A Texas fitness instructor who was found dead in a church last month was having marital and financial troubles at the time she was murdered, officials said.
Terri “Missi” Bevers, 45, was found dead on April 18 in the Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian, Texas. Police said that she was at the church for an exercise class that she was hosting, KDFW-TV reported.
Police documents said she received a message on social media website Linkedin that was described as “creepy and strange.” Bevers had shown a friend the message she got on the site, and neither woman knew the man who sent it to her.
Her students found her dead body with multiple puncture wounds to her chest and head area. Surveillance footage also showed a suspect walking into the church clothed in SWAT gear, possibly wielding a hammer. Police believe the suspect broke inside the church before she arrived and attacked her with the object, leaving her unresponsive on the ground.
Released video footage showed the suspect walking through the church. Police said he was wearing so much SWAT gear they were unable to identify the suspect’s gender.
CBS DFW, citing a police search warrant, also said Bevers had allegedly been involved in an intimate relationship “external to the marriage” and was exchanging messages with a different man on LinkedIn. The man who was messaging her in a “flirtatious” manner is not considered a suspect, police told FOX4.
Brandon Bevers, her husband, went on an annual fishing trip in Mississippi the night before she was murdered.
While police initially believed that she was interrupting a robbery of the church, lawyer and former police officer Pete Schulte told CBS it wasn’t “your routine burglary.” He added, “If somebody’s going to try to go burglarize a business, they’re going to get in and get out and try to grab as much stuff as they can and then leave.”
“This world is full of evil people,” Brandon Bevers said, when asked if he could think of a reason why someone would target his wife.
Brandon also issued another statement to FOX4.
“I loved my wife. My children will always know that as well. The children are my greatest concern right now given the information they will eventually receive in one form or another. This is concerning to all of us,” he said.
