Police agree that it wasn’t just someone off the street who committed this crime, but they have no suspects, motive, or theory as to what happened.
MIDLOTHIAN, Texas — The Missy Vevers case is one of the strangest murders in North Texas, because of where it happened, how it happened and the footage of the suspect.
WFAA’s Rebecca Lopez was the first reporter on the scene on April 16, 2016.
She received a call from a Midlothian resident who told her that a woman had been murdered inside the church.
Lopez arrived at Creekside Church several hours before other members of the media. Fitness instructor Missy Bivers was found dead inside the church, police said at a news conference. She was there to teach a class at Camp Gladiator and had arrived at 4:30 a.m.
She changed her class to church the night before because it looked like it was going to rain, and posted about it on Facebook.
“When the campers (as they call them) started arriving, they noticed her car at the scene, but she wasn’t there. When class was supposed to start, they knew it didn’t look like her,’ and they actually went and found her body early that morning,’ said Lt. Andy Vaughan of the Midlothian Homicide Division. said.
When police arrived at the scene, they noticed someone had broken the back door glass and initially thought it was a robbery, but nothing was stolen.
“For a church to be robbed so early in the morning is certainly a strange occurrence at this time of day,” Midlothian Police Chief Carl Smith said in 2016.
Police found surveillance tape from cameras inside the church. And what they showed was shocking.
A person dressed like a SWAT police officer, wearing a helmet and gloves, was seen wandering around the church carrying what appeared to be a hammer.
“For all intents and purposes, he was designed here to look like a police officer. His intent was to look like a police officer,” Smith said.
The video showed the suspect walking around the church and opening cabinet doors for at least 30 minutes before Beavers arrived.
When police released the video, chaos erupted.
“Within the first month, we received over 1,000 tips,” Commissioner Smith said.
People were paying attention to how the person walked. The suspect appeared to be limping.
“It’s hard to track everyone who has a limp or a gait, but what we’ve done is gait analysis. So you have a rough idea of what you’re looking for. We got that,” Vaughn said.
And everyone had an opinion on whether the suspect was male or female.
“I’ve watched that video 100 times, and I see characteristics that make me think, oh, this could be a woman, or it could be a man,” Smith said. I did.
Police initially focused on the person closest to Bevers: her husband, Brandon, who was out of town on a fishing trip at the time of the incident. We’ve interviewed him many times and he doesn’t think this is a coincidence.
Brandon Vevers said in 2021: “I’ve been flipping around on this for years and can only give an opinion based on inside information. I feel like she was targeted.” .
Police agree that it wasn’t just someone off the street who committed this crime, but they have no suspects, motive, or theory as to what happened.
They collected mountains of evidence, including thousands of tips and cell phone data dumps, interviewed hundreds of people, and worked closely with federal, state, and other local agencies.
“This case has been pursued fully in the courts. From day one, no one has seriously stopped working on this case,” Vaughan said.
They have so much evidence and some detectives have changed over the years. So going back in time and trying to find out everything would be a pain, so Midlothian police are turning to technology and artificial intelligence to help put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“I think that having this kind of data creates a large database that allows us to examine files more efficiently through artificial intelligence, creating opportunities to find unique repeats and information that we couldn’t find before. I believe that,” Smith said.
They hope it will lead to a suspect, perhaps someone they have already spoken to. All you need to do is connect the dots.
“We do have information, and you know you’re comparing it to potential suspects. And then it’s combined with other information through various technological and forensic advances. “We hope that it will eventually come together as one of the pieces of the puzzle,” said Vaughn.
Detectives and the police chief say this is a solvable case, and each day brings them one step closer to justice for Missy.
