on July 31 1999 seventeen-year-old High School seniors and best friends JB Beasley and Tracy hollett began their Journey from their hometown of Dothan Alabama they were headed towards a birthday party for JB in Headland Alabama but the girls ended up getting lost along the way in a phone call to her mother from Ozark around 11 30 PM Tracy informed her mom that they were heading back home however neither girl would ever make it home their lifeless bodies would be found the next day in the trunk of their car raising the long-debated question of what might have happened to them did it have something to do with the party or did the girls run into trouble on the road heading back from Ozark welcome back to M7 Crime Story Time where we cover solved unsolved and twisted cases from across the globe and today we're looking at a case with a crazy plot twist located in Southeast Alabama near the Florida border Ozark is known as the home of Fort Rucker situated in the heart of Dale County it's a typical Charming southern town home to nearly fifteen thousand people it's a nice place for both raising a family and spending retirement years however the town was not the sort of place to hit the headlines until the gruesome double homicide of two High School seniors in 1999 which baffled the community for years to come JB Hilton green Beasley was born on July 31 1981 to parents Cheryl and Hilton Lanier Beasley in Troy Alabama after her parents separated she moved to Dothan with her mother in 1984. she was adored by her mother as well as her stepfather Joey bagoon whom her mother married after a few years she grew up in a nice home in Dothan along with her four sisters JB grew up to be a very outgoing girl who was involved in various activities including cheerleading dance piano and swimming she even modeled for several agencies along with her sisters besides all of her Hobbies she loved hanging out with her friends and family it was high school where JB met her fellow cheerleader Tracy hollett and the two did not take long to become best friends Tracy Gene hollett was born on March 3rd 1982 to parents Carolyn Robert hollett unfortunately her father who worked in the Dothan Police Department died when Tracy was only five years old her mother later remarried a man named Mike Roberts who helped raise Tracy along with her mother unlike JB Tracy was a bit shy but never hesitated to put people before herself she was also very protective over her two brothers who were much younger than her even at a young age she was a responsible older sister Tracy also attended Northview High School and regularly received good grades and was a cheerleader alongside JB as both girls were blossoming into their adulthood JB and Tracy were oblivious to their Dradful fate which would strip them of all their future hopes and dreams on July 31 1999 at around 1005 PM JB and Tracy left Dothan in JB's black 1993 Mazda 929 to attend a birthday party organized in JB's honor in Headland just a few miles north however the young girls being unfamiliar with the roads leading to their destination soon found themselves in trouble within a few minutes of starting their Journey from their Hometown they got lost around 10 30 PM JB and Tracy stopped at a BP gas station near the intersection of routes 173 and 431 in Headland in search of directions using a pay phone at that gas station they called their friends to get better directions to the party after the call the girls kept driving to reach their destination but instead ended up in Ozark Alabama about 24 miles Northwest of Headland realizing they still did not understand the directions to the party at 11 30 PM the girl stopped at the big little store although the store was already closed by then Tracy called her mother from the store's Payphone she informed her of how they got lost and ended up in Ozark and that they were now planning to come back home at the same time a woman named Marilyn Merritt and her daughters stopped at the gas station to buy a soda the girls then asked her for directions back to Dothan Marilyn tried to explain the way as well as she could and the young girls seemed to understand Marilyn would later say that she noticed that the girls looked nice and polite with a clean and Tidy Car Marilyn remembered seeing the girls pulling out of the parking lot and turning right just as Marilyn had directed although nothing seemed to miss at the time JB Beasley and Tracy hollett never made it home the following morning August 1st 1999 at around 8 AM Tracy's mother called the police to report her daughter missing it did not take police long to find their first clue regarding the girl's whereabouts later that day after Tracy was reported missing cop successfully located JB's car which had been parked on Herring Avenue in Ozark the most bizarre thing was despite having filled the gas tank the day before the tank was almost empty the car was muddy the driver's side window was partially down yet the doors were locked however police could not find any signs of a forced entry into the vehicle inside the car JB's driver's license was lying on the dash es of both girls were still inside the car along with their cash the only known missing item was JB's car keys however there is no sign of either of the girls a palm print was recovered from the trunk lid of the locked trunk which gave the police a foreboding feeling that something was horribly wrong assessing the scene cops theorized that the lock trunk could provide them with significant Clues but without the keys they could not open the trunk it took them six long hours to discover that they could open the trunk of the car with the help of an interior latch without needing a trunk key or a locksmith upon opening the trunk police made a grisly discovery the lifeless bodies of the two girls were stuffed inside both girls were fully clothed but their pants were soiled from the waist down both girls had been shot once in the head Tracy in the temple and JB in the right cheek Tracy had a nine millimeter shell casing on her leg scratches on her arm and her jeans had thornbriars on them baby's clothes on the other hand were muddy and dirty especially her newly purchased shoes although authorities concluded that the teenagers were killed execution style they had most likely been killed inside of the trunk as the families were informed about the heart-wrenching discovery authorities formally started their homicide investigation although investigators were considering robbery as a possible motive during the initial phase of the investigation it was quickly ruled out after confirming that not only the girl's purses but also their jewelry money and credit cards remained inside the car autopsies later confirmed that there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in their system the report also suggested that neither girl had been sexually assaulted prior to their demise this basically ruled out the possibility of the crime being sexually motivated however more than two months later the State Crime Lab issued a report indicating that there were traces of unknown semen on JB's bra panties and skin the palm print recovered from the lid of the trunk also remained unidentified with no matches in the system and no one to compare their evidence against authorities were left without much to go on as ward of a double murder of two teen girls spread like wildfire authorities were no close to zeroing in on a suspect a reward was also put out in an attempt to gather information regarding the murder but it did not uncover any new leads however authorities it seemed soon got an unexpected breakthrough on September 1st exactly one month after the bodies of JB and Tracy were found a longtime Ozark resident 28 year old Johnny William barrentine walked into the Ozark Police Department to tell a bizarre story he claimed that he had been a witness to the high-profile double homicide of the Dothan teenagers barentine told police that on the night of the murders around the same time Tracy hollett called her mother from the pay phone at the big little store he went out to buy milk for his two-year-old son he claimed that while he was out he had witnessed the horrendous Act he returned home at 1am visibly upset and told his wife that he'd been hit by a black truck near Herring Road in the days following JB and Tracy's murder when he shared the information with some of his friends they convinced them that he should go to the police with this information as it could be linked to the murders of Tracy and JB which would not only help police crack the case but could also get him the reward as well disturbingly in the four hours of interview with Ozark Police barrentine changed his story six times according to then Ozark Police Chief Tony R Spivey barrentine initially said that on the night of the killings he had seen a black truck speeding away from the area where the girls were found but as the interview continued his story kept evolving and changing finally he claimed that he'd picked up a tattooed man he didn't know and the two drove by the big little store he further claimed that the man to whom he'd given a ride got into a car with two girls whom barentine identified as the deceased Dothan teenagers he said they ended up on Herring Avenue where the man forced the girls out of the car a struggle occurred between the men and the girls as they were trying to get away after placing them in the trunk barentine said he saw something in that man's hand moments before hearing two gunshots and when the men returned barentine again gave him a ride from the scene and then went home in another version barrentine confessed to investigators that he knew the man he'd picked up and given a ride to and identified him to be his neighbor alarmingly barentine himself lived less than a mile from where police discovered the bodies police did not buy his story naming him the prime suspect in the murder of J. B Beasley and Tracy hollett Ozark police arrested Johnny barantine on the spot charging him with two counts of capital murder but there were several problems with his accounts barrentine never mentioned sexual activity that would account for the seamen found on JB's clothing and body besides the neighbor he implicated had an alibi for the evening several people noted that he looked startled and like he had just awoken from a deep sleep in his mugshot just after arrest barrentine immediately admitted that he had fabricated the whole story in order to collect the reward money however police at the time believed they arrested the right person in the preliminary hearing on September 21st Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Charles Huggins testified that barentine was able to describe the girl's clothing and other items consistent with the crime suggesting he was there at the scene from the time of his arrest barentine was held without bond in the Dale County Jail in Ozark in an October 18th bond hearing barentine denied he was involved in the killings confessing to the judge that he never picked up a tattooed man and didn't see anything the night of the murders he said that he simply went to the bpe at about 11 pm to get milk for his little boy and later fabricated the whole story to claim the reward money however he was denied the bond and sent back to jail even during this turbulent time barrentine's family members never stopped supporting him they even gave interviews to the media professing his innocence saying he was incapable of hurting anyone barentine's lawyer Bill kimmins also maintained that his client was not responsible for the double murders in any way shape or form he further stated that the four hours of continued interrogation took a toll on barentine who had wrapped himself in this mess of a lie during police questioning he was never told that he could go to the bathroom or was free to leave whenever he wanted barrentine's defense also pointed out the fact that barentine only finished the seventh grade and a portion of the eighth grade he said his client was in special education classes indicating his inability to plan this heinous crime was finally released from jail on December 17 1999 after it was revealed that barentine's DNA did not match that from the seamen found on JB's body and clothing in January 2000 a Dale County grand jury declined to indict barentine and clear them as a suspect in this double murder after Johnny barrentine was cleared of Suspicion the investigation endured a setback the methods employed by investigators were also criticized there began to be mutterings that the Ozark Police were incapable of handling the case however police still had some potential Suspects on their radar one of the most viable suspects was a man from Michigan who was at a party the night of the murders near where JB's car was later found investigators discovered that the man who was not publicly named left town within days of the murders investigators had even traveled to Michigan three times to interview him he could not account for three or four hours of his time on the night of the murders and later made some suspicious statements to people however the police declined to elaborate on these alleged statements as it turned out he was also later ruled out by DNA one other significant lead police were chasing during the initial phase of the investigation was the driver of a small white pickup truck a video surveillance camera inside the big little store caught a grainy poor quality image of what appeared to be a small white pickup truck at the gas pumps at the same time JB and Tracy were at the pay phone calling Tracy's mother no digital Trail could be traced though as there was no record of a gas purchase at the pump at that time the video neither showed anyone getting out of the truck nor did it show the driver clearly after releasing a photo of the truck to the media a month into the investigation police urged the public to come forward with information unfortunately both the driver and the truck vanished Into Thin Air as the lead faded away the last lead for the investigators was a man from Mississippi police said the man who was extradited from Jones County had been arrested there on an outstanding warrant for possession of drug paraphernalia issued in Ozark the man had been staying with relatives in Ozark but left two days after the murders according to Spivey investigators wanted to question him in connection with the case however no significant information came out in light of this lead without any evidence investigators were forced to let him go in March of 2000 a woman called police and said she heard screams and two gunshots near Highway 123 South just inside the city limits on the night of July 31st 1999 when asked why she did not come forward earlier she claimed she was scared to get involved based on her description police thoroughly searched the area and discovered a nine millimeter bullet the same type used to kill the girls but the brand name of the bullet did not match the brand of bullet shell casing found on Tracy's body furthermore the unspent bullet had no markings that would help with forensic comparison to other evidence in the case again another dead end for investigators although several leads over the years proved to lead nowhere investigators never lost hope in the search for a DNA match as the heartbroken families of JB and Tracy tried to get on with their lives the case turned cold then years later another twist in the case added another layer to the thrilling mystery after remaining cold for years 2015 would Mark a bombshell allegation in the murder case of JB Beasley and Tracy hollett rum a sworn Ozark auxiliary police officer came forward and openly accused an Ozark Police Officer of murdering JB Beasley and Tracy hollett and others of covering it up Rina alleged that on the night of July 31 1999 a police officer for Ozark Police pulled over JB Beasley demanding to know the whereabouts of some cassette tapes that contained recorded conversations according to Rina these tapes could have incriminated Ozark police officers regarding the illegal business of cocaine distribution and profits the incident escalated into the murders of two innocent teens she further alleged Rena claimed that she'd been threatened by multiple law enforcement officials who had knowledge of the murderer's identity and covered it up by getting rid of evidence Rina named three cops Gary Butch Whittington Rex Tipton and Eddie Henderson accusing them of harassing and threatening her she went as far as to say that then police chief Tony Spivey who handled the original investigation had also helped cover it up however she shied away from revealing the name of the police officer who she claimed had actually committed the murders renowned American journalist and newspaper editor John B Carroll wrote an article saying that he believed the officer in question presumed the two girls intended to use these tapes in a court case that was scheduled for August 2nd 1999 less than 48 hours after they were murdered the tapes were to be entered as evidence into that case in this article Carol also stated that Reno was severely beaten with a baseball bat after coming forward which stopped her from naming the actual killer the law enforcement officials Rina accused had all denied having any involvement in the murders of JB Beasley and Tracy Holland without any physical evidence none of them were ever formally named as a suspect in the case regardless of that the allegations blew up on numerous True Crime websites and social media leading to a defamation lawsuit on January 29 2016 Keith coffin Rex tipson Tony Spivey Eddie Henderson and Gary Butch Whittington all Ozark Alabama Police officials filed a lawsuit against Rina Crum John B Carroll and Dean Matthews reliable slander and defamation of character that case was dismissed in 2018.
in May 2016 Rena Crum received a suspended sentence and a 250 dollar fine after being convicted for harassing JB Beasley's sister over the years authorities investigated many theories they interviewed hundreds of people and took DNA samples from several suspects but to no avail it would take 20 years and the innovation of new DNA Technologies before police could apprehend a suspect in March 2019 investigators sent the DNA found on JB's body and clothes to the virginia-based parabon Nano lab which specializes in DNA phenotyping and genetics using public genealogy databases after analyzing the DNA the lab finally made a connection to a suspect calling the craney 45 year old Coley Lewis mccraney was never on the radar of investigators in the brutal 1999 murders of JB Beasley and Tracy Holland until DNA implicated him in the crime mccraney who's an Alabama native graduated from Carroll High School in Ozark in 1992 where he was an athlete as well as the president of the library Club after that he joined the U. S Air Force and served there from 1993 to 1997. he was married in 1992 but separated from his first wife in 1994 and later divorced according to the reports of Dothan Eagle at the time mccready's ex-wife filed a complaint with the Air Force in 1994 stating that mccraney had assaulted her mccraney remarried in 2001 and had children with a second wife other than failing to pay child support in 1998 mccraney had no criminal record in the past 20 years or so he'd been working as a trucker all of his life and had worked for several trucking companies in Alabama over the years in recent years he co-founded a church and worked as a bishop there at the time of the killings he was around 26 and living on lisenby Drve in Ozark about one mile away from where the bodies of JB Beasley and Tracy hollett were found in 1999 two decades after the slain High School seniors JB Beasley and Tracy Holland were found Coley mccraney was arrested after traffic stop in Daleville Alabama on March 19 2019.
