Page 19 - Michael Beard News Today

Not wanting to be home alone if he was there. you know, he -- he was civil. he was nice. but id -- i dont think she wanted to be left home alone. >> reporter: now, molly told investigators that her uncle tom had recently fired beard. >> michael beard was fired september 17th. and then kelley was murdered the, like, night of the 28th, 29th. so it wasnt long at all. >> reporter: was it possible that beard was angry about losing his job and that kelleys murder was some kind of revenge? molly went t...

The prosecutor knew he couldnt use beard to testify against tom. >> even if he came forward and said, "i want to testify now," he had lied so many times. he had lied at his own trial. >> beard had changed his story so much at his own trial that he wouldnt have been a credible witness. >> reporter: tom and his lawyer pounced on that, telling reporters that beard acted on his own. >> this is purely mr. beards doing, what we do know is that mr. clayton had nothing to do with the death of his wife. ...

>> michael beard was fired september 17th. and then kelley was murdered the, like, night of the 28th, 29th. so it wasnt long at all. >> reporter: was it possible that beard was angry about losing his job and that kelleys murder was some kind of revenge? molly went through her cell phone and her facebook contacts and gave investigators beards address. >> i gave at to them. and they were just like, "okay, thank you." >> reporter: the steuben county sheriffs office needed all hands on deck and call...

Expecting to get from tom. $10,000. the investigators confronted beard. >> at that point, he was just defeated. i looked at him and said, "$10,000, is that why you killed kelley?" and he looked at me and said, "yes." >> this was your big moment? >> that was the -- that was the win. >> reporter: michael beard was arrested for murder. and tom, already in custody, was now accused of orchestrating the crime. but toms newly-hired defense attorney wasnt having it. >> he wants to be reunited with his c...

A room that was filled with so much anxiety. >> reporter: the only one who 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 labeled tom a killer on the night of the murder. >> i think he attacked her. >> reporter: and the defense said investigators refused to change their minds even after it was clear michael beard was the one who...

Beard find another job. >> reporter: are you getting any bad feeling from him? are you suspicious of him? >> not at all. >> reporter: so youre thinking this is going to be something that were going to cross off the list? >> yes. i didnt expect to see him again. >> reporter: to the investigator and those close to kelley, michael beard didnt seem like a good suspect after all. >> reporter: did you think it was -- it was possible that hes a disgruntled employee? he was, you know, taking revenge? >>...

>> reporter: and in fact, investigators never found evidence that tom paid beard for a hit. >> reporter: 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, but if you look at thomas claytons conduct, he never mentioned michael beard. everybody says, "michael beard should be an immediate suspect." he never mentioned michael beard to the pol...

And i was like, "yeah." >> reporter: molly, only 16 at the time, told police shed spent the summer working for her uncle at his 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. >> reporter: michael beard was no stranger to the family. >> he actually had done work at my sisters home. my sister would give his daughter charl...

>> reporter: and he seemed determined to profess his innocence to anyone whod listen. >> he said, id like to tell you my side of the story. i said, i really dont want to hear it. i dont want to get any more involved. and hes, like, partially crying and hes saying, you know, i wouldnt do that. >> reporter: 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 his confession and changed his account of the murder. but prose...

Recognize. investigator donnie lewis took it from there. >> so what i did was i got the number and put it into actually facebook on my phone, and as soon as i put that phone number in there the profile that pops up is michael beard. >> reporter: michael beard, the ex-employee whod been so cooperative with investigators. suddenly, he didnt seem so innocent. now police had to reconsider their theory of the crime. maybe it wasnt tom whod beaten kelley to death. maybe his daughters description of th...