Page 15 - Michael Beard News Today

Restoration business, servpro, and there she met one of his employees, a man named michael beard. tom told her to keep her distance. >> he never really wanted me around michael beard. he didnt want me like working with him. >> michael beard was no stranger to the family. >> he actually had done work at my sisters home. my sister would give his daughter charlies hand-me-downs, clothes, toys. my sister would make lunch for him when he was there working at her home. >> while kelley was kind to bear...

Could go to prison for life, depending on and what theyre about to say. >> and then they said it, guilty of first degree murder. much outside the courthouse, there were tears. lots of them. >> thank you. i believe justice was done here today. i do. >> tom clayton and michael beard really both sentenced to life in prison. toms attorney has filed al appeal. it seems snoem town want to honor kelly, even that you means old who can team. the elmyra jackals held a tribute for her and victims of family...

Door. >> we said, hey, can you take a ride with us up to the barracks. he said yeah, let me let my wife knew. >> he already knew what it was about? >> we told him we wanted to talk about the homicide of kelley clayton. >> the investigator asked beard where he was the night of kelleys murder. he said he was home except for a beer run. >> he actually kind of alibied himself at that point saying he was at the store the night before and it was the same clerk working, that she could prove he was in t...

Into and hes been out ever since. >> and he seemed determined to profess his innocence to anyone who would listen. >> he said id like to tell you my side of the story. i said i dont want to hear it or get any more involved. and hes like partially crying and hes saying you know i wouldnt do that. >> months went by as the state prepared the case against each man. michael beard was the first to go to trial. in court, he recanted had his confession and changed his account of the murder. but prosecut...

Delaytons would be anything enough. the prosecutor knew he couldnt use beard to testify against tom. >> even if he said i want to testify now, he had lied so many times. he lied at his own trial. >> beard changed his story so much at his own trial, that he wouldnt have been a credible witness. >> tom and his lawyer pounced on that, telling reporters that beard acted on his own. >> this is pure little mr. beards doing. what we do know is that mr. clayton had nothing to do with the death of his wi...

To cross off the list? >> yes, i didnt expect to see him again. >> to the investigator and those close to kelley, michael beard didnt seem like a good suspect at all. >> did you think it is possible, he was a disgruntled employee, he was taking revenge? >> i didnt. because if youre disgruntled, why wouldnt you kill the person that youre disgruntled against. i mean, im angry at you so im going to go kill your wife? >> as a matter of procedure, the investigator asked beard for a dna swab and permi...

Concerned, i have never been in a room that was filled with so much anxiety. >> the only one honestly didnt seem tense to the reporter was the defendant himself. he saw tom clayton smiling and kidding around with family members. his lawyer though was on the attack. he told the jury how investigators had immediately little labeled tom a killer on the night of the murder. >> i think he attacked her. >> and the defense said investigators refused to change their minds even after it was clear michael...

Stealing and taking money and killed kelly in the process. >> the prosecution said that was nonsense. michael beard had no reason to murder kelly unless he was sent there by the defendant, tom clayton. the state called linda miller to testify. she recounted how tom borrowed her phone and then deleted the number he dialed, never dreaming she would do her own detective work. >> you really connected the dots. >> she did good. >> you can call it good. >> finally, the prosecutor said he knew why tom ...

Everything that followed in the investigation had been poisoned. >> he was simply just being wrongly accused, and police just rushed to judgment, and that, therefore, led to an incomplete investigation. >> and, in fact, investigators never found evidence that tom paid beard for a hit. >> as far as tom clayton, there was no conversation overheard, there was no money exchanging hands. you couldnt even use the confession from michael beard, so there were a lot of things you didnt have. >> right, bu...

And he fired him on the 17th because there were maybe some complaints from other employees at servpro. >> so there were issues there? >> right. >> but beard was polite and cooperative when the investigator knocked on his door. >> we said, hey, can you take a ride with us up to the barracks. he said yeah, let me let my wife knew. >> he already knew what it was about? >> we told him we wanted to talk about the homicide of kelley clayton. >> the investigator asked beard where he was the night of ke...