Wednesday, January 16, 2002
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Wednesday, January 16, 2002 |
| Beverley
Watson murder: Husband indicted
By JOHN MUNFORD
Almost five years to the day after his wife's disappearance, Jim Watson has been indicted for the murder of Beverley Watson. Watson, long suspected in the murder/disappearance of his wife, Beverley, back on Jan. 18, 1997, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home. Just minutes before, a Fulton County Grand Jury indicted him on one count of malice murder relating to Beverley Watson's death. Watson was apprehended by members of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's metro fugitive squad, said Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Watson's home was staked out Tuesday while officials awaited word on whether the Fulton County Grand Jury would indict him. According to the indictment, James Lamar Watson, 38, did "cause the death of Beverley Watson ... by a method which is unknown to the grand jurors at this time." Four witnesses were scheduled to testify to the grand jury, including Jordan. Mrs. Watson, whose body was found over two years after her disappearance in a wooded area in south Fulton County, was originally reported as a missing person. Jim Watson claimed she walked away from their residence at 295 Stoneridge Way in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 1997, without even a coat, leaving behind family vehicles, a purse, her car keys and two children. Jim Watson had told police his wife left after they argued over their pending separation. Mrs. Watson's remains were found in March 1999 by a surveyor working in a rural area of south Fulton County near Fairburn. That may prove to be a key break in the case, allowing the case to be prosecuted in Fulton County. The case has taken a number of twists and turns before Watson's arrest. In July 1999, Jim Watson took custody of his wife's remains and had them cremated before officials in Fayette County were notified. Investigators wanted to keep the remains as possible evidence. The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, which examined the remains, eventually concluded that the cause of her death was undetermined. The case has also resulted in several federal lawsuits, as Jim Watson sued the Sheriff's Department over a traffic stop months after his wife's disappearance that was ordered by Maj. Bruce Jordan, the lead investigator for the department. Jordan countersued for slander libel, but both suits were dismissed by a federal judge. The traffic stop was for having illegally tinted windows, and deputies discovered a gun in the vehicle, which was later returned to Watson. The department also was sued in another case relating to the traffic stop as a former lieutenant at the Sheriff's Department claimed he was wrongfully fired for speaking to Watson's attorney about the traffic stop after department officials told him not to. Watson was first publicly identified as the prime suspect in a hearing on that case in May of 2000 by Jordan and several other deputies. After learning Mrs. Watson's remains were found, a local attorney turned over documents to authorities that he claimed she had told him to give to police were she to be found dead. The attorney, Jim Bischoff, represented Mrs. Watson in a divorce proceeding she brought, then reconsidered, several years prior to her disappearance. Mrs. Watson's father, Fred Callaway, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her former husband, which was ultimately settled in August 2000. Callaway lodged the suit on behalf of the Watsons' two children, but the details of the settlement were not released. An order relating to the settlement revealed that a trust will be created for both children and the trust will hold proceeds of the settlement agreement.
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