“The Black Widow” Betty Lou Beets Pt. 2
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Due to the nature of this case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of domestic violence and murder. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. To get help on domestic violence, visit Spotify.com slash resources.

If you're a longtime listener of this show, you'll know that we come into every episode with some big questions. Most importantly, what can we learn about someone's life that might shed light on their motive in committing multiple murders? And maybe just as complex, how does the full story change our understanding of true justice? In the case of Betty Lou Beetz, those answers weren't easy to get at.

In these episodes, we lay out the facts in hopes of determining whether those crimes are a product of her own devious mind or of her traumatic life. Depending on where you come down on that, the answer to this next question might be pretty easy. Or it might be one that keeps you up at night. Are you happy with how this story ends?

I'm Vanessa Richardson, and this is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. You can find us here every Monday. Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. If you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts.

Last week, we met Betty Lou Beetz, a woman who felt trapped in a pattern of abusive husbands. We learned how she went from placating them to fighting back. Then, to escape her fourth husband, she killed him. This week, we'll dive into Betty's cover-up of the killing before she strikes a second time. Then, we'll follow her arrest and shocking trial. Stay with us.

This episode is brought to you by Netflix's new film, Woman of the Hour. The stranger than fiction story of an aspiring actress and a serial killer whose lives intersect when they're cast on a dating game show based on a true story and directed by Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick. Woman of the Hour. Only on Netflix October 18. Rated R.

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Visit Ford.com to learn more. Excludes platinum models, EPA estimated driving range based on full charge. Actual driving range varies with conditions such as external environment, vehicle use, vehicle maintenance, high voltage battery age and state of health. In 1981, Betty Lou Barker had endured a year of abuse at the hands of her husband, Doyle. When she couldn't take it anymore, she shot him three times in his sleep.

Afterward, 44-year-old Betty sat frozen, the gun still clutched in her hands. Finally, she checked his pulse. He was dead. Which meant Betty was finally free from his endless abuse.

Psychologist Lenore Walker, who later would examine Betty, said that she likely shot Doyle as a "self-defense against future beatings." This could explain the trance-like state she entered after the deed was done. It was like she went on autopilot. First, she grabbed two large tarps and wrapped Doyle's body in them. Then she slowly rolled him into a sleeping bag and zipped it up.

With the body packaged like some macabre gift, she dragged him across the room and stuffed him in the closet. She knew she'd have to deal with the body in a more permanent manner, but first she had to clean the blood from the room. She scrubbed the walls and threw the bedsheets into the washer. With that taken care of, she was exhausted, so she put a fresh set of sheets on the bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, Betty went to see her daughter, Shirley. They'd already discussed Betty's plan to kill Doyle. And now she told Shirley it was done. Shirley panicked. She didn't condone murder, but Betty was her mom. That's why, according to Irene Pence, author of Buried Memories, she chose to believe that Betty had acted in self-defense.

At the same time, Shirley didn't want her mom to get arrested, which apparently is why she offered to help bury the body. Later that night, the two drove back to Betty's house. Together, they dragged Doyle from the bedroom closet and out into the backyard. Then they dropped him into the hole that Betty had already prepared.

They piled the dirt on top, but when they tried to pat it down, it was still obvious the soil had been disturbed. Betty wasn't worried about that, though. Now they just had to come up with a story. In the morning, she called Doyle's boss and told him that they'd had a fight and that he'd up and left her. The man thought the story sounded odd, but figured if Betty said that was what happened, well, he had no reason not to believe her.

With that last thing taken care of, Betty felt relieved. For the time being. We don't know exactly what her behavior was like over the next few weeks, but the fear of getting caught likely took its toll. She'd had migraines before, and perhaps they got worse after that. To cope, she might have even gone back on her diet pills and drank more than ever.

But after a few months, it seemed like she was in the clear. No one was asking questions. No one came looking for Doyle. She could breathe easy. With her worries mostly behind her, Betty settled back into a regular routine. Less than a year later, she was working as a server at a local bar. She was glad to have some income, but it was still hard for her to get by. Not to mention the customers there were just the worst.

Well, most of them were. There was one who broke the mold: Jimmy Don Beats. As you can probably guess, Betty and Jimmy hit it off right away. He was a charming firefighter who was well-loved in the community. He'd been married three times already, but that wasn't a turnoff for Betty. Their similar histories only made them feel like a better match. They were married by August of 1982.

After the ceremony, they moved into Betty's trailer. And at first, it was wedded bliss. But it didn't last long. Betty's teenage son, Robert, moved in with them. And from the jump, the two guys did not get along. This was largely because Robert had a penchant for trouble. Most recently, he'd been caught robbing a house and had to be bailed out. But Jimmy started getting really mad when Robert started targeting him for petty thefts.

It was a bit of a mess. There were near-constant fights and a simmering air of tension in the household, all of which triggered Betty's trauma. And here's where we need to be thoughtful about how we consider the rest of this story, because so much of how you feel about what happens hinges on what you believe was going through Betty's head and when.

Given that, we can guess that all the arguments at home increased Betty's fear level. So even though Jimmy had never abused her, she was still in self-defense mode. She felt like she had to be prepared for a sudden attack. But Betty didn't just want to be physically prepared for if and when Jimmy turned violent. She wanted to be financially prepared. She was tired of the same old cycle and didn't want to depend on a man to get by again.

So she started forming a full escape plan. She signed up for a $10,000 life insurance policy in Jimmy's name and sent all the correspondence to her daughter's address so that he wouldn't find out.

But in a strange coincidence, one of Jimmy's relatives happened to work at the insurance office. When the policy came across their desk, they called Jimmy to make sure it was legit. He told them he had no idea what the deal was and cancelled it. Jimmy knew that the phantom policy wasn't some clerical mix-up, so he confronted Betty. And she played dumb. She said that she thought she was setting up a credit card,

Hearing that, Jimmy laughed at his wife and told her to leave the financial affairs to him. Betty smiled and nodded, knowing she wouldn't have to put up with Jimmy for much longer. She was ready to move on with the rest of her plan, insurance or not.

This time, she told Robert what she was about to do. According to his version of events, she came to him in early August of 1983 and said she planned to kill Jimmy for his insurance and pension plans. She also told him she'd need his help getting rid of the body. Robert was stunned. He had no idea where this was coming from.

But when she saw his reaction, Betty insisted she was protecting herself. She believed Jimmy would eventually abuse her. It was just a matter of when. And she didn't want to wait around for that day to come.

On August 4th, she made her move, repeating the same steps as when she'd killed Doyle. She waited until Jimmy was asleep. When the lights were out and the sound of snores echoed down the hall, Betty crept into the bedroom. She tiptoed to her nightstand, carefully opening the drawer, and pulled out her gun. Then she took aim and fired. This episode is brought to you by SimpliSafe.

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On the night of August 4th, 1983, 46-year-old Betty Lou Beetz stood over her lifeless husband, a smoking gun in her hands. Betty knew she had to get rid of the body, but she wasn't in a rush. Jimmy was the second husband she'd killed, and she'd gotten away with it the first time. She had no reason to think this would be any different.

But she did need a hand. So after gathering herself, she called her son, 18-year-old Robert. Robert lived with his mom and Jimmy, but for whatever reason, he wasn't there when Betty pulled the trigger. When he heard what happened, though, he rushed to his mother's aid. He wasn't going to let her get arrested. After Betty zipped Jimmy's body up in a sleeping bag, they hauled him out to the backyard.

Since Betty hadn't dug a hole this time, they dragged him to a decorative wishing well. They crouched down, found their grip, and hoisted Jimmy's body in. It landed with a thud. In the eerie quiet, Robert waited for his mother to say something. Finally, she simply told him to go to bed. She'd take care of the rest. Robert was confused, but he agreed. The less he had to be a part of, the better.

When he awoke early the next morning, Betty was already outside in the garden. She was crouched beside the wishing well. An empty bag of peat moss sat on the ground next to her. She'd filled the well and was planting flowers in it. When she noticed Robert standing there, Betty stood and told him what they had to do next. Come up with their alibis. And she had it all figured out.

She instructed her son to push Jimmy's fishing boat into the lake. That way, she explained, it would look like he fell overboard and drowned. Robert sighed. At this point, he likely felt he had to finish what he started. Once he'd driven the boat out into the lake, he found a remote spot near a bit of shoreline and did as Betty told him. He got off the boat and pushed it out onto the water, hoping his mother knew what she was doing.

Back at home, Betty felt in control, but she knew there was still more to be done. The next morning, she called the police to report Jimmy missing. When officers arrived to investigate, she told them that Jimmy had gone out for some late-night fishing but never came home.

The local police worked closely with the fire department so they knew Jimmy well and promised Betty they'd find him as soon as possible. As a first responder, Jimmy was well-loved in the community, so when search parties were formed, hundreds of people volunteered to help look. But the news also roused suspicion. People knew that Jimmy wasn't the type of guy to just up and leave his life and job behind. Something must have happened to him.

In particular, Jimmy's son, Jamie, had his eyes on Betty. But his word wasn't worth much. Everyone knew that he'd never liked his stepmother. So when he told friends, family, and the police that he thought Betty was hiding something, they brushed it aside. Their dismissal might also have been related to Jamie's history of drug issues.

Sadly, this kind of treatment isn't uncommon. According to research from Johns Hopkins University, society often sees drug addiction as a "personal failing to overcome." The study found that people have "more negative opinions about those with drug addiction than those with mental illness."

But even if they didn't give much credence to what Jamie thought, people did take notice when Betty visited the search sites. Some just felt like there was something off about her. She was too put together. Makeup done, hair perfectly coiffed. Not to mention her show of emotion seemed forced. However, these feelings were overshadowed when authorities found Jimmy's empty boat.

Just as Betty had intended, police assumed Jimmy fell overboard and drowned. Of course, they couldn't be certain about a body, so they spent several days searching for one. But even when their efforts turned up nothing, they were still inclined to believe that Jimmy was dead. Jamie kept pointing the finger at Betty, but it seems like no one considered that Jamie might be right.

This left Betty to her own devices, and she was ready to get what she felt was rightfully hers. Which leads us to the next part of the story, when we have to decide who said or did what, when.

Apparently, Betty showed up at the fire station asking for Jimmy's final paycheck and repeatedly asked the fire department chaplain about his pension and life insurance. The chaplain told her that Jimmy's life insurance account had $110,000 in it and that she was entitled to $1,200 a month from his pension.

Betty was thrilled with the news. But there was a hiccup. Unless the authorities found a body, she'd have to wait until Jimmy was legally declared dead for the life insurance and pension payouts. And that would take seven years. Betty couldn't believe it. She needed the money now.

In the past, she'd married for financial stability, but she was determined not to do that again. She was too old and had been through too much. So she started trying to sell Jimmy's property to tide her over. First, she listed his boat for about $3,000. Then she listed his second home for $42,000.

Her efforts were made more difficult when Jamie filed a restraining order that prevented Betty from legally selling any of his father's property. So she came up with another plan.

One autumn day in 1984, Betty went to the house. She brought kindling and a jug of diesel fuel with her. Then she slipped inside. She dumped the kindling into a pile, doused it with diesel, then trailed the fuel behind her as she moved toward the door. Once outside, she sparked a match, flicked it at the building, and sprinted back to her car.

Minutes later, flames engulfed the house. As Betty sped away, adrenaline sent a grin across her face, but her satisfaction was a touch premature.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, there wasn't much they could do to save the house. Once the flames were out, and they were left with a little more than charred plywood and ash, they picked over it all to figure out what caused the blaze. It was pretty clear that it was an act of arson.

When word got out about the fire, people suspected Betty was to blame. And it wasn't just the firefighters. According to author Irene Pence, a neighbor even claimed he saw her at the house that day. But it was all just suspicions, because nothing actually tied Betty to the crime, so no one could really do anything.

Except the insurance company, that is. They didn't have the same standards of proof as the Texas courts, and didn't have to pay out if there was even suspicion of arson. So they refused to cut Betty the check she'd expected. That left her at wit's end. In her mind, the money was rightfully hers, but no matter what she did, she couldn't get her hands on it.

It was time to fight. And to do that, she needed a lawyer. A few years earlier, an attorney named E. Ray Andrews had helped Robert out of some legal trouble. And Andrews was a character, to say the least. In the courtroom, his winning tactic was to simply confuse the jury.

But that didn't deter Betty. He'd come away with a favorable outcome in Robert's case, and that was all the proof she needed that he'd do the same for her. So she drove down to his office. And this is another moment when we have to guess what the truth actually is, because Andrew's version contradicts some of what we've already heard.

According to Andrews, when Betty walked into his office, she had no idea what benefits she was entitled to after Jimmy's death. It wasn't until after they got to talking that he had the idea to pursue Jimmy's life insurance and pension.

From there, he suggested that Betty file for a determination of death for Jimmy, which would prevent Betty from having to wait the full seven years to get the money. With that document secured, Betty could finally get the money from the fire department. But before she could collect the first check, everything went to hell.

In the spring of 1985, the sheriff's office picked up a petty criminal who offered surprising info in exchange for lighter charges. He'd heard through the grapevine that Betty Lou Beetz had killed her husband and buried him in her backyard. Apparently, she'd bragged about it while drunk.

At first, the police didn't know whether to believe the man, but when they investigated further, they realized there might be some real merit to his claims. And then another tip came in, but this one was about Doyle Wayne Barker, Betty's husband right before Jimmy. Someone claimed to have heard Betty's daughter Phyllis talking all about how her mother had killed Doyle.

That was enough for detectives. It was time to bring Betty in. They arrested her on suspicion of murder and escorted her to the station. Then, once she was in custody, they exercised a search warrant ready to find the bodies they'd heard about.

They went out to the backyard, where they noticed the relatively fresh soil and flowers in the wishing well. They glanced at each other, then got to digging. They only got about a foot down before they hit something hard. When they brushed the dirt off, they saw that it was a plank of wood. They wriggled the plank out, and a stench hit them. Then they saw the sleeping bag underneath. Inside it...

A body. Jimmy Don Beetz. But they weren't done yet. They were sure that with a little more digging, they'd find Doyle Wayne Barker too. And choosing where to look wasn't hard. After knocking down a shed that had been built a few years earlier, they noticed a sunken spot in the earth and dug their shovels in. Sure enough, they found their second body.

After that, there was no way Betty was going to get out of this one. But she sure was going to try. It's the new Ghost Burger from Carl's Jr. It's a juicy char-boiled Angus beef burger. Mmm.

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In June of 1985, 48-year-old Betty Lou Beetz was facing down two possible counts of murder. But the specifics of those charges are really important at the end of this story. Basically, her fate hung on one question. Did she think about the insurance money before she killed Jimmy or after?

If it was after, then she could be found guilty of anything from murder to manslaughter, and she'd likely face life in prison. That wasn't ideal, but if the jury decided that she'd thought about the money before she pulled the trigger, then they might find her guilty of remuneration. And that was punishable by deaths.

With that in mind, here's where we have to start asking the big questions. You've heard Betty's story. You know all of the he-said-she-said of the case. And it's clear that Betty pulled the trigger in both of these murders. So now we get to think about the idea of justice and whether what came next was the best outcome. Because the possibility of receiving the death penalty sent Betty into a panic.

From her jail cell, she asked to speak with her lawyer, E. Ray Andrews. It seems like she trusted Andrews. After all, he had helped her win the case to receive Jimmy's pension and insurance benefits. It wasn't his fault she was arrested before she could get it.

But Betty may have overlooked whether Andrews was qualified to defend a murder case. When he came to see her, he assured her he'd do what he could. But when Betty revealed she had no means to pay him, well, Andrews got creative. He said that in exchange for representing her, she could just give him the media rights to her story. Betty was desperate, so she signed on the dotted line.

Unfortunately, it seems that one decision sealed her fate. Because Andrews saw Betty's story as his golden ticket. Whether he won or lost the trial, he knew he was going to make bank. As the months ticked by, he barely prepped, and there was a lot he should have been doing.

For one, he seemed to make no effort to understand Betty's background, which according to law professor John Bloom is a "fundamental step in a capital murder case." If Andrews had done his due diligence, he might have learned about the lifetime of abuse Betty endured, and therefore could have made a case for lesser charges. For another, he failed to secure a strong witness to testify on Betty's behalf.

Now here's the kicker. He did know of one person who could have been such a witness. Himself. Remember, more than a year after Jimmy's death, Betty hired Andrews for help collecting the insurance money on the home that burned down. According to Andrews, he then posed the idea of pursuing Jimmy's pension and life insurance.

That part is crucial. If Andrews wanted to, he could have testified that it was he who told Betty that she was entitled to an insurance payout. But he would have had to recuse himself as her counsel in order to take the stand. And it seems there was no way he was going to do that because being Betty's lawyer was what won him the rights to her story. So Andrews stayed on the case.

When Betty's trial for the murder of Jimmy Don Beetz began in October of 1985, the prosecution came out swinging. Their main objective was to prove that Betty had murdered Jimmy for money. A trial over Doyle's death would come later, if they needed it after the first one. They wanted to focus on one at a time so they could get it right.

And unlike Andrews, the prosecution had done their homework. They pointed to her attempt to take out life insurance on Jimmy before he died, and her attempts to sell his boat and home afterward. Never mind that both failed, they pointed to her greedy intent. The prosecutor also told the court that Betty sought Jimmy's paycheck and benefits from the fire department not long after his death.

After that, things weren't looking good for Betty. And Andrew's defense didn't make things any better. When he stood to address the court, he argued that Betty had actually learned about the insurance benefits long after Jimmy's death. This didn't carry as much weight coming from her lawyer as it would have coming from a witness. But he did pose a valid thought. Maybe the fire department chaplain simply remembered things wrong.

According to psychology professor Joyce Lacey, memory can be extremely unreliable. There are several reasons why. One being the misinformation effect. This is when a person is exposed to new information that distorts their original memory. It's not done maliciously, but rather subconsciously.

it would make sense in this context. It had been around two years since the fire department chaplain's conversation with Betty, and after hearing all the gossip about her since, it's possible his memories weren't entirely accurate. So as far as arguments in Betty's favor, it wasn't the worst.

But then, Andrews did something no one expected. He pointed the finger at Betty's son, Robert. Andrews argued that he had killed Jimmy, and Betty went along with it. She took the stand and testified that on the night of Jimmy's death, she overheard Robert and Jimmy arguing, and then the unmistakable sound of a gunshot.

She said she raced into the room and found her husband dead, and after gathering her thoughts, she helped her son hide the body. Then they created the boat scheme to cover it up. Of course, Robert denied all of this, and things only spiraled from there.

The prosecution brought in Betty's daughter, Shirley, who testified that her mother had told her about killing Doyle. Even though Betty wasn't on trial for Doyle's murder at the time, Shirley's claim certainly implied a pattern. With that, the jury was sent to deliberate. And on October 11th, just three days after the trial began, they found Betty guilty of murder for remuneration.

After that was decided, the judge sentenced Betty to death. With that, the DA didn't bother with a trial for Doyle Wayne Barker's murder. Meanwhile, the media glommed onto Betty's reputation as a Black widow, and everyone who heard the story saw her as a woman motivated by greed.

But Betty wanted to convince the world she wasn't what they thought. From prison, she fought to get her conviction overturned. And in 1989, four years after her original sentencing, she got a new lawyer. His name was Joe Margulies, and he did what Andrews failed to do. He looked into Betty's past.

He learned about all the abuse she'd endured and decided that the courts needed a fuller picture of Betty. But he also didn't want these details to sound like a sob story. He needed something the courts would view as substantive. So he hired a prominent psychologist who examined Betty herself and believed that Betty's tendencies for violence came from years of domestic abuse.

In addition, Margulies built an argument that Betty was denied a fair trial. Part of this came down to her lawyer. According to witness testimony, he bragged about owning Betty's media rights. And then there was his drinking problem, which might have affected his performance in the courtroom.

One of the witnesses her new lawyers found was Bob Miller, commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. He claimed that during Betty's trial, Andrews would go to the Veterans post at lunch, have two or three doubles, then head back to the courthouse.

With all this information in hand, Margulies made his case to a U.S. district court. He argued that Andrews had been drunk during proceedings, failed to recuse himself so he could testify on his client's behalf, and never explained Betty's mitigating circumstances. The U.S. district court was convinced, and the process continued on.

But after that, the federal appeals court shot Margulies down. They weren't convinced that Andrew's testimony or Betty's history of abusive relationships would have changed the trial outcome.

However, it's not clear what the federal courts had to say about Andrews' behavior, and this remains a huge question. Not only did the rumors about his alcohol consumption turn out to be true, but other unethical conduct came to light as well. By 1994, Andrews was a district attorney himself.

But during that year, he was charged with accepting a bribe to drop a death penalty case. According to the Washington Post, at his sentencing, he confessed to being, quote, a longtime alcoholic, prescription drug abuser, and heavy gambler. He got three and a half years in prison.

Unfortunately, none of that could help Betty. Her appeal had already been overturned. She spent five more years on death row, and by early 2000, she had received her execution date. It was scheduled for February of that year. Even with her execution on the calendar, Betty's team never gave up. Her lawyers fought for a pardon.

Meanwhile, some of Betty's children went to the Texas parole board. They explained how Betty had been abused by her husbands, including their own father. They needed the board to understand the danger that their mother had wanted to escape. So they showed them pictures of Betty when she was battered and bruised. But when that didn't get them anywhere, Betty made her own plea.

She recorded a video message that played on Good Morning America. In it, she appealed to then-Governor George W. Bush, saying, "I'm asking you to let me live. I'm asking for mercy." But Bush wasn't persuaded. He made it plain and clear: without a majority recommendation from the pardons board, he wouldn't act.

As the Washington Post pointed out in its reporting of the case, the pardons board was made up entirely of his appointees. The board denied Betty's request, and Bush washed his hands of the whole affair. On February 24, 2000, prison guards led the 62-year-old from her cell and into the death chamber. There, they strapped her into a chair,

and administered a lethal injection. Within minutes, she was gone. Thanks again for tuning in to Serial Killers. We'll be back next week with a new episode. For more information on Betty Lou Beetz, amongst the many sources we used, we found Buried Memories by Irene Pence, extremely helpful to our research. Stay safe out there.

This episode was written by Alex Burns, with writing assistance by Sarah Batchelor and Joel Callen. Fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Mickey Taylor and Chelsea Wood, and sound designed by Kelly Gary. Our head of programming is Julian Boirot, our head of production is Nick Johnson, and Spencer Howard is our post-production supervisor. I'm your host, Vanessa Richardson.

This episode is brought to you by Buzzballs. I love the packaging on these guys. Every time I walk into a store and there's a stack of Buzzballs, I just have to smile. And I love the flavor Watermelon Smash. I think it's my favorite. Well, now you can get your favorite cocktails and more in these cute, ready-to-drink ball cans from Buzzballs. From the classics like Espresso Martinis to fun new flavors, find a Buzzballs near you.

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