In the early morning hours of April 18, 2016, 45-year-old Missy Bevers arrived at Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian, Texas. She was there to set up for a fitness class she taught. It was just before 5:00 a.m.
She never made it out alive.
Shortly before Missy arrived, surveillance cameras inside the church captured a figure wandering the halls. The person was dressed in what appeared to be police tactical gear, including a helmet and vest, and was calmly opening doors and cabinets with a tool, as if searching for something.
At approximately 4:20 a.m., Missy entered the church. A violent confrontation followed. She was later found dead inside the building.
What makes the case especially unsettling is the surveillance footage. The suspect’s distinctive walk, posture, and movements have been analyzed endlessly online. Despite years of public attention, tips, and scrutiny, no one has been conclusively identified as the person in the video.
Investigators have never confirmed a motive. Robbery does not appear to be the goal, and nothing of value was taken. The killer seemed to know Missy’s schedule, or was waiting for someone else entirely.
More than eight years later, the case remains unsolved.
Questions for discussion:
- Was Missy specifically targeted, or was she in the wrong place at the wrong time?
- Do you think the suspect’s gait is a genuine clue, or a red herring?
- Why hasn’t the surveillance footage led to an identification after all these years?
The outfit does not strike me as the outfit of someone robbing a church. That's what does not make sense to me about that theory. I am convinced - but it sounds like law enforcement now is too - this was a targeted murder meant to look like a robbery or at least be confusing enough to waste resources on that theory.
There's no way someone robbing a church would linger there for such a long time.
Yeah I also think she was targeted and I think the murderer was a woman. Something about the way they walk
I also thought it could be a woman. That said the cops seem to believe otherwise. I wonder if they are 100 percent sure it was a man and do not want to tell us how they know that.
Could it be as simple as they have DNA? Id imagine without any expertise of my own that u could tell from DNA whether someone was male or female, and if they did have DNA then they would have uploaded the profile into ther database to check if they had a match. N they obvs didnt get a match but thats how they know the gender?
If they had DNA, they could get a lot of details such as hair colour, ethnicity, any genetic issues etc. Also can be checked in genealogy websites for relatives. There's so much that can be done with DNA these days that if the cops have it, surely they'd make some info available.
You could tell their chromosomal sex with DNA but there is a 5% of a trans, NB or intersex person.
That's true. Based on the way that the gait was, it looked like it could be a woman.
On reddit someone said that their wife's friend said she was at a church her husband had a affair with his fitness instructor that makes me think it was a woman too who knows could have been lying? I wonder though if it is true?
Someone said someone they know knows someone who said someone else’s husband had an affair?
Yeah? What should i do about it?
id contact someone somewhere to do something
I think it’s the way they move their arms + hips. Almost like they’re potentially balancing around something they have shoved between the vest and their body (could be way to conceal general body size but could also be to alleviate pressure on/conceal a larger chest.)
Haven’t heard of to much crimes where a women planned to get physical and kill somebody. Or am I wrong and the killer just plain just shot Missy.
I also thought that. Maybe the police didn't really want to waste resources on this one, who knows..?
The first thing I think of when I hear about someone impersonating a cop is that they are intending to SA someone.
What fascinates me most about the Midlothian footage isn't the gear, but the 'leisurely' pace of the perpetrator. They spent over 30 minutes wandering the halls, breaking windows, and opening doors—an incredibly high-risk behavior for a pre-meditated hit. This points to a specific psychological profile : someone who felt complete control over the environment, or perhaps, someone who knew exactly when the motion-activated cameras would and wouldn't trigger. It’s a chilling reminder that sometimes the most 'visible' clues are designed to be the ultimate distraction.
Maybe a member of the church?
That is a possibility. I think she was targeted, and I think it's someone in her life that knew her and knew her schedule.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MissyBevers/comments/vno9l1/after_6_years_of_bs_a_tighter_timeline_has_been/
The class started at 430. Missy normally got there around 4am, but that day (Monday) she pulled up at 416. She entered the church at 418 and was dead by 420. The killer was first captured on camera at 350. The plan was apparently to show up right against when she'd arrive and kill her in an astronomical coincidence. In other words, they didn't expect to fake a robbery for more than a few minutes after breaking in. That was extended by fifteen minutes because Missy was running later than usual.
Only family members, friends, and those familiar with this class would've known about her arrival time. Her killers had months in advance to prepare, so much so that the killer entered just ten minutes before she was expected.
That timeline realignment completely reframes the behavioral profile. Thank you for linking that deep dive.
If the perpetrator was expecting a 4:00 AM arrival, then the "aimless wandering" we see wasn't confidence—it was improvisational stalling. Psychologically, that makes the footage even more unnerving. We aren't watching a calm prowler; we are watching a killer trying to maintain a "burglary ruse" while checking their watch, wondering why their target hasn't shown up yet.
It confirms the most chilling aspect: Intimate Knowledge. Only someone who knew her routine down to the minute would have arrived at 3:50 AM specifically. The delay forced them to improvise, and that's exactly what the camera caught.
My own little theory is the person was just a random vandal or someone just looking for weird thrills. They weren’t expecting Missy and killed her because they were startled by her and had no real plan or motive. Be cause as you said, the leisurely pace. They weren’t expecting anyone to show up and also weren’t committing a robbery.
I refuse to watch those videos anymore because they’re so unnerving.
That’s a fair point, but what bugs me is the tactical gear. If it was just a random vandal, why go through the effort of wearing a full police-style uniform? It feels like the 'leisurely pace' was a way to blend in or stay calm under pressure. But you're right, the fact that they didn't steal anything makes the motive even more chilling.
The only official POI used to be a tactical police officer. He's dead. This idea would obviously have came from him. He wasn't the suspect captured on video, but was very likely present that morning outside the church. Bobby Wayne Henry
https://i.imgur.com/WSZgZoj.png?1
https://www.greenfh.com/obituary/Bobby-Henry
https://i.imgur.com/ackbxPW.png?1
The Bobby Wayne Henry connection remains one of the most polarizing 'rabbit holes' in this investigation. While his recent passing in September 2024 creates a permanent legal vacuum, the tactical implications he represents are what truly haunt the forensic profile of this case.
From a behavioral analysis standpoint, the perpetrator’s 'leisurely pace'—combined with that specific tactical loadout—suggests someone with a high degree of 'environmental comfort'. In most pre-meditated hits, we see a 'smash and grab' adrenaline spike. Here, we see a systematic 'clearing' of the structure. If an individual with 20 years of law enforcement and naval experience was involved, even in a non-kinetic advisory role, it explains the uncanny confidence in bypassing motion-activated triggers.
It’s frustrating because his death effectively seals a vault of forensic potential. We aren't just looking at a suspect anymore; we are looking at the possibility that professional tradecraft was used to camouflage a personal vendetta. It’s a chilling reminder that sometimes the most visible clues in a 'Bone Library' are the ones that were never meant to be decoded by a standard patrol lens.
What makes you so sure he was outside the church that morning?
What makes it that he was likely at the church that morning
I'm on this train too. It was just some random loser larping it up playing some character mix of cop and criminal. I'll eat my hat if it turns out it was a targeted killing.
That’s the beauty and the horror of this case—the ambiguity of intent. However, the 'larping' theory struggles to explain the timing. If it was just a random loser playing a character, choosing a church at 4 AM on a rainy morning right before a scheduled class seems like an incredibly 'lucky' coincidence for a random encounter. Whether targeted or not, the perpetrator displayed 'organized' traits in their preparation but 'disorganized' behavior in the leisurely execution. It feels less like a game and more like a predator who was comfortable in the environment. Sometimes, the most terrifying killers aren't the masterminds, but the ones who have completely detached from the gravity of their own actions. That’s what we’re seeing in that footage—detachment.
What’s your last line mean? Great comment by the way.
he was just a psycho,not a smart ass. why would anyone wanna kill an average lady in that kind of calculated way?
Have to plug Tom Webster - I don’t think there’s a single other person who has done more research on this case. Here’s a link to his YouTube playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnUP312E9mORRKrBTIIpIkxhDaWFy3kgN&si=aOAss4R2bHc1YQn8
So good! And he is not even into true crime. Just did it for the research!
Really needed this.
I think the perp was a lover/ex lover of Missy's husband who loathed Missy.
They knew her schedule. They donned the outfit, they had a compression or padding underneath the clothes to alter their frame and they opted for men's shoes which didn't fit them (these shoes in case a print was lifted) and the poor fit along with the padding affected their gait.
Whether it was a woman dressing to appear as a man, or somehow the FIL or husband, the attack was 100% targeted. The half assed rooting around was intentional to make it appear at first impression as a B&E gone wrong and throw LE off the scent.
why is no one thinking she was at the wrong place at the wrong time?
She was targeted. No one gets up that early on Sunday, especially heading to a church at 4:20 a.m.
Missy was murdered on a Monday morning.
If true. Why walk around opening things, making noise when anyone could have been alerted? Why not hide and wait? Doesn’t make sense
It might have been a calculated risk to make it look random and if done correctly people likely would hear glass breaking or doors opening in a locked building
[deleted]
Horrible!
Really? My folks have been going to church their entire lives like clockwork and my dad regularly ends up there super early. Especially when they have their early morning worships, he and another deacon may very well end up at the church around 4 am to plow the parking lot, scrape the side walks, set up the sound system, etc etc. And when he drove a bus to pick up kids for the church he was definitely up very early to get the bus ready and do his route. I never thought that was unusual at all.
Where was he the night Missy was murdered?…
of course she was.
I think I’m one of the few that thinks it was random. I think it was a weirdo that fantasizes about being a cop but ended up a loser in a dead end job. Someone who likes to creep around and break into places to “make believe”. I think Missy just came at the wrong time and the person panicked and didn’t want to get caught.
Just the way they were wondering around almost leisurely. I don’t know about you but if I was waiting to murder someone I would be panicking and pacing and hiding in wait. Not walking around exploring killing time.
I tend to agree. Missy was teaching a class at fitness class at 5am that morning; one she had only moved from the church parking lot to inside the church the previous night. So if it was planned, it would have to be someone who knew the class was now inside, knew Missy’s schedule and knew the timing of when other people arrived for the fitness classes. AND was confident enough in that information to risk it all.
Which isn’t impossible, not by a long shot. But idk, it seems like a lot of risk to take. I can’t imagine there was more than a 30 minute window between Missy arriving and the first participant for the fitness class arriving. That’s a very small window to begin with and so many things could happen to shrink that window. If Missy was running late, left something at home, anyone showing up earlier than expected, etc.
I need to do some more reading on this one because I can’t remember where in the church she was found… I could be wrong but I don’t think it sounded like she was murdered immediately after going into the church. Which is another thing I find odd if this was planned. It seemed more like they bumped into each other
She didn’t move the workout into the church. It was going to be outside still, under the awning.
She entered the building every time she held class there, for access to the bathrooms.
Thank you for the correction!
I mean it would explain why it remains unsolved since we know random murders are so much more difficult to solve.
Exactly this. Which sucks because it will be so much harder to solve with no connections to missy.
I still don’t understand how no one kind of recognizes the person in some way. Like their weird neighbor/ cousin/ coworker who walks a little funny. It’s such a well known case. There’s been a few I thought they’d never solve and I was wrong so hopefully missy gets hit
IF it was a robbery gone wrong (I’m not sold that it was) I believe she recognized who it was, either by voice or walk and was killed because of it.
I don’t think a robbery motive can be ruled out just because nothing was taken in the end.
4 AM seems like a prime time for a church to be empty and easy to rob
The suspect was digging around searching cabinets and rooms which is weird to do if you’re specifically there just to kill someone.
I feel like he was trying to rob the place, then escalated to murder when he was unexpectedly discovered then fled empty handed after the killing. Or at least that sequence is equally plausible to the one of him wanting to kill her specifically and lying in wait
Why kill a witness who hasn’t seen your face? I think it’s the inverse… came to kill Missy and walked around to give the impression they wanted to rob the place too.
I feel like if you are going to go to all the trouble of dressing to the nines in full on swat gear to simply rob a church you are going to case the place, you are going to know right where the tithe money goes, you are going to know where the church office is and you are going to know that the church secretary has already deposited the money in the church banking account or if the money is stored in a safe on the premises. Dude went to all that trouble just to riffle through some empty cabinets in some sunday school classes.
Idk the setup of this specific church, but every church around my hometown that's been robbed has had the sound equipment stolen. Random fact that may not be applicable at all in this case but 🤷🏼♀️
I believe that was one of the leading theories against the burglary angle. It’s often the first thing taken and the police said the sound equipment hadn’t been disturbed at all.
Maybe he wasn't a very good thief?
Why even break into the church then? Just lie in wait near the carpark and get her when she gets out of her car...don't get caught on cctv at all.
Especially since the class was usually taught in the parking lot anyways
How do we know she didn’t see their face?
I see a “black police helmet” listed as their attire here and on Wikipedia, but no mention of a face mask
And even if he was masked, I think people do stupid shit when they panic if their plan starts to fall through or hit snags, like an unexpected person showing up in a building they thought would be totally empty.
Edit: yeah face was covered, rest still stands though
You can actually see it in the footage. Most of the face was covered. There is a possibility that Missy happened on the killer without the helmet and they panicked and attacked her. I am not saying that’s impossible. It is possible. But the helmet does cover most of the face in the footage. Unless Missy was familiar with the killer, she wouldn’t have a high chance of identifying him/her. For the record, we may not have seen the whole footage. So we don’t have enough to make a call either way. The thief could have panicked for reasons unknown to us and killed her - face covered or not. I lean towards targeted attack.
It's been a while since I have seen the video, so I might be wrong or confusing a different video.
The person in swat gearing was wandering around, going back and forth like they were waiting for something/someone and broke things for no reason, a window on a door that was open. Then murder, then disappear and not tell anyone, not even bragging to a friend.
That doesn't seem like a robbery to me. It seems more like a hit.
The face seemed covered. Why not just leave? She knew the killer.
What do you base the “face seemed covered” comment on?
I see a helmet listed as part of their attire, but not a face mask
She could have been killed because he was worried about her calling the police before he could escape if he just ran away, given he seemed to have mobility issues in the swat gear based on his gait.
Or he just panicked after being discovered by a woman in a church he assumed was completely empty and chose fight over flight in that moment
Edit: yeah face was covered based on some video footage, I still stand by the rest though
Hey you commented and then deleted a reply (started with "my crackpot theory") to another comment, what was it?
Basically “my crackpot theory is that Missy was having an affair, and the Wife/GF of the guy she was cheating with killed her. The gait being weird would be becaue she was a woman wearing oversized swat clothing that didn’t really fit”
I missed the “husband” part of your first sentence and wrote a comment agreeing with you basically word for word thinking I was presenting something new, then deleted it after I realized my mistake lol
I think the cops would have tracked down an affair partner. Those things aren’t easy to keep secret in the land of cell phone data and the internet.
Oooooh I think your theory that the killer was the partner of whomever she was cheating with holds way more water than my theory that the killer was the mistress of Missy's husband.
Absolutely agree that the awkward a hell gait was due to poor fitting attire (clothing and shoes and potentially padding to alter the killer's frame).
I really hope this case gets solved. I get a similar vibe to Marlene Warren's murder (killer dressed up as a clown and killed Warren at her front door). That case took a long time to be solved.
Robbery is the unlawful taking of property from a person by force. You mean trespass/burglary, which is the illegal (unlawful) entry into a structure with the intent to commit a theft or felony.
Sorry, I spend my days classifying crimes for the federal government and college/university campuses - I try to educate lay people. Don't take offense!
I don’t think they’re saying a robbery was actually completed as in something was stolen from her, just that it was the motive.
I completely agree with the robbery scenario too. I don’t think she was targeted, I think she was just there.
I still to this day thought it was her father in law. Similar size and walk Edit: Changed wording
I suspect this too. Unless LE has irrefutable proof he really was out of town, I would think with today’s tech it would be somewhat easy to create an alibi.
The thing about his alibi is, cars exist. He was out of town with his wife, but that doesn't make it impossible for him to have driven back, killed Missy, and then returned to his vacation with his wife. It's an odd coincidence that both Missy's FIL and her husband were out of town when she was murdered. I've always believed it was the FIL.
But wasn’t he supposedly in California? Super far from TX. Maybe I’m remembering that wrong.
I’m of the opinión that it was random…however the fact that her husband was out of state on an (I think) fishing trip and his father was out of state on some other trip is a red flag. Like I said it’s quite possibly a coincidence as I don’t think that a targeted murderer would walk around doing so much, especially since the notice for the fitness class was posted on her Facebook, at that point it’s just a matter of waiting for her to show up…despite not even knowing if someone else will show up early/with her. There’s too many risks of being caught if it was a planned hit.
The answer is likely yes and that Brandon Bevers married her after the murder and remains married to her. The other motive was money. A massive life insurance payout that was used 11 months after the murder. $142,350.00
I believe it was Big B. who found someone he was serious about, while Missy likely had a fling or two.
https://i.imgur.com/CpUuT45.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/NXMNrWV.png?1
https://i.imgur.com/YHzWbTl.gifv
This unfortunately won't be solved unless there's a deathbed confession or someone finds the outfit somewhere. FIL and suspect has the same gait but FIL has an alibi.
This is definitely solvable. It’s not even that old.
Yes. Also, out-toeing isn't a unique gait. Rare, but if you pay attention you can definitely see people with the same gait walking around.
My husband walks like that, but with a few trips to a chiropractor it gets better. When he can't go continously, his feet turn out again.
I thought the outfit would have been one of the best leads, i.e., where that specific 'costume' was sold, records of local sales etc
yep I thought that too, should have some records of someone purchasing it
This.
I listen to this case all the time on various podcasts. Here is thing I don't get: If the direct messages were "threatening" on LinkedIn? That platform is all about trying to make professional connections. Meaning, that person's information (name, city, profession, college) would be on there. Why wouldn't that be checked out? So odd that person was never named, the only person that was actively threatening her. So, I think that is one suspect, but also a person who in the middle of robbing a church (left with nothing) could have panicked and killed her. However, that glass all around her body even though there was no broken windows in the room she was found in? Hm.
I also found it odd that both husband (they were both cheating on one another) and Father in Law were both conveniently out of town on vacations the exact day she was murdered. Hmmm...
Confounding case!
I remember one podcast presenting the opinion that it was a fair possibility the culprit was her father-in-law. Poor lady.
I can't say conclusively but I wouldn't discount an intruder/ransacker being interrupted by Missy and the intruder panicking. Is ransacking in cosplay a known thing? Again, I'm not saying this is why Missy was murdered but I wouldn't discount it.
I kinda lean towards this too. I think there's a few things (probably a combination of factors) that could explain their weird actions: being a very inexperienced thief, they felt they had a bunch of time because of the early hour, they felt like messing around, they felt especially safe because there was no alarm, they were high on drugs or going through some sort of mental health episode or their main intent was vandalism.
I also feel like the weird gait could be the result of wearing ill-fitting boots or a temporary injury that healed.
I have spent many hours with this case and I think you’re on the right track. The movements and ease and casual nature of the killer before Missy’s arrival don’t suggest serious robbery and don’t suggest a killer waiting for their prey. The killer wanders, the killer makes noise, the killer grabs weird things and the killer does not wait by the doors where Missy usually arrives. The killer was not actively waiting for Missy.
So here's a question I think might be important - is the killer aware they're on cctv?
I don’t believe the public knows if the killer acknowledged the cameras at all.
Damn I made this same comment/theory higher up before I scrolled this far.
Such an overlooked case for me. This and Brianna Maitland should be episodes.
This is really weird. I haven't seen anything about this terrible crime in years probably. For some reason I thought about it a couple of days ago. Just a thought that's all. And now here is this post. Why does this happen so often. I'll think of something and then suddenly see it on social media when I haven't seen it since it happened or in a long long time. And then it suddenly appears.
Thats how the internet works. Information moves. Algorithms these companies push by taking data. The reason you are here is the exact same reason I m. Its crazy how we are controlled aint it?
Someone shared a theory here once that the murderer was the Sutherland Springs Church Shooter and I’ve never been able to get it out of my head with this case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutherland_Springs_church_shooting
Can you connect the dots for me please on why this is a theory? (Respectfully)
there’s a few things floating around but this comment had me considering. it’s certainly farfetched but it’s another angle to think outside the box https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/s/naWoC8XpZx
Kelley was extremely violent and he likely chose Sutherland Springs because of his ex-wife’s connections to the church. Would be crazy if it was him as well but I don’t think any of the behavior we saw of Missy’s killer before her arrival matches up with how batshit insane and evil and violent Kelley is.
I always thought it was a female who wanted to kill missy. The way they walk and brush their hand against the wall seems feminine.
Sources tell News 8 that investigators are certain that Bevers was the target, and did not stumble into a burglary gone bad. They further believe that the scene was staged to make it look like there had been a burglary.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/sources-police-believe-slain-midlothian-mom-was-targeted/287-154677542
There is nothing in this statement that leaves open the possibility that Missy's brutal murder could have been random. They determined after watching the video and knowing how she was killed that the suspect was there to commit murder. In other words, they knew that morning Missy was targeted.
Cops didn't need to know the identity of the killer to conclude she was targeted. They had the killer on video wandering around killing time before Missy arrived. They knew every movement he made on video, which could've been thirty minutes or more and we get to see just two of those minutes.
Take for example the likelyhood that the killer stood over Missy and fired 5-8 bullets into her head and chest. That all by itself would prove the killer was making damn sure she was dead.
https://i.imgur.com/DKGh7dC.png?1
The only motive established so far is that there was a hefty life insurance policy on Missy's life. Brandon paid off their mortgage one year after her death. Whether people want to point at Randy Bevers or to an unknown killer who was sent by someone who knew her, Missy Bevers was definitely targeted for murder.
https://i.imgur.com/CpUuT45.jpg?1
Why did Missy need to be there 40 minutes before a 5am class started? What could she possibly need 40 minutes to do?
That’s not unusual for fitness classes. Especially one held at a church - so it wouldn’t necessarily be set up for a class.
I go to 5:45am classes at my Barre studio and the instructor is there at least 30 minutes before class start. Maybe more, I’ve just never been that early lol. They have to open the building, print the attendance sheet, set out props, get music setup, etc.
I remembering reading somewhere that Missy had to bring “fitness equipment” into the church from her car. She had stuff to set up and obviously wanted to be there ahead of time for anyone that showed up early to stretch and get a good spot.
The killer entered the hallway camera (from the kitchen) at 350am. It is far more likely that two people were involved and that they arrived to the property around 315am. Damage was done to the rear of the building, but the killer entered the building from the side/northside.
This to me supports that the killer was lying in wait for a period to make sure he was in and no camera was present in the kitchen. IOW, if he enters the rear of the building, (East side) then he's captured on video off the bat.
https://i.imgur.com/A3iI934.png?1
https://i.imgur.com/5XUu7wU.png?2
That was a woman dressed up under that
Father in law. Check out his walk
It was her father in law.
I'll just say, it's the father-in-law and the husband.
There's no hidden agenda here, just a well-prepared plot, no woman in a matchmaker outfit, so fuck yourselves with your conspiracy theories. There are 365 fucking days in a year, and JUST at the time of the murder, both members of her close family were out of town... a perfect alibi, right? The police will get it, and what will they do? Ugh, guys, but we weren't there and you're not giving a damn about us :) Was the phone logged somewhere else? So what? They planned it so they wouldn't make mistakes and perfected every detail. Randy was making fun of those officers because he knew they hadn't made any mistakes. And besides, the police also clearly stated that it was a man, not a woman. The only possibility is that it wasn't them if they recorded it on cameras outside the city. I'm asking, did they record it on cameras somewhere? Is logging the phone enough for you to prove they didn't do it? Because you can't set that up, right? 🤣 nice.
I think it was a woman. Possibly a wife of some man she knew. I am not accusing her but just a thought.
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