Page 28 - Michael Beard News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> while investigator lambert was speaking with beard, he was interrupted by a colleague who had been grilling beard's wife. she mentioned a dramatic piece of information, something about a big payment beard was expecting to get from tom, $10,000. the investigators confronted beard. >> at that point he was just defeated. i had 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 -- that was the win. >> michael beard was arrested for murder, and tom, already in custody, was now accused of orchestrating the cri...

The 28th, 29th, so it wasn't long at all. >> was it possible that beard was angry about losing his job and that kelley's murder was some kind of revenge? molly went through her cellphone and her facebook contacts and gave investigators beard's address. >> i gave that to them and they were just like, okay, thank you. >> the steuben county sheriff's office needed all hands on deck and called in the new york state police for the assistance. >> i was contacted by investigators the day of the homicide. >> investigator matt lambert was assigned to run down the michael beard lead. >> what did you kno...

A number they didn't 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 number in the profile that pops up is michael beard. >> michael beard, the ex employee who had been some cooperative with investigators. suddenly he didn't seem so innocent. now police had to reconsider their theory of the crime. maybe it wasn't tom who had beaten kelley to death. maybe their daughter's description of the killer was wrong. maybe it was michael beard she saw. >> this phone call, this is like ...

And that therefore led to an incomplete vision. >> and in fact, investigators never found evidence nad tom paid beard for a hit. >> as far as tom clayton, there was no conversation over heard. there was no money exchanging hands. you couldn't even use the confession from mike beard. so there were a lot of things you didn't have. >> right, but if you look at thomas clayton's conduct, he never mentioned michael beard. everybody says michael beard should be an immediate suspect. he never mentioned michael beard to the police. >> as they prepared for trial, investigators kept digging. they discove...

Of information, something about a big payment beard was expecting to get from tom, $10,000. the investigators confronted beard. >> at that point he was just defeated. i had 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 -- that was the win. >> michael beard was arrested for murder, and tom, already in custody, was now accused of orchestrating the crime. but tom's newly-hired defense attorney wasn't having it. >> he wants to be reunited with his children. he, frankly, is grieving the loss of his wife. >>...