Celeste Beard Johnson’s murder-for-hire plot is heading back to the spotlight after a new twist in her prison case.
Here are the Top 5 things you need to know about this viral story:
- The motive was bigger than money: Court documents reveal celeste beard johnson convinced her much older, wealthy husband, Steven Beard, that he was being haunted by ghosts to cover up her secret affair and plot to kill him.
- The hitman was her lover: Johnson recruited her lesbian lover, Tracey Tarlton, to shoot her husband with a shotgun, making the crime a triangular love-and-lust scandal that shocked Austin, Texas.
- A key witness recanted: Tarlton, who testified against celeste beard johnson in exchange for a lighter sentence, recently claimed in a documentary that she lied on the stand, fueling a new appeal bid.
- She’s still claiming innocence: Now in her 60s, Johnson has filed multiple motions from prison, arguing that her trial was tainted by prosecutorial misconduct and that her confession was coerced.
- Netflix is revisiting the case: A new true-crime series is set to feature celeste beard johnson’s story, with never-before-seen jailhouse interviews that could sway public opinion and even legal scrutiny.