Melissa Triano
Appearances
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste was voluntarily admitted to St. David's Medical Center for Mental Health in Austin. And how often did you see her or talk to her?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
According to the twins, Celeste even flaunted her relationship with Tracy in front of Steven.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Meanwhile, Celeste was lying to Tracy, falsely portraying Steve as a violent and abusive drunk.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
I'm here in Austin, Texas for a twisted tale of deceit that played out more than 20 years ago. One woman's fairy tale turned into betrayal and murder in a case that tore apart an entire family. And it all began with a fateful meeting right here at the Austin Country Club.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And Celeste allegedly tells Tracy that if she has to go on this trip with Steve, she will die. It'll be that bad.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Steve is not in the best of health. He requires a special breathing machine at his bedside to help him sleep at night.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Sergeant Truitt discovers that the intruder entered through the front door, which was unlocked.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste seems to have no idea what's happened to Steve, but all Sergeant Truitt really knows at that point is that it was Steve himself who called 911 for help.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Months after Tracy's arrest, Steve Beard is finally released from the hospital. But he's not out of the woods yet.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And soon, with the help of a secret recording, police will turn their scrutiny on Celeste.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
One evening at the club, Steve Beard meets a young, beautiful waitress named Celeste Johnson. And they strike up a friendship.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Steve's funeral is held at an Austin mausoleum in January of 2000.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
One of the things that Christina discovers is that Celeste is making large payments of money, thousands of dollars, to her assistant, Donna Goodson.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But soon, there will be allegations that the girls are setting up their own mother.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
What do you think was the most important part of your testimony?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
There's talk that Tracy and Celeste were having an affair. Could Celeste somehow be behind the shooting? That's a big question. Until Celeste's daughters record a sensational phone call with their mom. On that tape, she says, I hired somebody to kill Tracy Tarleton. And that moment changes everything.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Jennifer and Christina claim that you were trying to kill Tracy and maybe them too.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Despite that tape, Celeste denies trying to kill Tracy. And she says the truth is her daughters aren't really afraid of her. They're simply after Steve's money.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste Johnson was born in the California town of Culver City on February 13, 1963.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
In the end, after three days of testimony, the judge rules that Celeste will remain the beneficiary of Steve's trust and his money. And the girls, they're not in control of anything.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
What Tracy has revealed is really shocking. Prosecutors know they'll never be able to prove it without Tracy's testimony. So what do they do? They make a plea bargain with her.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But when Tracy finally does take the stand, Celeste's lawyer is going to try to convince the jury she's delusional.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But her mother says Celeste became troubled as an adolescent and she sought help for her.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
They tell the jury Celeste Beard is afraid she will lose millions if her husband Steve divorces her. So she decides to kill him. That isn't unheard of.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But getting her alleged lover, Tracy Tarleton, to do it for her? Now that is unusual. And it was a factor in the public interest.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
If you listen to what Tracy has to say about the relationship she had with Celeste, you would definitely be led to believe that it was serious, very intimate, and very passionate.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And what Celeste wanted, according to Tracy's testimony, was to harm Steve.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But some of the things she claimed to know turned out to be lies she was told by Celeste.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
It's a compelling and very chilling story, but now comes the defense, telling the jury, don't believe any of it.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And early in the marriage, Craig Bratcher decides to up and relocate the family to Washington State without consulting Celeste.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
So DeGaran's trying to drive home the point that everything Tracy is doing is really to save herself.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
A lot of people watching this might say, God, you were her daughters. How could you testify against your own mother?
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
What do you think was the most important part of your testimony?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Yes, that's correct. Remember, the tape is Christina's recording of a phone conversation with Celeste.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
A conversation that both Jennifer and Christina said scared them so much when they were in hiding.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
In 1988, Celeste moves to Phoenix and marries another man, but that marriage also quickly falls apart.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
They go on to give specific details about the night of the shooting.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
How would Jennifer and Christina supposedly get more money with you out of the picture?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But the twins say there was one reason they testified, and it wasn't money.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
He accuses them of not only telling lies, but of fabricating evidence. That explosive tape... On the tape, you heard, threatened to kill Tracy.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
That money was allegedly to be used to hire a hitman. Donna was given immunity to testify about that at trial against Celeste.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste never explained why she paid Donna thousands of dollars. She denied the allegations about hiring a hitman and was never charged in connection with the alleged plot. But for most of this trial, everyone was waiting for the moment when Celeste would take the stand and speak for herself.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
What are you thinking when the case goes to the jury? What's going through your mind?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
There's a sentencing hearing the very next day, and Celeste's two daughters have another chance to get on the stand and confront their mother.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years and fined $10,000 for abuse of an elderly individual.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
I've driven all the way to Central Texas to the Murray unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Behind these walls, Celeste Beard is serving her two life sentences. She's already been in for more than 20 years. And we're about to hear her side of the story.
20/20
True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
1993 is a monumental year for Celeste. At the time, she was working that job as a waitress at the Austin Country Club.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
But whatever happened to Tracy Tarleton, the woman who actually pulled the trigger on Steve Beard?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Tracy Tarleton was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder, but released after 10 and placed on 12 years of probation.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Does it bother you that Tracy is now out there in the world living free?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste won't be eligible for parole until the year 2042, when she'll be 80 years old.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
The twins are not living near each other, but they found some calm after their roller coaster of a life with Celeste.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
The twins say they've not seen or spoken to Celeste since the trial in 2003. What do you want right now more than anything?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Soon, Celeste divorces Jimmy Martinez, her third husband. Did the family seem happy?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Tonight on 2020, we're in Texas for one of the trickiest possible love triangles we've ever covered. And like many of them, it ends with a dead body. Was she trying to kill the two of you?
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And wealth was coming to Austin. People are becoming millionaires, and one of them is Steve Beard.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Steve and Elise were married for more than 40 years, and together they had three children, Steve Jr., Paul, and Becky.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Steve moves Celeste into his mansion quickly. When his friends wonder who she is, Steve tells them Celeste is working for him.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
When Celeste and Steve got married, Steve promised her a million dollars. But if their marriage were to end in divorce, she would then only get $500,000.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
After their natural father has died, Celeste asked Steven to adopt the twins, even though they're 17 years old.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
And for a while, everyone was happy and Celeste achieved the life she wanted. But settled and secure, as it turns out, is not Celeste's nature.
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True Crime Vault: Tainted Love
Celeste then allegedly started taking jewelry from Stephen's safety deposit box.
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Explosive Secrets
They brought it to me, and in that notebook was Melissa Triano, license plate Missy. My license plate said Missy on a black Corvette, and that was my car. So he had been following me, and it was terrifying.
20/20
Explosive Secrets
Nothing went her way through that whole divorce, and she was furious by it. And she wanted money. She needed money to continue her lifestyle.
20/20
Explosive Secrets
If I said my name, you know, I get a million questions or a million comments on the matter. Are you related to Boom Boom Triano? Like horrible things people would say.
20/20
Explosive Secrets
Boom Boom Triano was one. There was all kinds of weird names, weird things that they said.
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Explosive Secrets
This picture is because it was on my birthday 15, 16 days before he died. He was very kind and gracious and generous.
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Explosive Secrets
It changed my life. He was the only person that really believed in me and made me feel like I could, you know, be successful with anything.
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Explosive Secrets
I think her flight came in at midnight, and we stood outside of the airport and watched her come off the plane.
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Explosive Secrets
I wanted her to see our faces and to know that we were never giving up on bringing her to justice.
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Explosive Secrets
It was very difficult to sit through when photos or evidence was going to be shown that would be hard. I would get up and walk out.
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Explosive Secrets
The lights flickered in the courtroom. My cousin Heather was sitting in front of me, and she turned and looked, and we just lost it.
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Explosive Secrets
Like seconds after the judge said guilty, the lights flickered in the courtroom. It was surreal. What did that tell you, those lights flickering? That he was there. That he knows.
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Explosive Secrets
Every November 1st, I would go to La Paloma Golf Course and put flowers in the 18th hole.
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Explosive Secrets
if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginning and never breathe a word about your loss. And that's just how my uncle lived.
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Explosive Secrets
Just panic, shock. I didn't think it was real. The whole top of the car was gone. I still can see it when I close my eyes.
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Explosive Secrets
Somebody sent a message and you don't know if they're coming for you next or if it's the whole family. You know, I didn't know if he was involved with something that might want to hurt us all. You were on guard all the time.
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Explosive Secrets
Did you ever see your uncle's movie? Oh my gosh, yes. In fact, I had a horse once and I named it Mafu.