Celeste Beard Johnson (born February 13, 1963), more commonly known as Celeste Beard, is an American convicted murderer who is serving a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

at the Lane Murray (SHU) in Gatesville,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, for the 1999 murder of her millionaire husband, Steven Beard.

Background

Celeste Johnson's biological parents are unknown. She met her birth mother only one time and was told, "I am not your mother, I was just your

incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a de ...

." She claimed that her adoptive parent, Edwin Johnson, physically abused her as a child and that she attempted suicide during puberty. At age 17, Johnson became pregnant and gave birth to twins, Jennifer and Kristina, with her abusive first husband, Craig Bratcher. Bratcher committed suicide in 1996. Johnson married twice more before meeting Steven Beard while she was a waitress at a country club in Austin,

. Beard, a retired

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executive and self-made multi-millionaire more than twice her age, was a widower whose wife had died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Johnson moved in with Beard after he convinced her that he would legally adopt her daughters. They were married on February 18, 1995, with Beard's family and friends suspicious that Johnson had married him for his money.

Husband's murder

On October 3, 1999, Beard was shot in the stomach while he was asleep at their home in Westlake Hills, Texas. Beard was later released from the hospital, but succumbed to a

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of ...

on January 22, 2000. Local police tied the shooting to Tracey Tarlton, who Johnson had met at Saint David’s Pavilion, a

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

facility, after Johnson was admitted for depression. Tarlton confessed to the shooting and was arrested at home six days after the shooting, was charged with assault. The police began to hear that Johnson had spoken negatively about Beard. Their attorney, David Kuperman, refused to allow police to interview Beard while he was hospitalized, due to his grave condition. Tarlton remained silent until July 2000, when she read in a local newspaper that Johnson had remarried six months after Beard’s death and realized that their relationship was a sham. Shortly before her murder trial began in March 2002, Tarlton told police that Johnson had persuaded her to shoot Beard, claiming that he had emotionally abused Johnson to the point of suicide. Tarlton was determined that getting rid of him was the only way the women could be together. Johnson has vehemently denied this persuasion.

Trial

Based on Tarlton's statement, Johnson was arrested on March 28, 2002. At Johnson's trial,

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s charged that she had married Beard for his money and wanted him dead because he was tired of her extravagant spending and was considering divorce. The Beard attorney, David Kuperman, testified that Steven did not want a divorce and the underlying issues of the spending were addressed during joint therapy (both Beards in attendance) sessions treating Johnson's depression. According to Beard's accountant, Johnson spent $321,000 in October and November 1999, an additional $249,000 by December 10 and another $100,000 in the six weeks ending March 31, 2000. Johnson's attorney,

Dick DeGuerin Dick DeGuerin (born February 16, 1941 in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas) is a Criminal Law, criminal defense Lawyer, attorney based in Houston, Texas, most notable for defending Tom DeLay, Allen Stanford, David Koresh and Robert Durst. In 1994, DeG ...

, alleged that she had nothing to do with the shooting and that Tarlton, whom he dismissed as an unreliable witness due to documented mental instability, acted alone; Tarlton was obsessed with Johnson, who denied making sexual advances toward her. According to Johnson and several witnesses, Tarlton tried to kiss her after she had passed out during her daughters' 1999 high school graduation. When Tarlton was arrested for drunk driving and Johnson bailed her out, Beard, angered by the relentless phone calls, demanded that Tarlton stop contacting the couple. Several witnesses saw no unusual problems in Johnson and Beard's marriage, and DeGuerin alleged that Johnson's daughters lied on the witness stand because they would inherit no money if their mother was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

. Kristina was adverse during her testimony, answering to the defense, "I do not remember," 298 times. In 2003, Johnson was convicted of capital murder, under The Texas Law of Parties, receiving a mandatory

. She will be eligible for parole on April 1, 2042. Johnson continues to maintain her innocence for 19+ years and is imprisoned at the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

Lane Murray

Unit Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (alb ...

in Gatesville. Tarlton received a 10-year reduced sentence in exchange for testifying against Johnson, and was released on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

in August 2011 and lives in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

. Tarlton was released from parole in August 2021.

In the media

The case was covered on such news documentary programs as ''

American Justice ''American Justice'' is an American criminal justice television program airing on the A&E Network. From 1992–2005, the show was hosted by television reporter Bill Kurtis. The show features interesting or notable cases, such as the murder ...

'',

Snapped ''Snapped'' is an American true crime television series produced by Jupiter Entertainment. The series depicts high profile or bizarre cases of women accused of murder. Each episode outlines the motivation for murder, whether it be revenge agains ...

(1st episode), ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted by former ...

'', and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

.'' Previously unrevealed information about the lives, the crime, and the trial in the exclusive biography, ''The Celeste Beard Johnson Story,'' was released in 2019. Johnson and five other inmates published ''From the Big House to Your House'', a cookbook that lists recipes that can be made in prison cells with ingredients from the prison commissary. In 2017, Celeste's daughter, Jennifer, was wounded after a shooting while attending a Halloween party. She had to undergo more than ten surgeries but survived. In 2021, the case was covered in the "Fatal Fortune" episode of ''Vengeance: Killer Millionaires''. On June 13, 2021, Lifetime aired ''Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer'', a TV film that featured

Julie Benz Julie Benz (born May 1, 1972) l is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Darla on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''Angel'' (1997–2004), and as Rita Bennett on ''Dexter'' (2006–2010), for which she won the 2006 Satellite Award ...

as Celeste. In 2022,

air two episodes titled "What the Sisters Saw - Part 1 & 2", on the show '' Who Do You Believe?''. The show featured interviews with both of Celeste, her two daughters and other people in the case.

References

External links

pro-Celeste Beard websitearchived (2012) Free Celeste website
at

Crime Library Crime Library was a website documenting major crimes, criminals, trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books. It was founded in 1998 and was most recently owned by truTV, a cable TV network that is part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Celeste 1963 births American female murderers American female criminals American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Bisexual women LGBT people from California Living people 1999 murders in the United States People convicted of murder by Texas Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Texas Mariticides 20th-century American criminals Wealth in the United States People from Santa Barbara, California 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people