ABC 20/20’s Forever 17: How Was Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley’s Killer Coley McCraney Caught?
Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
ABC 20/20 episode “Forever 17” will follow the 1999 murders of two teenagers, Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley. The murders remained unsolved for decades until Coley McCraney was identified as a suspect and subsequently convicted of the crime. The episode will air on ABC on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT.
On the morning of August 1, 1999, authorities found J.B. Beasley’s black Mazda 929 on Herring Road in Ozark. In the front seats, they found one of the girls’ purses with cash and credit cards in it, which suggested that robbery wasn’t the motive of the crime. Per ABC News, when investigators opened the trunk of the car, they found two 17-year-olds—Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley—shot to death. They had gunshot wounds to the head.
Beasley and Hawlett were both students at Northview High School in Dothan, Alabama, and were on their way to a party on July 31, 1999, when they disappeared. It wasn’t until over 20 years later that the killer of the two teens, Coley McCraney, was caught.
Based on the evidence presented during the trial, the car’s exterior and interior were muddy. Dry sand was found in the front seat. Moreover, there was dark blood dripping from under, hinting that the teenagers were shot elsewhere and then brought to the location where they were found, WSFA reported.
How was McCraney identified as a suspect in the murder of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley?
Carol Roberts, Tracie Hawlett’s mother, reported that her daughter and her friend, J.B. Beasley, were missing. Hawlett called her mother that night. She told her they were at a convenience store and on the way back home. However, the girls didn’t get home till dawn, which made her suspicious. Tracie’s father, Robert Hawlett, was a former police officer who drowned in Lake Eufaula in 1987. CBS 42 reported that after the incident, Tracie Hawlett became a known person among the police officers in the area.
Investigators decided to use genetic genealogy to solve the case when significant leads were found in the case of the Golden State Killer. In 2019, police reportedly sent DNA evidence found at the crime scene to Parabon NanoLabs, a Virginia-based forensic consulting firm specializing in DNA engineering.
As part of the procedure, the DNA evidence found at the crime scene is uploaded to a genealogy database called GED Match. In this case, Parabon NanoLabs could not develop a list of possible suspects. However, they managed to come up with possible surnames of the suspect based on the family tree. Coley McCraney’s last name was on the list.
According to a report by The New York Times, an investigator working on the case coincidentally identified one surname in the list. He had a classmate with the last name McCraney and figured that he would likely be related to the suspect. When requested, Coley McCraney agreed to give his DNA samples to support the investigation. After running some tests, they found the DNA matched with the assailant’s DNA from the crime scene. Police subsequently arrested Coley McCraney after he was brought for questioning.
What was Coley McCraney convicted of?
Coley McCraney, a former truck driver and bishop, was charged with multiple counts of capital murder, including one count of capital murder-rape. Although he was found guilty, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, as per a report by WDHN.
ABC 20/20’s upcoming episode titled “Forever 17” will dig deeper into the murders of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley. It will also explore the investigation of the case and the evidence that led to the conviction of Coley McCraney. The episode will air on ABC on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT.
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