her.
Speaker 3: MM.
Speaker 1: What would you say were your major concerns after Julie
Speaker 1: was arrested.
Speaker 6: She had told me after she was in there three
Speaker 6: weeks twenty one days, she hadn't taken a shower or
Speaker 6: got the opportunity to brush her teeth at all since
Speaker 6: the time she stepped in there, and for twenty one
Speaker 6: days following. I called called the sheriff, spoke to him directly,
Speaker 6: Benny Vick, and I voiced my complaints and he said, well,
Speaker 6: inmates lie all the time. And I said, well, she
Speaker 6: has no reason to lie about taking a shower or
Speaker 6: brushing her teeth. So I said, do you keep this
Speaker 6: things on record? And he said yeah, and he was
Speaker 6: going to look into it, and he never called me back.
Speaker 6: And then once I got off the phone with him,
Speaker 6: I called her attorney and I told her the same thing,
Speaker 6: and she was beside herself and she said she's going
Speaker 6: to take care of it.
Speaker 3: Well. Julie called me the next day and said.
Speaker 6: She finally got her shower and got a semi kind
Speaker 6: of toothbrush to grocer.
Speaker 1: Teeth under what precaution or protocol. Did they justify not
Speaker 1: allowing her to brush her teeth or shower for twenty
Speaker 1: one days, I've.
Speaker 6: Never heard an answer yet, no one returned, and he
Speaker 6: calls to me.
Speaker 3: No one has answered that question, not one person.
Speaker 1: Who do those officers report work directly to the sheriff
Speaker 1: I believe who's now retired.
Speaker 3: Yes, Beni Vic.
Speaker 6: Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 1: My name is Lauren Bright Piceco, and I am a
Speaker 1: journalist trying to get in.
Speaker 2: Touch with mister Vic.
Speaker 1: I've reached out to former Williamson County Sheriff Benniveck to
Speaker 1: no avail since March eighteenth, twenty twenty four. I've also
Speaker 1: attempted to contact current Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diedrich, making
Speaker 1: Freedom of Information Act request for documentation of orders that
Speaker 1: dictated Beverly's treatment while pregnant and during the delivery of
Speaker 1: her son while she was in custody of Williamson County
Speaker 1: awaiting trial. At the date of this recording, I had
Speaker 1: yet to receive a response.
Speaker 6: She wasn't treated like she was an innocent human being
Speaker 6: at all. Is sickening right down to what they were
Speaker 6: giving her to eat. It took her a while to
Speaker 6: get the vitamins that she That was another reasoning.
Speaker 3: For house releas because she had issues with iron, so
Speaker 3: in case she needed an iron infusion.
Speaker 6: She finally started taking the vitamins, but nutrition was not
Speaker 6: there because a lot of the food that they were
Speaker 6: giving her this was during COVID.
Speaker 3: These are the excuses COVID. So a lot of the
Speaker 3: meals were lunch meat.
Speaker 6: This went on for at least three to four months.
Speaker 3: Lunch meat for lunch and dinner.
Speaker 1: That's filled with nitrates.
Speaker 6: Yes, eating too much of that and her being pregnant
Speaker 6: can get lysteria. It's just like at every opportunity that
Speaker 6: came to them to degrade her, or belittle her, or even.
Speaker 3: Torture her, they did it.
Speaker 6: It took that opportunity and did whatever they could. There
Speaker 6: were no presumptions of innocence while they were awaiting trial.
Speaker 3: It was none of that.
Speaker 1: None of it especially would seem when it came to
Speaker 1: Beverly's labor and delivery. We'll be right back with Murder
Speaker 1: on Songbird Road. Now back to Murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 1: In a six page letter, Julie Beverly shared the circumstances
Speaker 1: of her son's birth while in custody of Williamson County.
Speaker 1: I've asked her cousin Niki to read excerpts of that letter.
Speaker 7: July twenty eighth, twenty twenty one was one of the
Speaker 7: best days of my life, and it turned into the
Speaker 7: hardest days. I gave birth to my fourth child, Thomas.
Speaker 7: It was hard birth because a few hours earlier I
Speaker 7: was told for the first time.
Speaker 5: That he would be taken.
Speaker 1: Beverly goes on to explain that she was awoken in
Speaker 1: her cell at ten pm by Williamson County jail nurse
Speaker 1: Marilyn Reynolds, who was accompanied by a corrections officer and
Speaker 1: a police lieutenant. Beverly was in four She was being
Speaker 1: taken to the hospital to be induced.
Speaker 7: When we arrived at the hospital, Marilyn and the corrections
Speaker 7: officer Stocker, stayed in the room with me. Nurses started
Speaker 7: my intake, and at that time they asked if I
Speaker 7: had planned to bottle or breastfeed. I said I wanted
Speaker 7: to breastfeed. While I stayed in the hospital room. Then
Speaker 7: Marilyn Reynolds tells me that the judge ordered Thomas would
Speaker 7: be taken as soon as the umbilical cord was cut.
Speaker 7: I wanted to scream at that moment, I said, no
Speaker 7: one told me this. Her reply was, well, your attorney
Speaker 7: and the judge signed off on it.
Speaker 1: Not only was Beverly not informed as to the plan
Speaker 1: to immediately seize her son, she was denied access to
Speaker 1: contacting her lawyers or family. Reynolds apparently ordered the phone
Speaker 1: removed from Beverly's hospital room.
Speaker 5: All I could think is I didn't want to be here.
Speaker 7: I wanted to keep him inside until he was ready
Speaker 7: to come out, and I'm ready for him. I didn't
Speaker 7: want to hand him to anyone, and I wanted him
Speaker 7: to stay until the case was resolved so that I
Speaker 7: could take him home. I was not prepared, would never
Speaker 7: be prepared to give Thomas to anyone.
Speaker 1: Beverly was forced to give birth with two Williamson County
Speaker 1: Jail employees in her room.
Speaker 7: My only support system was Marilyn and the corrections officer
Speaker 7: stuck her two people I did not want with me.
Speaker 1: There was a person who showed Beverly kindness and compassion
Speaker 1: immediately after Thomas was born, her OBGYN, doctor Andrea Humphrey
Speaker 1: By refusing to immediately cut the umbilical cord.
Speaker 7: Hearing that first cry is always the most amazing feeling.
Speaker 7: He only cried for a few seconds. Once he was
Speaker 7: placed on my chest, he was calm. Then Doctor Humphrey
Speaker 7: did for me the most heartfelt, amazing thing. I will
Speaker 7: never be able to express how appreciative I am for her.
Speaker 7: She gave me the golden hour. It's an hour where
Speaker 7: the umbilical cord stays attached and the mother and child
Speaker 7: are able to bond. She gave me an hour when
Speaker 7: the courts and the corrections officers wanted to give me seconds.
Speaker 1: Doctor Humphrey also made sure that photos of that hour
Speaker 1: were taken before Beverly's son was taken from her.
Speaker 5: That hour was the best thing ever.
Speaker 7: I got to hold him and kiss him, breastfed him,
Speaker 7: and most important, tell him that I loved him and
Speaker 7: I will forever love him.
Speaker 1: The pictures are heartbreaking. In them, Beverly's face clearly shows
Speaker 1: the strain of having just given birth and the emotional
Speaker 1: weight of balancing her love for her newborn son with
Speaker 1: their inevitable separation.
Speaker 5: Then the dreaded moment came.
Speaker 7: Doctor Humphrey said, it's time it was like Thomas knew
Speaker 7: because he started crying, and of course I immediately started crying,
Speaker 7: and I'm crying now just reliving the moment.
Speaker 5: It broke my heart. I didn't want him to leave.
Speaker 1: When a hospital staff member came in to discuss the
Speaker 1: birth certificate, Julia Beverly endured additional heartbreak, and it involved
Speaker 1: the man she had lived with for nearly eight years
Speaker 1: and already had two other children with, Mike Beasley.
Speaker 7: She said he didn't want to sign the birth certificate
Speaker 7: without a DNA test. It felt like a slap in
Speaker 7: the face. So he basically said he believed that I
Speaker 7: had cheated on him. I had never given him reason
Speaker 7: to believe that he was the love of my life
Speaker 7: and the only person I was with, So my name
Speaker 7: was the only one on the birth certificate.
Speaker 1: Less than twenty four hours after giving birth and still
Speaker 1: bleeding heavily, Beverly was shackled and returned to the Williamson
Speaker 1: County Prison, her breasts painfully swollen with milk, meant for
Speaker 1: the son she has not seen or held since. And
Speaker 1: then came another blow to Beverly.
Speaker 7: I found out later that day that Mike took Thomas
Speaker 7: home before the DNA results came back. I don't know
Speaker 7: why he was able to take him when he wouldn't
Speaker 7: sign the birth certificate.
Speaker 1: As we'll further discuss, the circumstances surrounding Beverly's birth and
Speaker 1: the custody of her son are even more controversial than
Speaker 1: they are cruel. But alone in her cell, Beverly, stripped
Speaker 1: of her newborn, felt powerless and despondent.
Speaker 7: I fell into a deep depression again. It was a
Speaker 7: rough couple of weeks after that.
Speaker 1: Julia Beverly ended her letter with this.
Speaker 5: It's heart going back to these moments.
Speaker 1: Even before reading the letter, the way in which Beverly
Speaker 1: was forced to give birth and the way in which
Speaker 1: her son was taken was hard for her cousin Nikki
Speaker 1: to process.
Speaker 7: It's horrific, it's inhuman. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 7: So worried for her leading up to the birth, just
Speaker 7: because I know, having had three kids, everything that takes
Speaker 7: out of you and everything that you go through, it's
Speaker 7: all worth it in the end, because they.
Speaker 5: Are you and they're a part of you. And for
Speaker 5: her to have to do that with.
Speaker 7: Nobody that cared for her, really, to be alone and
Speaker 7: have to do that and then have to leave without him.
Speaker 5: I just can't. It's still it's extremely upsetting.
Speaker 1: Especially if, as Nikki vehemently believes, Julia Beverly was wrongfully
Speaker 1: accused and convicted. Back to Beverly's mother, Renee high Tower,
Speaker 1: how did you find out that your grandson was born?
Speaker 6: My friend? Actually she used to work at the hospital,
Speaker 6: so she called saying that she needed to check on
Speaker 6: Julia Beverly. She got through to the nurses station up
Speaker 6: there and they told her what time she came in,
Speaker 6: and she asked how she was doing, and then she
Speaker 6: called me and told me that she was there. So
Speaker 6: that's how I found out because I wasn't getting calls
Speaker 6: from Julie at all, and I was worried about her.
Speaker 6: And then when I called immediately after, they told me
Speaker 6: she wasn't there.
Speaker 3: And this was within ten fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: So she's put back in solitary confinement basically when she
Speaker 1: gets back to the jail.
Speaker 3: Pretty much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she's not reaching out to you, no, and
Speaker 1: you're probably concerned again, very.
Speaker 6: Yeah, because I knew this is going to be heart
Speaker 6: wrenching for her not being able to be with her
Speaker 6: baby and the whole situation in its entirety, and she
Speaker 6: didn't call me. I sent a text and I didn't
Speaker 6: get a response from that. So I called the jail
Speaker 6: and I talked to an officer who was a woman,
Speaker 6: and I said, I know she had the baby. I'm
Speaker 6: just checking to see if she's all right. She's not
Speaker 6: calling me, And they said, I guess she's okay. She's
Speaker 6: not in a smock and what does that mean? Meaning
Speaker 6: she's not in a suicidal outfit, So I guess she's
Speaker 6: all right.
Speaker 1: It is of interest to add that I've been given
Speaker 1: portions of Beverly's DCFS case file by an anonymous source.
Speaker 1: For some reason, Beverly, who is half white, is listed
Speaker 1: as black on the reports, yet all four of her children,
Speaker 1: whose fathers are white, are listed as white. Again, Mary
Speaker 1: and Illinois is eighty six percent white. Here's Rene high
Speaker 1: Tower's reaction.
Speaker 2: I have the page.
Speaker 1: It's on page two of fifteen. Julia Beverly adult female,
Speaker 1: black African American, Jade Beasley child female white. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to use the kids' names, but Mike and Julia's
Speaker 1: one year old child is listed as female and white,
Speaker 1: and Jaden is listed as white. Wow, as is the
Speaker 1: eldest daughter that Julia and Mike share white, All the
Speaker 1: kids are white, and just Julie is black.
Speaker 2: How does that happen?
Speaker 3: Get me?
Speaker 1: That view of Beverly as other seems to have also
Speaker 1: impacted the way her entire family was treated even before
Speaker 1: the trial, particularly when Hitower was petitioning to have Beverly
Speaker 1: stay with her during the pregnancy.
Speaker 6: The sad part about one of these things is when
Speaker 6: she was up for that hearing to the appellate court
Speaker 6: for her to be on the house arrest just for
Speaker 6: the birth of her baby, and we were waiting on
Speaker 6: the results for that, and when those results came back,
Speaker 6: they were not given to thene They were not given
Speaker 6: to me, they were not given to Julie. Yet Mike's
Speaker 6: family made a huge post on their Facebook denied in
Speaker 6: all capital.
Speaker 3: Os with explanation points, and that's how we learned. That's
Speaker 3: how we learned.
Speaker 1: There seems to be huge lack of communication, but it
Speaker 1: seems to just be in one direction.
Speaker 8: YEP.
Speaker 1: A quick aside. When this interview was taped in March
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four, Thomas was nearly three years and
Speaker 1: so when did you first get the chance to meet Thomas.
Speaker 3: I have yet to meet Thomas. I have not met
Speaker 3: him yet.
Speaker 6: I've seen the pictures that Julie got from the hospital,
Speaker 6: and that's all I have.
Speaker 1: Renee High Tower had been denied access to Beverly's three
Speaker 1: youngest children her grandchildren since the arrest.
Speaker 6: Mike is keeping three of Julie's children from me on
Speaker 6: what grounds. He states that he's doing it for the
Speaker 6: protection of his children, and I'm not sure what that means.
Speaker 2: That's one half of their family.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, And this is not something that was done
Speaker 6: later in this case. This was done immediately immediately upon
Speaker 6: Julie's arrest. As soon as she was arrested. It was
Speaker 6: completely cut off. Even when Thomas was born. I reached out,
Speaker 6: you need to help with the baby, let me know.
Speaker 6: I'll help any way I can. Everything goes unanswered.
Speaker 2: That's got to be so painful.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 6: It is very And then I have Jayden here, who
Speaker 6: is missing out on three of his siblings, and he
Speaker 6: comes to see me every other weekend, yet he can't
Speaker 6: see his own siblings. And Mike has a direct line
Speaker 6: to Jaden where he doesn't have to go through me
Speaker 6: or anyone else.
Speaker 3: And he still doesn't maintain contact.
Speaker 6: With him, and Jaden sends text messages all the time
Speaker 6: want to talk to the girls, and those go unanswered.
Speaker 1: High Tower has had no choice but resort to petitioning
Speaker 1: the courts for access to her grandchildren.
Speaker 3: There was always an excuse, like clockwork.
Speaker 6: Every two weeks, I would request to see them, and
Speaker 6: my request would either go unanswered or it would be
Speaker 6: it's not a good time, or I'll let you know.
Speaker 6: And this went on for a year and a half
Speaker 6: and I finally looked into getting a jorney.
Speaker 3: I ended up filing for grandparent visitation.
Speaker 6: Never did I think it would take years.
Speaker 8: You have reached the non emergency line for Williamson County
Speaker 8: Sheriff's Department.
Speaker 3: Get this an emergency.
Speaker 5: Please hang up in down nine to one one.
Speaker 3: Please listen carefully.
Speaker 1: By the fall of twenty twenty four, it's important to
Speaker 1: stress just how unresponsive Williamson County had been to my
Speaker 1: outreach for information pertinent to the case against Julie Beverly.
Speaker 1: This occurred on multiple levels, across multiple branches.
Speaker 8: For Williamson County Jail, Please press one WAYNAMS in King Jail, Hi.
Speaker 1: I please speak with Marilyn Reynolds.
Speaker 5: Just a minute.
Speaker 8: Record your message.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 1: Ms Reynolds. My name is Lauren Bright pitch Ecko, and
Speaker 1: I am a journalist who is looking into the Julia
Speaker 1: Beverly case. I'm calling because I believe that you were
Speaker 1: the attending on duty when she gave birth to her
Speaker 1: son Thomas on seven twenty eight, twenty one, when she
Speaker 1: was in custody of Williamson County awaiting trial. I'm just
Speaker 1: calling because I'm trying to find out where the order
Speaker 1: to remove the infant immediately upon birth came from. Mss
Speaker 1: Beverly contends that you gave the direction, but I cannot
Speaker 1: find any official order, so I'm hoping you can clear
Speaker 1: that up for me, and also who gave the order
Speaker 1: for members of the Department of Correction to be in
Speaker 1: the room while she was giving birth. Again, my name
Speaker 1: is Lauren Bright PACHECKA. After many failed attempts, I finally
Speaker 1: did manage to get Williamson County Jail nurse Marilyn Reynolds
Speaker 1: on the phone. She refused to answer any of my
Speaker 1: questions as to whose order she was working under and
Speaker 1: directed me back to the Williamson County Sheriff's office for information.
Speaker 1: Sheriff ignored more than a dozen of my requests via
Speaker 1: phone and email for information and records pertaining to Julia
Speaker 1: Beverly's case. If you could give me a holler back,
Speaker 1: I am an thank you so much. Out of frustration,
Speaker 1: I contacted the Williamson County State's Attorney, Ted Hampson, who
Speaker 1: replaced the former Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Zenati, Zanati
Speaker 1: having resigned under somewhat dubious circumstances.
Speaker 9: A former Southern Illinois state's attorney has pleaded guilty to
Speaker 9: a federal fraud charge. Former Williamson County State's Attorney Brendan
Speaker 9: Zanati pled guilty to a charge of false entry inv
Speaker 9: bank records and involves Southern Trust Bank branches in Marion, Vienna,
Speaker 9: and Goreville. That charge carries with it the possibility of
Speaker 9: jail time and a fine.
Speaker 1: In March of twenty twenty four, I started reaching out
Speaker 1: to Justin Mays, the Williamson County Circuit Clerk. After several
Speaker 1: unresponsive weeks, he linked me with an assistant state's attorney,
Speaker 1: Jerry Adams. On thirtieth she forwarded as a quote courtesy
Speaker 1: an amended temporary custody order signed by a judge, claiming
Speaker 1: it provided the information I was seeking, even though there
Speaker 1: was no mention of birthing protocol or the immediate removal
Speaker 1: of Beverly's infant. When pressed as to who initiated those
Speaker 1: specific orders, she responded that Sheriff Binnyvick had retired before
Speaker 1: wishing me quote good luck. Months later, the Williamson County
Speaker 1: circuit clerk who'd linked us justin Mays resigned after being
Speaker 1: caught up in the same real estate and banking scandal
Speaker 1: as former Williamson County State's Attorney Brandon Soanati. Here's Renee
Speaker 1: high Tower's take.
Speaker 6: For a long time, I've heard people complain about Williamson County,
Speaker 6: and I just chalked it up as, oh, my god, Well,
Speaker 6: if you do the right thing, you won't have nothing
Speaker 6: to complain about. I've thought a lot about that, and
Speaker 6: then when my ex husband became a police officer, I
Speaker 6: learned the other side of the law from a police
Speaker 6: officer's perspective, and I never thought about any of the
Speaker 6: corruption or the poor judgment and the poor behavior of
Speaker 6: some of these officers until this happened. To Julie, I
Speaker 6: never seen this side until I was in it. I
Speaker 6: have not ever seen this level of corruption anywhere in
Speaker 6: my life anywhere, from the lying and the cover ups,
Speaker 6: and it's just drip, drip, drip in the bucket. We've
Speaker 6: got full bucket and it's still going. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Because of the ongoing lack of response to my Freedom
Speaker 1: of Information Act requests, I eventually contacted the Attorney General's
Speaker 1: Office of Illinois. But federal investigations, scandals, and retirements aside,
Speaker 1: Why would Williamson County be so reluctant to provide transparency
Speaker 1: regarding Beverly's pregnancy, delivery and the immediate removal of her
Speaker 1: son while in their Custoday, my name is.
Speaker 8: Emily Worth, and I am a senior staff attorney at
Speaker 8: the ACLU of Illinois.
Speaker 1: According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Illinois state law
Speaker 1: is quite clear as to the reproductive rights of incarcerated individuals.
Speaker 8: Reproductive rights in the context of incarceration should mean the
Speaker 8: same things as reproductive rights in any context, which is
Speaker 8: the right to make your own autonomous decisions about reproductive healthcare,
Speaker 8: whether that's contraception, abortion, prenatal care care during labor and delivery.
Speaker 8: It's really about having bodily autonomy when it comes to
Speaker 8: making those decisions.
Speaker 1: Can you give me just a general overview of reproductive
Speaker 1: rights while incarcerated in Illinois.
Speaker 8: Within Illinois, we have a state law called the Reproductive
Speaker 8: Health Act that sets standards for everyone in the state
Speaker 8: to have basic reproductive rights. And the Reproductive Health Act
Speaker 8: does apply to anyone who's in the custody of a
Speaker 8: county jail. So within the state of Illinois, the reproductive
Speaker 8: rights that you have do not vary from county county.
Speaker 8: Everyone in Illinois is guaranteed the same reproductive rights by
Speaker 8: the Reproductive Health Act. We also have a number of
Speaker 8: additional specific laws here in Illinois that deal with particular
Speaker 8: issues related to pregnancy care while someone is incarcerated in
Speaker 8: prison or jail, relating to things like the use of
Speaker 8: solitary confinements, the use of restraints during pregnancy and postpartum,
Speaker 8: and other issues unique to someone who is experiencing pregnancy
Speaker 8: or has recently given birth.
Speaker 1: What are those rights specifically in terms of prenatal care, So.
Speaker 8: Someone who is pregnant while incarcerated in Illinois has a
Speaker 8: right to receive adequate prenatal care that ensures that they
Speaker 8: have healthy pregnancy. They have the right to make their
Speaker 8: own decisions about whether to continue that pregnancy or to
Speaker 8: obtain an abortion. If they do continue the pregnancy. They
Speaker 8: have their right to make decisions about how they give birth,
Speaker 8: for example, whether or not to have an epidural, whether
Speaker 8: or not to have a c section, whether or not
Speaker 8: to be induced. They have those rights to make those decisions.
Speaker 1: In terms of the specific amount of time that an
Speaker 1: incarcerated person is allowed to stay with their newborn in Illinois,
Speaker 1: are their laws around that time frame or window.
Speaker 8: The current law is that someone who's incarcerated has a
Speaker 8: right to have their baby stay with them for seventy
Speaker 8: two hours after giving birth, unless the doctor says that
Speaker 8: that isn't safe. That became the law on July first
Speaker 8: of twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: Got it, and so it's the doctor's call, basically, not
Speaker 1: a judge or a correctional facility nurse.
Speaker 8: That's correct. The law says that the determination is to
Speaker 8: be made by a medical professional. The law became effective
Speaker 8: July first, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: A point of note, Julia Beverly's son Thomas was born
Speaker 1: July twenty eighth, twenty twenty one, nearly a full month
Speaker 1: after that law went into effect. We did talk about
Speaker 1: the seventy two hour window that the incarcerated individual is
Speaker 1: entitled to spend with their newborn, but we didn't talk
Speaker 1: about the rights specifically during delivery and birth.
Speaker 8: So during labor and delivery there should be no shackles
Speaker 8: whatsoever used on an incarcerated person, and any correct staffs
Speaker 8: that are at the hospital should be posted outside the
Speaker 8: delivery room.
Speaker 1: Now, was that a change that was made at the
Speaker 1: same time that the seventy two hours was.
Speaker 5: I believe that.
Speaker 8: Change was made earlier. That was the law even prior
Speaker 8: to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: What recourse does an individual in Illinois specifically have if
Speaker 1: they believe their reproductive rights were violated while they were incarcerated?
Speaker 8: This Reproductive Health Act includes a right of action, include
Speaker 8: the right to sue the government if you believe that
Speaker 8: your reproductive rights have been violated.
Speaker 1: Murder on Songbird Road will continue after this. Here again
Speaker 1: is Murder on Songbird Road. In April of twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: I visited Beverly in the Illinois facility she was transferred
Speaker 1: to after her sentencing. I flew into Chicago and drove
Speaker 1: a rental car two and a half hours south to Lincoln, Illinois. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: I connected with Bob Mada. It was really interesting the
Speaker 1: difference between the women's facility and the men's facilities that
Speaker 1: I've been in. Yeah, I mean right away, it's sprawled
Speaker 1: out so Originally it was built as a home for
Speaker 1: women who didn't want to keep their children, and I
Speaker 1: guess they'd give birth and then give the children.
Speaker 2: Up for adoption.
Speaker 1: But there's nothing but just cornfields, basically just farmland, and
Speaker 1: then this brick structure that's all sprawled out in little houses.
Speaker 1: You almost get the feeling that it's a religious retreat
Speaker 1: or some kind of school.
Speaker 4: Even if that's the vibe, we know that what it is,
Speaker 4: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I was the only visitor who signed up for the
Speaker 1: four thirty to eight thirty time slot.
Speaker 2: Really, so once I went.
Speaker 1: Through, and of course they pat you down and you
Speaker 1: had to declare every piece of metal on your body,
Speaker 1: and then they led me through to another building where
Speaker 1: Julie was just sitting by herself. The first thing that
Speaker 1: I was taken aback by was her size.
Speaker 3: She is so.
Speaker 2: Tiny, she's tiny, tiny.
Speaker 1: And also she was so pale, and I mentioned that
Speaker 1: because she doesn't look like her mugshot. That's the thing
Speaker 1: that she hears most often people don't recognize her from
Speaker 1: her mugshot because the mugshot really almost looks like it's
Speaker 1: in black and white. It is a darker version of Julie,
Speaker 1: which I find interesting because of the layers that race plays.
Speaker 1: In this case particularly, it's almost as if they wanted
Speaker 1: to magnify the half black side of her. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if there was some tampering at work in
Speaker 1: terms of that photo. But then I think about that
Speaker 1: press conference that Zenati, the then state's attorney, when he
Speaker 1: held up the photo of Julie, because he announced the
Speaker 1: murder and her arrest during the same press conference, and
Speaker 1: then he held up this picture of Jade that is
Speaker 1: dated at this point, but very very vibrant, and you
Speaker 1: see the blonde hair, and you see pink as her
Speaker 1: favorite color everywhere in that photo, and the juxtaposition with
Speaker 1: a dark, grainy grayness of the black and white feel
Speaker 1: Julie's mugshot is just jarring.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean in terms of the picture of Jade,
Speaker 4: it's completely a misrepresentation of what she looked like at
Speaker 4: the time that the crime occurred.
Speaker 5: I mean, she was a big kid.
Speaker 4: When I first laid eyes on a photograph of Jade,
Speaker 4: I never in a million years would have thought that
Speaker 4: she was eleven years old.
Speaker 3: No way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she looked older in her physicality. Also the size difference.
Speaker 1: I am closer to Jade's size almost exactly, and I
Speaker 1: towered over Julie, towered over her. And if she and
Speaker 1: I were to get into a physical interaction, my size
Speaker 1: would be such an advantage.
Speaker 2: I doubt Julie could pay me. I seriously doubt it.
Speaker 1: And there was something else we'll return to later in
Speaker 1: greater detail, that knife wielding masked man Beverly claims to
Speaker 1: have encountered. She placed his height at only five six
Speaker 1: or so. If he was an imaginary boogeyman Beverly had
Speaker 1: concocted to feign innocence, why wouldn't she have claimed he
Speaker 1: was more physically imposing. Why make up a man who's
Speaker 1: several inches shorter than the average American male. But back
Speaker 1: to issues with Beverly's birth, which I discussed with Bob
Speaker 1: and his wife, Alison, who is also a criminal defense attorney.
Speaker 1: So Beverly was at the hospital when the jail nurse
Speaker 1: informed her that she would not be able to keep
Speaker 1: the baby at all. Right before that, give up her
Speaker 1: parental rights. I mean no, no, no, there's a temporary order.
Speaker 1: I have a copy of that. It was temporary for Mike.
Speaker 1: But never did she waive her her parental rights or custody.
Speaker 5: She's not getting visitation.
Speaker 1: No, she's not seen any of her children since her arrest.
Speaker 5: She didn't seen any of her kids since the arrest.
Speaker 1: Mike's not bringing them Beverly's family, so her mother and
Speaker 1: siblings have had no access.
Speaker 4: Julie's mom, the grandmother, is not even seeing the kids
Speaker 4: at all.
Speaker 6: Now she can pick the kids up and bring onto
Speaker 6: the mom.
Speaker 5: But I guess dad's letting her.
Speaker 1: Right, No, no, no, not letting her. They have no access.
Speaker 1: She's never met Thomas. Julia had lost all access to
Speaker 1: the children she shares with Mike Beasley as well, even
Speaker 1: as Mike's new girlfriend, a stranger to Beverly and her family,
Speaker 1: was on social media posting about them as if they
Speaker 1: were her own.
Speaker 2: Even though I'm.
Speaker 1: Waiting on more Freedom of Information Act requests, I don't
Speaker 1: think that anyone involved had proper authority to remove Beverly's
Speaker 1: infant or hand him off to someone who had refused
Speaker 1: to sign the birth certificate. And I don't think that
Speaker 1: Beverly's treatment in Williamson County is exactly an anomaly. A
Speaker 1: simple Google search would reveal multiple suits brought by former
Speaker 1: detainees naming Williamson County jail nurse Marilyn Reynolds as a defendant.
Speaker 1: Whose authority was she acting upon when she removed that
Speaker 1: baby immediately after birth? It would have had to have
Speaker 1: been with the oversight of the then sheriff vic who
Speaker 1: was also named in tons of these other lawsuits in
Speaker 1: addition to the nurse.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: There are also multiple suits naming former Sheriff Benny Vick
Speaker 1: as a defendant, many of which include Williamson County Jail
Speaker 1: nurse Marilyn Reynolds. And then you've got the tons of
Speaker 1: people who've retired or resigned since Beverly's arrest, the former sheriff,
Speaker 1: the former lead investor stigator, the former state's attorney, And
Speaker 1: it's kind of as if accountability left with them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: It was just another in the many troubling patterns that
Speaker 1: our investigations seemed to be unearthing. It is this vilification
Speaker 1: not only of Julie, but her entire family, because Julie's
Speaker 1: entire family has been kept from the children, not just Julie,
Speaker 1: which is crazy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it played itself out in the way that the
Speaker 4: trial was conducted. It played itself out in the way
Speaker 4: that the investigation, or lack thereof, was conducted. I mean,
Speaker 4: this was a classic case of tunnel vision.
Speaker 1: And I mean Beverly and her supporters do claim that
Speaker 1: only evidence that could incriminate her was presented or tested,
Speaker 1: from DNA to things like cell phones and electronics found
Speaker 1: at the crime scene.
Speaker 3: There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: I mean, as soon as we can get an appellet
Speaker 4: lawyer that's going to dig into the investigation that didn't
Speaker 4: take place with the things that they didn't do that
Speaker 4: are inexplicable in terms of devices that weren't looked at DNA,
Speaker 4: that wasn't tested. I still, as a figure today, cannot
Speaker 4: believe that all of Jade's devices were not forensically examined.
Speaker 4: If I cannot believe that that's true at.
Speaker 1: This point, it was our understanding that while the phone
Speaker 1: belonging to Julia Beverly was searched and tracked to build
Speaker 1: a timeline of her movements. None of Jade's electronics, not
Speaker 1: her cell phone, chromebook, laptop, or gaming device were subjected
Speaker 1: to a forensic search.
Speaker 5: Why is this.
Speaker 1: Important because if there was any activity on any of
Speaker 1: them after the forty five minute window during which the
Speaker 1: prosecution contends Beverly brutally murdered Jade Beasley, Beverly's innocence would
Speaker 1: be more than arguable. That could have been potentially exculpatory
Speaker 1: evidence because if it showed that Julie was at the
Speaker 1: station at the exact time Jade was texting. Agreed, but
Speaker 1: we needed access to the investigation reports and the trial
Speaker 1: transcripts to prove it.
Speaker 5: I want to get the transcripts.
Speaker 4: It's very frustrating not being able to get our.
Speaker 5: Hands on things.
Speaker 1: We can get the trial transcripts from Julie. I couldn't
Speaker 1: because I wasn't there on a legal visit, but you could.
Speaker 1: On the next Murder on Songbird Road, Mike Beasley's family
Speaker 1: shares their take on Julia Beverly.
Speaker 7: That is where we believe the jealousy came in and
Speaker 7: where we believe she saved.
Speaker 1: Allegations of witchcraft are made.
Speaker 7: Going online and making us a faceless cope because of
Speaker 7: the way that she was markeered in trying to make
Speaker 7: that insinuation just to hear.
Speaker 1: The plot, and I had to Salem, Massachusetts to confront
Speaker 1: the root of the accusations. So people down there associate
Speaker 1: witchcraft with something evil, so they're trying to associate evil
Speaker 1: with Julie Murder on Songbird Road is a production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. Our executive producers are Taylor Chackoine and Lauren
Speaker 1: Bright Pacheco. Research writing and hosting by Lauren Bright Pacheco.
Speaker 1: Investigative reporting by Bob Matta and Lauren Bright Pacheco. Editing,
Speaker 1: sound design and original music by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chaqoine.
Speaker 1: Additional music by Asher Kurtz. Archival elements courtesy of wsil
Speaker 1: News three. Please like, subscribe, and leave us a review.
Speaker 1: Wherever you're listening, You can follow me on all platforms
Speaker 1: at Lauren Bright Pacheco and email the show with thought,
Speaker 1: suggestions or tips at Investigating Murder at iHeartMedia dot com.
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