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Celeste Beard Johnson (born February 13, 1963), more commonly known as Celeste Beard, is an American convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence at the Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville, Texas, for the 1999 murder of her wealthy husband, Steven Beard.
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." 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 with her abusive first husband, Craig Bratcher. Craig Bratcher committed suicide in 1996.
Johnson married twice more before meeting Steven Beard while she was a waitress at a country club in Austin, Texas. Beard, a retired Fox Broadcasting executive and self-made multi-millionaire more than twice her age (with a net worth of about $12 million), was a widower whose wife had died of cancer. 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.
On October 3, 1999, Steven Beard was shot in the stomach with a 20-gauge shotgun while he was asleep at their home in Westlake Hills, Texas, and he awoke and called the 9-1-1 emergency line himself to get help. He initially didn't realize he had been shot and didn't understand what had happened, saying "My guts just jumped out of my stomach. They blew out. ... They're lying on my stomach. ... I don't know what happened. I've never had this happen before." When the first responding officer arrived, he got no response from the doorbell or banging on the door, and then saw Steven laying injured on his bed through a window and broke through a sliding glass door to enter. Celeste and one of her daughters were in the home at the time, and they then emerged from another wing of the building after the responding officers entered. The police then discovered a spent shotgun shell near the bed and saw that the drawers of a bathroom had been ransacked, although most of the valuables in the house had not been taken.
Steven Beard was rushed to a hospital for treatment, and Celeste remained at his side while he was in the hospital, visiting frequently and ensuring he received proper care, He was later released after a stay of nearly four months, but he then succumbed to a blood clot and died on January 22, 2000.
Acting on a tip, the local police connected the shotgun's ownership to Tracey Tarlton, the manager of Austin's largest independent bookstore, who Celeste had met at Saint David's Pavilion, a mental health facility, after Celeste was admitted there for depression. Celeste and Tarlton had begun a friendly relationship, often inviting each other to dinner or to just "hang out". Over time, they became lovers and became openly familiar to Tarlton's co-workers, but Celeste had repeatedly told Tarlton that they could only stay together if they murdered her husband. Tarlton was arrested at her home on October 8, five days after the shooting (while Steven Beard was still alive), and she confessed to the shooting and was charged with assault. The police began to hear that Celeste had spoken negatively about her husband. Their attorney, David Kuperman, refused to allow police to interview Steven Beard while he was hospitalized, reportedly due to his grave condition.
Tarlton later testified that in July 2000, while awaiting trial, she read in a local newspaper that Celeste had remarried, and she concluded that their relationship had been a sham. Shortly before her murder trial began in March 2002, Tarlton told police that Celeste had persuaded her to shoot Steven Beard, claiming that he had emotionally abused Celeste to the point that Tarlton thought Celeste would be driven to suicide. Tarlton said she believed that getting rid of him was the only way the women could be together. Celeste has vehemently denied asking Tarlton to kill Steven.
Based on Tarlton's statement, Johnson was arrested on March 28, 2002. At Johnson's trial, prosecutors 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, 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; he said 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. 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 two consecutive 40âÂÂyear life sentences. She will be eligible for parole on April 1, 2042, at the age of 79. Johnson has continued to maintain her innocence for 19+ years and is imprisoned at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville. Tarlton received a reduced sentence of 20 years in exchange for testifying against Johnson, and she was released on parole in August 2011 and lives in San Antonio.
The case was covered on various documentary and true crime programs, including American Justice, Snapped (1st episode), Deadly Women, Vengeance: Killer Millionaires, Reasonable Doubt, and ABC's 20/20. A self-published book about the case, Celeste: The Celeste Beard Johnson Story, was released in 2019.
In 2011, 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.
On June 13, 2021, Lifetime aired Secrets of a Gold Digger Killer, a TV film that featured Julie Benz as Celeste.
In 2022, ABC aired two episodes titled "What the Sisters Saw â Part 1 & 2" on the show Who Do You Believe? and one episode titled "Tainted Love" on the show 20/20. The shows featured interviews with Celeste, her two daughters, and other people in the case.
Other murders in the Austin area: