Who Really Killed Alabama Teens Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley?

Is the cold case finally solved after 20 years?

J.B. Beasley (left) and Tracie Hawlett (right) / Source

I recall being in high school and overhearing my mom and her friend discussing how two teenage girls had been murdered in a neighboring town. Murdered?? No one gets murdered here, especially two teenage girls. They were only a year older than me. It sounded like a story from the show Unsolved Mysteries, which was one of my favorites. Little did I know that it would later be featured on one of the hit show’s episodes.

J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett

In 1999, J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett were incoming seniors at Northview High School in Dothan, Alabama. On the night of July 31st, the best friends loaded up in J.B.’s 1993 black Mazda 929 and headed to nearby Headland, about 10 miles north of Dothan. It was J.B.’s 17th birthday, so they were going to attend a “field party” (a common pastime of youth in the South) at the home of another friend, Janna.

Tracie and J.B. / Source

They left Tracie’s house at approximately 10 p.m. and were spotted in Headland at about 10:30 p.m. They realized they were lost and stopped at a gas station where they called friends to get better directions to the party. Tracie’s curfew was at 11:30 p.m. so that didn’t give them a lot of time anyway due to their late start.

An hour later, the girls somehow found themselves in Ozark, which is over 20 miles northwest of Dothan. They stopped at the Big Little convenience store on E Broad St, but the store had already closed for the night. There, the girls came across a lady, Marilyn Merritt, and her daughter who had stopped to buy a drink. The girls asked for directions back to U.S. Highway 231, which would take them the 20 miles southeast back to Dothan. Later, Merritt gave the details to police, stating that the car was spotless, the girls were neat and clean, and nothing seems suspicious.

Tracie then used the payphone to call her mother and let her know that they had gotten lost and were in Ozark but were headed home. Tracie’s mother, Carol Roberts later told police, “Nothing…