Daughter's 911 Call Leads To Horrifying Discovery

"Oh my," "It's a Lord, I'm mercy." Police are at the home of 81-year-old Howard Beatermen. Just minutes earlier, his daughter-in-law called officers after finding Howard unconscious, fearing that he passed away. "Is it a third visit?" "We don't know. We don't." "It almost looks like he's like beat here, cast off over there, picked up and staved there." "So many of them against the old man like that." Initially, officers were confused. The scene was brutal, but the cause of Howard's death wasn't immediately clear. As police began searching the house, more and more clues pointed towards a carefully staged murder scene, eerily similar to a recent unsolved homicide case with a selfish motive at the center of it all. "We know you killed him, we're gonna be able to prove that, it's just why." Around 7 o'clock PM on a Wednesday, Ohio police received a call from Carla Beatermen, reporting that she had found her elderly father-in-law, Howard Beatermen, unresponsive. She told dispatchers he had recently undergone surgery for colon cancer, and she was visiting to deliver his medication when she made the discovery. Officers arrived within minutes, thinking Howard died from his illness, but what awaited them was the start of a very puzzling murder investigation. "In here?" "What's the. It's really important that you're open to leave them, that's where they begin to boycott you. We don't know. We don't know." "Let's see a father on the ground." "Huh?" "The father on the ground." "It'll be the same." "It'll be the same." "It'll be the same." "It'll be the same." "It'll be the same." "We know a name, everything." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Homicide?" "Absolutely. I mean, the guy has covered him, but he's got huge catches in his head. An older guy. Maybe Howard Beatermen?" "It looks like the door might have been forced on first." "What the hell?" "What the hell?" As officers took a closer look at Howard's body, they quickly realized this was no natural. He had numerous head wounds that would hurt his skull, and one of his eyes was completely blue. But what stood out even more were the strange details that didn't quite add up. The front door showed clear signs of forced entry. Yet Howard's valuable firearms were still left untouched, and nothing else appeared to be missing. Suggesting he might have been targeted for reasons beyond simple theft. "I mean, there's just that straight through you can see brain matter and everything." "Oh, it's like trying to call somebody out against an old man like that." "It almost looks like he was like here, cast off over there, and picked up and stayed there." "We call Austin all of us, like coming to back doors." "I think I was here the other day just doing a well-being check on him." As officers continued examining the scene, someone recalled they had been to this house before during a welfare check just weeks earlier, after Howard wandered off and couldn't remember how to get home. The family told officers he had dementia and often carried large amounts of cash on him, sometimes lending it out to people he trusted. It made him both vulnerable and potentially a target, but there was something even more concerning that officers realized. Howard's death wasn't the only violent mystery the town had seen recently. Just over a month earlier, 68-year-old John Strickland was found shot near his home roughly five miles away. His body was left on a neighbor's porch, and no arrests were ever made. And now, with Howard's case on their hands, police couldn't ignore the unsettling similarities. With this in mind, officers secured the scene and went to speak with Howard's daughter-in-law, Carla Bedermann, where they would learn of the suspicious timeline leading up to his murder. "Hi. We were out here a couple weeks ago, right?" "Yes." "We're working on a timeline here to figure out what's going on. We don't know yet. We didn't find anything. A gun or nothing where it was self-inflicted. We don't know anything else at this point." "You know what times?" "And they would have left the Legion." "But before, he usually goes up about when they opened around 11, and that's a couple of years." "He's like early after now?" "Yeah, and we were here. My husband had a doctor's appointment. We were here between 11, 30, and 12." "He was here, though, when you guys stopped?" "And I couldn't find his medicine. He's up there around a couple of years." "Okay." According to Carla, at around 11, 30 a.m., she went to Howard's house to deliver his medication. However, he wasn't home, and she assumed he was still at the bar, where he usually spent time. At 7 p.m., Carla returned, expecting Howard to have come back from the bar by then. Instead, she found him deceased. This place, the time of the murder, sometime between her first and second visit that day. But then, Carla remembered something strange from two days earlier, something she hadn't thought twice about, until now. "Anybody that has any girls that hang around and try to get money and stuff like that?" "Now that you mention that, he called me, I need some help. I said, "Okay, I'm on my way. What do you need?" He said, "Money. My money's all screwed up. I said, "Okay, I'll come get you. We'll go to the bank." "Anyway, we're at the bank." He said, "They've pretty amount of things. I need $600." "I said, "Why?" "What day was that?" "Money." "It's Wednesday now. So just yesterday?" "This Monday." "This Monday?" "Yes." "Okay." He said, "I need $600." And I said, "Why?" "Why don't you know?" When he said he needed this money, has he ever said anything like that before? "No." Did he act like frantic about needing that money or anything? He just acted really, "I need $600." Jacky, like, brought a part across the street and mentioned Jacky Miller's. And he got out in a couple of ways, which she's learning about. So she checks on him occasionally, and nobody else comes around and checks on him. "Not imagine." "Yeah, it's him, buddy. He's doing some plumbing." "I don't know. I've been an hour and a half." "A couple months ago, we pulled him out here, and he was like, look what he has." Howard's sudden need to withdraw $600, and his refusal to explain why just days before his death led investigators to reconsider robbery as a more likely motive. Carla also mentioned a woman named Jacky Miller, a neighbor who occasionally checked in on Howard, as well as a guy he'd hired to do some plumbing work. Probably they both were simply people, officers thought might have seen something useful. Maybe not. But not long after this, someone else came forward with troubling claims about one of them. "You said that, ladies, but I still have my friend in the neighborhood, I guess." "Hill." "Jacky." "She's been bringing her to." "I don't have that." "Is it she's been still with you, people?" "She's been bringing her to that last day in school." "Yeah, I know." "When was the last time she brought him here?" "Probably a month ago, it was like Rhonda. Part of the process, you said, that Jacky was here today." "Oh." "Did you tell one of the detectives that information?" "Ronda just came over here to talk to you." "They were talking to Rhonda already. She's already talked to somebody." "Oh, she says it though." "Did Jacky ever come down with anybody else?" "She's only been here once, when we've been here." "So did you guys have any beef with her? Had you run her off before?" "No, she, like I said, she's a Friday food." "She is a Friday food." "Boss, she was in the party." "She was, she, that's, I forgot, she was borrowing my off-cam. He said, the bank's about to close. I remember that." "This was a couple months, taking this week's food." "What?" "Um, two, three months ago." "He was one in money to Jacky and he was a total." "And she's those in the tent though." "He started to just recently tell his daughter-in-law that he was going to stop getting her money because she wasn't in a mess." Officers would go on to speak with Howard's son, Mike Bedermann, who confirmed that Jackie Miller often borrowed money from Howard and still owed him. They also tried to track down the man Howard had hired for plumbing work, but no one could provide valid information, forcing them to focus on Jackie for now. Neighbors also said Jackie was struggling financially and was no longer living in her home, instead staying in a tent somewhere in the neighborhood. But the most troubling detail came from an eyewitness, who claimed she saw Jackie enter Howard's home at around 4 p.m., but never saw her leave. That place Jackie among the last people to see Howard alive. with suspicion mounting. Officers quickly secured a warrant to search her residence. Inside, it became clear why she had abandoned it. - Police Department search warrant! You're in the house and out yourself! - Kimo, looks like there's some stairs right here. Police Department search warrant! - Good, this is graces. - We got one more room, check. That one there, boss, and we're done. - The house was in complete chaos and unfit for anyone to live in. With no sign of Jackie at the house, officers considered the possibility that Jackie might be staying in someone else's home in the neighborhood. So more units were deployed to help locate her. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Jackie was hiding at a house just outside the neighborhood. - Have you seen her, she was here around 12th, there's a lot. - Well, she was here today at 12th, 30. - I didn't see her. - Okay. - Okay, we don't get involved here, we don't get involved. - She runs for money all the time. I don't know what she does, but I promise you she ain't here. - Huh? - Like I said, we gotta cover our bases, dear. - I swear, I'm all out here, but we're not hiding from you. - Oh, no, we're not saying you did, huh? We're not saying that at all. We're saying she broke in because she has no place to go. - What I promise you, she was up here, I'm bringing her to you. - We're looking for Jackie Miller. - She lives on on for Avenue. - Okay, we know that. - Okay. - We're investigating a homicide. She was the last person seen with the victim. - So we need to find her. - Oh my God. - I seen Jackie, a week and a half ago, walking down West Center Street. - Yeah, she's a bad see. - Did she see somebody? - We don't know. - Oh my God. - At this point, it seemed Jackie Miller had vanished. Officers searched every house in the neighborhood, but there was no sign of her. A few hours later, police received a call from a man saying his friend inside his home was acting strangely and making disturbing comments that left him uneasy. When officers arrived at the address and searched the house, they discovered the friend was actually Jackie Miller hiding inside one of the bedrooms. - If you want, okay? You're gonna be asked to answer some questions, okay? Do you understand that? - Yes. - If you answer your start answering questions that'll lower your present, you can stop at any time. - Okay. - Can I get my stuff? - What do you get my stuff? - What is your stuff? - My money on the floor. - Get that drink right there. - Okay. - Whatever it is. - Okay, we'll get it for you. - All right. - And the lighter, the purple lighter. - Where did you get the money from? - Hardly. - Where did you get this money from? - I borrowed it. - From who? - I brought it on. - Who? - Actually, her name is Courtney. - Do you borrow any from Howard? - Me and me that. - Do you borrow any money from Howard today? - Yeah, not today. - I just, we're gonna go outside and we'll get the rest of it here. - Just leave your hands behind the restaurant. - All right. - What's up? - Huh? - I didn't want her to see me. - Okay, sorry. - Tell me, talk to me. - I said I didn't want her to see me now. - Okay. - No, that's fine. - Do you know me? I don't like the light. You guys, what would she talk about today? - Since you've been with her. - She said to you, talk about something that she might or something. - The caller turned out to be a friend of Jackie. Claiming she told him she might have someone earlier that day. Following Jackie's arrest, officers found a container of cocaine in her possession and transported her to the police station for questioning. Jackie had already denied that the money found in her possession belonged to Howard, insisting it came from someone else. Signed that, if she was guilty, getting a confession out of her wouldn't be easy. But detectives had a strategy. One designed to get Jackie to confess without even realizing she was doing it. - Hello. - Hi, Jack. - I'm coming from down there. - I'm talking about the caller. - She, yeah. - I'm talking about the phone. - I'm gonna look at that as well. - I'm gonna pay you for this. - What's up? - Everybody says that. - What are the days of you when they arrested you? - You're right. - Nothing. - That's fine. Keep on asking why I did it. I mean, the charges were of this caller. - Right now? - I mean, this possession of cocaine. - Right. If someone asked if that was a felony or misdemeanor, what that was, it was following. - The investigator withholds the real reason for Jackie's arrest to keep her calm and prevent her from becoming defensive. By avoiding any mention of her charge, he creates a false sense of security. Hoping she'll lower her guard once the questioning begins. But Jackie had other plans in mind. - Walk me through your day today. Start by starting this time of wake up. - I don't know. - What time? You say you woke up around you? - Right. - Fed the dog, what time was he? - Um, I left him. - Went to Howard to use a phone. - Um. - What time was that? - I mean, I was in the news. - I'm thirty two or five. - Who's Howard? - He's my neighbor. - Okay. - And that was around two o'clock, you were there? - I don't know. - Anyone else there? - Yeah, there's a guy coming. He came up on the porch when I was leaving. - Who was that? - I don't know him. - That guy that comes and goes, he was coming there as you were leaving. - Yes. - And you don't know the guy that came up to the door. He, you see him going to Howard's home again. - The detective finds Jackie's story unlikely. No neighbor reported seeing the man she described. And it's clear she's attempting to shift the blame preemptively, despite not yet being formally accused. Jackie never asks why she's being questioned about Howard, especially since she was brought in on unrelated charges. If she didn't know Howard was dead, it would be natural for her to ask what happened or why the police were questioning her. This is when the detective decided to confront Jackie about a clue she unknowingly brought with her from the crime scene. - Do you want to help her out? - Stand on the line. - Do you want to stand on the line? - Yes. - Listen to me. This is your opportunity to tell me what happened in a hundred times. What do you mean? Let me see this point. Can you show me? Turn it to the other one. Yeah, what? - Either, what is this, what's this stuff from? - I believe rust or pain. - On your brain, I just don't know my body, what I read, hold up. - What is? - All of a sudden, it's going to be like, my body. To me, it appears, when you just scratch them and blow on your shoe. - And that's pain, that's from your pain. - That's, that's, that's something I mean. - That's something like that. - Yes. - That's blood on your shoe. - While Jackie's blood stained clothing wasn't definitive without a DNA match, it was enough for the detective to press her further and get a confession. But for the next two hours, Jackie didn't budge and kept denying everything. So, another detective was brought in with a new strategy to encourage her to admit to the killing, but frame it as self-defense. It almost seemed absurd, given Howard's age and health condition, but surprisingly, Jackie would play right into it. - Hey, Jackie, I'm Lieutenant Astley's. I work for the investigative unit, or a technical college who's lost. You might have talked to me just for a minute. I may be able to answer some of the questions that you have. - I guess, I don't know. - Well, of course, I'm going to ask him how does this, because I know he came in here and he talked to you about how he could possibly be in a truck, right? Okay, you know, that's not a given, and he doesn't have to charge you with that. - Maybe. - If there's circumstances which led to why happened inside that house, that makes a difference between involuntary events, a lot of reckless health aside, and they get down and down, down, down, not go up in seriousness, they go down in seriousness. But what I can tell you is, is the only teacher that we're going to be able to paint for a jury is that he was brutally murdered for no reason. Out of it, we know him. We're going to be able to prove that. It's just why. What caused this to happen? What caused the sudden just accident to happen? - All right, this don't want his family to think about him. - Everybody's got skeletons in their closet, but you agree? - I mean, okay. - Would I be lying if I said that you used drugs occasionally? - What are you saying? I'm not really telling you because I need drugs, is that? - I'll play that. - No, it's fine. - He was trying to be like a sugar daddy kind of thing. - Was he giving you money? - No, I mean, I borrowed money off of it in the past. But I guess not. Sugar daddy's not the right thing to say. He had different things instead. Like we do in his dishes with a laundry, it's just like that. What would you have? - Sugar's in here. - Okay, no, it's all work. - It's different. Tonight it was different. - Okay. - I was sitting on the couch. - It's okay, it's okay. - Was that thing? - It seems he started to call that further and further. - This area or the chest area? - That area. - Okay. - This area, then what? - I would just hand away. [BLANK_AUDIO] Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all-day comfy grip. No tightness, no stickiness, no residue. Just plump, dewy, hydrated skin that still feels like your skin. Try new groupie setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Baby it's Mabelie ain't you ready to let it stop, you want to take that brandy, it's for me. Just got you good, huh? So what did you end up having to get you off of him? I don't even know. You don't know? I don't know what it was. Was it? Where was it at? I mean, it is. Um, deep into it on the top of the table. I can't. Something cool to me, it was on the top of the table. And he described it to me. We're on a call of ice quick, something weird. Like that. What's the thing? I'm on a call of ice quick. It's something weird, like that. Where did you hit him at the chest, the arm, the head, what's the name of it? Okay. How many times do you think he got a hit? I don't know. Dave, what's your name? Dave. I don't know. Did you take any money from him that you had in the shirt? Just be honest. Yeah. Huh? I don't know. I think we have 20 bucks, it is. Sure. Did I hear you right? He took 20 bucks from him or? Yes. Did you have to hit him so many times that you don't get away from him? He took my rabbit. Rabbit? Was he holding you down on the ground or anything like that? That one, right. So he's pretty. He's pretty strong on that. Jacky, my scripts, 100% sure of my scripts. We got a pair of them there. Then we got a bluff and we're not something. There's no bluff or a mouth and owner. The unconventional strategy of the detective somehow worked. And Jacky admitted to the murder. With a confession obtained, detectives ended the interview and booked Jacky into jail. Although she claimed Howard made unwanted school advances towards her, investigators found no signs of physical assaults during their examination. This led them to believe she fabricated the story after being pressed during questioning. Furthermore, the autopsy revealed that Howard was struck 18 times, 14 of those blows, directly to the top of his head. At the time of Jacky's arrest, she was found with several hundred dollars and a significant amount of crap. Given that she had no job and source of income, investigators believed that she had taken much more than the $20 she claimed. All the evidence pointed to one conclusion. That day. Imagine setting your makeup. Then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new groupy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Gel to mist technology locks in your look for up to 24 hours, with flexible all-day-configure. No tightness. No stickiness. No residue. Just plum. Do we hydrate it skin? That still feels like your skin. Try new groupy setting mist from Mabelie, New York. Maybe it's Mabelie. Jacky was in withdrawal and desperate for her next fix. She went to Howard asking for money like so many times before. Howard, possibly aware of what the money would be used for, refused. That refusal triggered an impulsive and irrational outburst that ended in Howard's violent death. The murder weapon was a pair of vice grips and was later recovered inside Howard's home neatly cleaned by Jacky. Forensic testing later confirmed that the blood stains on Jacky's clothing matched Howard's DNA. Investigators also found no evidence linking her to the unsolved murder of John Strickland. This case was later resolved when authorities determined his wife was responsible for his death. In December 2017, 52-year-old Jacqueline Miller was convicted of murder and in possession. Under Ohio law, she received an indefinite prison sentence of 15 years to life making her eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 15 years. Imagine setting your makeup, then forgetting it's even theirs. Meet new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York. Try new groupie setting mist from Mavily New York.