Page 21 - Michael Beard News Today

Their hand, striking that person that was on the ground. and she described the object as a cylinder that the robber, as she kept calling him, used. >> reporter: she went on to give the sheriff a detailed description of the so-called "robbers" appearance. >> she described the person to me as a male wearing jeans and a dark shirt and a mask. and i officially asked her, you keep saying its a man. how do you know its a man? and she told me, "because of his eyes." and i said, well, what about his eye...

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 charlies hand-me-downs, clothes, toys. my sister would make lunch for him when he was there working at her home. >> repo...

Of justice by president trump. well keep you on top of the latest developments. now, back to dateli"dateline." welcome back to dateline. she said kelly claytons attacker had the same eyes as her father and the mask resembled one he wore while hunting, but tom clayton had an alibi backed up by friends. so if tom didnt attack kelly, who did? here again is andrea canning with the house in the woods. >> reporter: investigators were trying to figure out what had happened in the murder of kelley cla...

Final knew that, oh, god, i could go to prison for life, depending on what theyre about to say. >> reporter: and then they said it. "guilty of first degree murder." outside the courthouse there were tears. lots of them. >> thank you. i believe justice was done here today. i do. >> reporter: tom clayton is awaiting sentencing. michael beard has already begun serving a life sentence. it seems so many in town want to honor kelley, even toms old hockey team. the elmira jackals just held a tribute fo...

But she didnt -- she was a night owl. she stayed up. her kids stay up late, you know? it wasnt normal. >> reporter: neither, of course, was what followed. >> sir, you need to calm down so i can help you, okay? >> yes. >> whats your name? >> my names tom. >> reporter: tom clayton was on the phone to 911. something about his wife. she wasnt breathing. >> how long has she been down? >> i dont know. i dont know. i just got home. >> reporter: the clayton home tucked down a pocket of a long dark road....

Proof of a conspiracy. thats beard, they say, in a red truck that tom loaned him just hours before the murder. and thats tom following in his green servpro truck. >> also know that during that time period beard turned his phone off, turned it on, turned it off again. >> why do you think he did that? >> well, the inference to be drawn from that is that he has guys are not naive. they know that theres a possibility of being tracked with their phones. >> reporter: then, after the murder, the video ...

Murder. that kind of just alerted us right off the bat as we need to go talk to michael beard again. >> he denied any type of involvement. he even denied receiving the phone call. they never talked. >> did that seem odd to you? >> that did seem odd. he denied having any type of conversation. he said he didnt even remember receiving it, and he wouldnt have answered a call that wasnt -- that he didnt know the number. >> reporter: and when investigators looked at beards phone, there was no sign of ...

15 minutes away. even hours after they arrested him, i dont really know what grounds they had as far as actual evidence connected him to the death. >> reporter: if tom was killer, then there had to be a hole in that rock solid alibi. or maybe the authorities, thinking the husband always does it, had acted too fast. >> it doesnt feel like a slam dunk here, arresting this man. >> no, it does not. coming up, the mystery of the missing phone call. >> i pulled up my phone and im like, see if there ...

>> oh, oh. okay. >> reporter: it was toms wife kelley. right away the deputy knew shed been murdered. what did you see? >> the victim. there was blood, blood spatter on walls, ceiling. victim had blood pooling around her head. >> tom, where were you when this all went down? >> playing poker with my buddies. >> reporter: tom said he had just come home from a poker game to find kelley dead on the floor and his 7-year-old daughter, charlie, saying something about a break-in. >> i came home and my d...

>> reporter: so theres some issues there? >> right. >> reporter: but beard was polite and cooperative when the investigator knocked on his door. >> we said, "hey, can you, you know, take a ride with us up to the barracks." and he said, "yeah, just let me let my wife know." >> reporter: and he already knew what it was about? >> we told him that we want to talk to him about the -- the homicide of kelley clayton. >> reporter: the investigator asked beard where he was the night of kelleys murder. he...