Two more women, under Terri’s influence, die. But, how can you hold her accountable, if they die by suicide, not homicide? Binge all episodes of Scary Terri, ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Cases show page on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to Devereux Cleaver?
Devereux Cleaver left behind a grieving family, but she also left behind a will that she'd written herself in her own handwriting. She was 13 years old when she apparently decided it was time to write her last will and testament.
Chapter 2: What was Devereux's will about?
I give, devise, and bequeath all of my property, including all rights, titles, and interests of whatever character I may own. The document said, In and to any property, real, personal, or mixed, wherever situated, to Terry Johnson, who has been to me like a second mother.
Terry Johnson. Otherwise known as Terry Hoffman. Sandra's friend. Terry Hoffman. And here's what's strange. The document was dated August 1978, six months before she died. The will indicated who would get Dev's basketball, her rock collection, but also the family trust.
Devereaux had a $200,000, I believe, trust fund from grandparents. Terry would have made quite a cleanup.
Chapter 3: Why did Sandra Cleaver and Louise Watson die?
200,000.
That was a lot of money back then. Almost a million bucks today. How the hell in all the 171 million acres of Texas does a teenager find themselves compelled to sign a will? And why Terry Hoffman? Both Chrissy and Gail believe that she created the will because her mom wanted her to. But I wonder if it's more complicated than that. What if Sandra didn't walk unwittingly into the water?
Maybe she knew a swim on the peninsula that day was a death sentence. The question of why she'd signed a will was unanswered, incomplete. like an unsigned check she'd left on the kitchen table. Turns out that will didn't really hold up.
It isn't legal in Texas, of course.
But in the midst of their grief, it did hang in the air, the question of the will. Did somebody put her up to this? It was a wild and dangerous thought that bounced around in their heads like a caged animal. They just couldn't shake this feeling that maybe Sandra had convinced Dev to sign this will. And that even if she hadn't, Sandra might have known Terry had it out for their daughter.
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Chapter 4: What was Terry Hoffman's influence?
And if Terry could get Sandra to let go of her daughter, what else could she get her to let go of?
These shark eyes, those cold, dark eyes.
The most sophisticated sociopath I've ever observed.
Left behind a series of bizarre diaries and writings associated with Terry Hoffman and a group she founded called the Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Soul, Inc.
You really see how evil she really was, like heartless.
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Chapter 5: How did the police investigate the deaths?
Are those items that are used to control and combat, shield against black lords?
On both the Fifth Amendment. That it was a cult? I didn't know that.
From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Scary Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter 2, The Last Will. The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A beautiful, otherworldly stretch of park. Almost 500 acres of craggy, red rocks that stretch across the foothills surrounding the town. From the tops of the mountains, you can see never-ending peaks and valleys of tall aspen trees.
Here you could climb above the earth and everything in it. Terry had purchased land in this area, further up the mountain near Cripple Creek, as a future site of a center for CDBMS. In 1981, just two years after Dev's death, Sandra wanted to go see their new property. And she asked her childhood nanny, Louise Watson, known as Wheezy, to tag along.
Wheezy did not want to go on that trip to Colorado. But Sandra convinced her that it would be good for her and it would be a wonderful experience. And Wheezy didn't want to go.
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Chapter 6: What were the legal proceedings regarding the will?
At this point, Wheezy was older. She may not have felt like she could say no to Sandra. Sandra was in her 40s, but Wheezy was 78. Why? Why? Why?
Why? But then, as we got to thinking about it, Louise was very dependent on Sandra and, of course, was elderly. And I'm sure in some bizarre way, Sandra couldn't leave her alone and was convinced it was better for Louise to go with her.
In the Garden of the Gods, narrow, dramatic roads encircle the mountains, winding up and up into the sky. It was around one of those turns that Sandra Cleaver and Louise Watson, Wheezy, were driving in September of 1981. As they turned one of the corners along that twisty road, their car went flying off the side of the cliff and into the valley below.
According to the police report, there were no tire marks on the pavement. No sign of hesitation. No pumping of the brakes. The car simply took flight towards the horizon and into the Garden of the Gods, along with Sandra Cleaver and Louise Watson. No one survived.
We were sick to death about Louise Watson, of course. She was just a lovely, beautiful lady. And Chuck just couldn't get over the fact that why would Sandra do that to Louise?
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Chapter 7: What is the backstory of Terry Hoffman?
So did Sandra mean to die that day? Had she made some kind of sick promise to Terry? And when you found out about the death of Louise and Sandy, how soon before you started to suspect that this had something to do with Terry?
Immediately. Immediately.
Immediately, because it had happened again. Two suspicious deaths, and both women drafted wills. Louise and Sandra had seemingly prepared for a worst-case scenario. And Wheezy, too, had signed up for a life insurance policy.
Terry had both wills. I guess there was some serious money in Sandra's former family.
So clearly there's a target here for Terry. Wheezy's will gave everything to Sandra. So, in the event of both of their deaths, there would be the same beneficiary. This was beginning to look like more than coercion. This string of deaths seemed to be premeditated.
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Chapter 8: How did the past influence the present tragedies?
Sandra had a lot of personal jewelry with her at the time. And it was in a suitcase. But that suitcase apparently was left with someone that knew Terry and knew Sandra before they went off the cliff.
And that's not all. In the year before her suicide, Sandra's brother, Kroom, had all but lost track of his sister. He told me, and I get this, he was a thousand miles away. He had kids and a life. His sister didn't want his help, despite the multiple tragedies that had beset her. A couple of months before she died, Kroom's son received a phone call. It was his aunt, Sandra.
She called simply to tell him that she had chosen to leave everything to Terry and that if she died, this is what she wanted. There was a defiance in her tone. Like, fuck you. No one is going to tell me what to do. Kroom's wife, Meriwether, said they had no idea what Sandra was even up to.
And I remember when we got the call, a friend of ours from some other place heard about the accident that Sandra and Louise had. It came out of the blue. I mean, it was so bizarre.
She'd slipped so far away from them by then that Croom and his wife weren't even the first ones to know about her death. But from the moment he heard about his sister's death, Croom was also suspicious, especially when he found out that his sister and Louise had left everything in their possession to Terry Hoffman.
We ended up, you know, talking to the state police and all of that.
Terry was going to get everything.
Croom contested the will. A trial ensued. He wished to recoup in the civil proceedings property he felt was the rightful possession of the Beatty family.
Terry obviously had strong influence over Sandra. And I didn't realize that about Devereaux until, you know, until the trial. But when Louise and Sandra died, you know, Louise left a will to this woman. Sandra was under the influence. Now, how she got under the influence is what you're trying to drive at.
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