Something Wicked (Part 4)

There is nothing more evil than a person that misuses and abuses the trust of the innocent. I'm not sure one could find a better visual description of the innocent than Aleah Beckerle. As an infant, Aleah suffered a stroke when meningitis overtook her tiny body. Left nonverbal and in a wheelchair, Aleah depended on the people that surrounded her for care. If any of them failed to feed her, she wouldn't eat. When her wheelchair was pushed to a position and parked, Aleah was left to sit there, often unattended, until someone came for her. Aleah depended on her mother, the very person that brought her life, for everything she needed to survive. It is my belief that Cara Darlene Beckerle failed her daughter miserably. She failed her in life, and she failed her in death. There is an old saying: "If you run with the dogs, you get the fleas." Rarely does one think of the impact those disease-ridden fleas may have before bringing them home to exist amongst the people you are supposed to protect.

The story of what happened to Aleah Beckerle in the early morning hours of July 17, 2016, has been told over and over, with several different versions, and an entire cast of characters that is too unreal to be anything but true—as even the imagination can't manufacture what happened in Evansville, Indiana, immediately following the death of Aleah Beckerle. The official story is that Terrence Roach (25) was smoking synthetic marijuana known as K-2 when the idea "just popped in his head" to kidnap Aleah. He reached through a window in the bedroom where she slept, at 403 E. Iowa Street in Evansville, Indiana, dragged her out through the window, and carried her to his truck. The story goes on to say that Terrence carried Aleah's body into an abandoned home, had sex with her body, and left her there. Aleah's body was found eight months later in the home, in the 1600 block of South Bedford Avenue. Police quickly arrested Terrence, and he did, in fact, confess to the kidnap, rape, and murder of the 19-year old, non-ambulatory, and non-verbal Aleah Beckerle. The jury didn't see it that way, and found Terrence not guilty of her murder, but did find him guilty of abusing her corpse and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. The jury didn't think he did it. The evidence supports he didn't do it. In fact, in over 700 pages of documents, there isn't a single piece of evidence that is attributed to Terrence, and in fact, it all points right to the person responsible for the death of Aleah Beckerle: her own mother, Cara Darlene Beckerle.

Cara Darlene Beckerle

Cara Darlene Beckerle began her life on October 30, 1978. Her childhood was tumultuous, to say the least, and culminated in her parents signing her away to emancipation. Her criminal history is filled with drug possession, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Several of those traffic stops led to charges when Aleah and her two sisters were found to be unrestrained while the vehicle was in motion. Neglect charges were filed when Cara was found operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, while her daughters were in the car, sans seat belts. Another neglect charge came when Cara was found to be dealing marijuana out of the home she shared with her daughters, Demarco Roach, and the criminal element she paraded in front of her children. Aleah and her sisters have been forced to be in the presence of the worst of the criminal element, but The Department of Children Services failed Aleah, and continues to fail her sisters by allowing that particular type of influence to exist in the very place Cara's children are supposed to feel safe and secure: their home.

Cara has displayed her ignorance and arrogance for the public to see. John Douglas, former profiler for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, taught the psychology of missing children: signs to watch for, and words and phrases that may be used when a parent is responsible for the death of their child. Cara has used most of those phrases during interviews, and in front of cameras—phrases like, "they kidnapped her," which is one of the many stories that Cara has told since the night of Aleah's death. Cara has displayed numerous indicators that she is being deceptive, yet the law enforcement officials in charge of this case have seemed to overlook the telltale signs of Cara's obvious guilt.

The 911 call that was made to report Aleah missing wasn't made by Cara, but rather, her minor child. It wasn't until well into the call that Cara was handed the phone. In a transcript of the call to emergency dispatch, Cara can be heard in the background saying, "this can't be happening," before her minor daughter, the sister of both Aleah Beckerle and Terrence Roach, is heard, simply stating, "my sister is missing." The dispatcher asks who is in the house with her, and only then was Cara handed the phone. Cara explained to the dispatcher that she put Aleah to bed at nine the previous evening, "in the same room, almost." When the dispatcher asked who Cara thought did this, she replied "child molesters," and that the bathroom window was open, and the backdoor was unlocked, and the back gate was wide open. Cara went on to say, "They took her. They took my disabled daughter. She's in a wheelchair (inaudible), and they took her." Cara burst into tears once again, and suggested to the dispatcher that Aleah could have been taken so that she could be sexually assaulted. When the police arrived, Cara told a different story to them, and then changed her story again on August 26, 2017, when she told investigators that whoever took Aleah used a key that they copied, and then locked the door behind themselves. She elaborated on that thought, saying that the kidnapping wasn't random, and that whoever took Aleah knew the layout of the house, and that the dog wouldn't bark. The neighbors, however, maintain that the Rottweiler was conspicuously quiet the night of Aleah's disappearance, and the dog was not in the house when the police arrived after the 911 call. The dog was again seen in the house, during an interview with a news crew shortly after Aleah's disappearance. Aleah's sippy cup remained in the tangle of sheets that was left in her bed when the crime scene photographer began taking pictures. By the time he was finished, the sippy cup was gone, and has yet to be recovered. Aleah's life-sustaining food that was delivered though a tube was thrown in the trash, along with medication belonging to the teenager just a few short days after she disappeared. Cara told investigators that Kentucky is where they would find Aleah, then changed her mind and decided she hadn't the first clue who would have taken her daughter, nor where she could be. During the weeks and months following the disappearance of her daughter, search parties formed and volunteers from the community turned out to help find the missing teenager. Absent from the search parties, more often than not, was no other than her own mother, Cara. Cara was photographed at a birthday party that she chose to attend, rather than join the people gathered to search for her daughter. While the search continued, a false confession was obtained when the cousin of Cara, Donna Robertson, was involved in beating a false confession out of James Martin, Jr. That still wasn't, and still isn't, enough to get the attention of the Evansville Police Department or the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office. In spite of neglect, drug, and theft charges since the murder of her daughter, Cara Beckerle continues to avoid prosecution for the death of her daughter.

Demarco Wayne Roach

There are few people that cared for Aleah the way Demarco Roach cared for her. It is truly sad that the person that loved her the most was, arguably, the most disturbed of all the players in Aleah Beckerle's case. Demarco was not the father of Aleah, but rather, of both another of Cara's minor children and Terrence Roach. He was the live-in boyfriend of Cara until June 21, 2016, when he had a mental break while using a mixture of methamphetamine and Adderall and left the Iowa Street home, and a door jam beside the bed where Aleah rested her head, riddled with bullet holes. Roach was convinced he was being chased by two men; he drew his weapon inside the house, and fired five rounds. Demarco was arrested on that June evening, and was incarcerated with a no-contact order for Cara, Aleah and the minor daughter he shares with Cara. The State of Indiana dropped the charges against Demarco, and he was immediately remanded to federal custody for charges stemming from the June shooting incident.

Born January 28, 1976, Demarco's life has been riddled with the sins of his father, and his father's father. Demarco was in and out of jail for charges of intimidation, battery, domestic violence, burglary, battery on a pregnant woman, drug possession, theft, criminal confinement and several traffic offenses, before finally achieving a habitual offender status. Roach served several sentences in the Vanderburgh County Jail, with Cara Beckerle listed as the victim.

As of this writing, Demarco remains incarcerated at the FCI Buckner in Buckner, North Carolina. His projected release date is February 7, 2021.

Cathy Murray

Cathy Murray was searching abandoned houses for merchandise that she could possibly refurbish and sell for profit. She says she and her friends saw a pile of them in the alley behind the home at 1628 South Bedford Street, and she left her friends to go through the pile, while she went alone into the house. As Murray approached the top of the steps, she smelled a strong smell of bleach, and saw men's, women's and children's clothing all over the upstairs of the home. In a back bedroom, between two twin mattress and under a pile of clothing was the body of Aleah Beckerle, naked from the waist down, covered in bugs and mostly decomposed. According to her, upon finding the body of Aleah, she was leaving to tell the friends she left in the alley what she found, when the telephone rang. It was Antwan Henry, an inmate in the Vanderburgh County jail, and Murray's current boyfriend. It was Antwan, not the police, that she told about her discovery. Henry told her that he would alert authorities, and the call was ended. Cathy received the reward money that was offered by Behavioral Health in excess of $10,000—money she quickly went through, buying drugs and posting bond for her newest charge.

Murray's criminal history includes false informing, theft, drug possession and possession of paraphernalia. Although her crimes are relatively minor, she has so many charges that she can't seem to stay out of jail for any significant period of time.

Antwan Kentrell Henry

Antwan Kentrell Henry is a criminal. It's what he knows, and what he is good at. A possession of cocaine charge landed him in the Vanderburgh County Jail, a charge that ended with a one-year sentence. That is where Antwan Henry called Cathy Murray, in the moment she found Aleah. Henry, knowing how to work the system, assured Murray that he would contact the authorities, and that's exactly what he did upon hanging up with his girlfriend. His criminal record is a long one, and filled with violent crimes, false reporting, drug possession, and a robbery, during which he used a starter pistol. In spite of his history of revocation of probation and extensive drug use, the prosecution accepted a plea deal on his charge. Although the prosecution refuses to admit that Henry's information led to the plea deal, the prosecution did state that "in light of the circumstances," they would accept the plea agreement.

Debra Ann Wollner

Debra Wollner is a key player in the disappearance, and subsequent murder, of Aleah Beckerle. Her criminal record is long; theft, conversion, resisting arrest, and traffic offenses make up her history. She—along with her girlfriend, Donna Robertson, and friend, James Edward Wilson—kidnapped James Martin, Jr., in an attempt to force a confession out of him. A confession for what, you might ask? For the kidnapping and murder of Aleah. A child who had not been located at the time of the incident, for which Wollner was accused and convicted. According to her loving mother, Aleah was, in fact, just fine, and in Kentucky.

The trio asked Martin to bring valium and methamphetamines to a home on Second Street, where he was held for six hours. During that time, he was moved from room to room, tied to a chair, and the trio punched him, kicked him, and beat him with a metal pipe. Over and over, the three thugs shouted at Martin that he was going to "tell the truth" to the police about "what he did to Aleah." A broken arm and shoulder blade, along with multiple bruises and lacerations, convinced Martin to do just that. The group shoved him in a car, and drove him to the Iowa Street home of Cara Beckerle. A phone call was placed to Evansville police, explaining that the group had Martin at the house, and he was ready to confess. Right away, officers didn't believe Martin, as nothing in his "confession" fit with the evidence they had, with the obvious new injuries, with the witness testimony from neighbors that there had been "banging and yelling" coming from the house, and with the fresh blood on the floor, where he had been held. This led officers to believe that, perhaps, he had been forced to make the statement. Martin caved quickly under questioning, and admitted that the trio had beaten him and demanded he make the confession, lest he be killed.

It is interesting to note that Wollner's girlfriend, Donna Robertson, is the cousin of Cara Beckerle. It is even more telling that the attack on James Martin, Jr. took place at the home of Cara Beckerle: the same home from which Aleah disappeared.

Wollner agreed to a plea deal that left her with three years of home detention. She pled guilty to battery by means of a deadly weapon, criminal confinement using a vehicle, and criminal confinement with bodily injury, all level-three felonies. By striking the plea deal, the remaining five charges were dismissed, including two level-three felonies that could, and should, have cost her sixteen years penance in the Indiana Department of Corrections, and a drug charge that the prosecution agreed to drop in favor of a plea agreement.

Donna Renae Robertson

Donna Robertson is the cousin of Cara Beckerle, and the girlfriend of Debra Wollner. Wollner was the first to be arrested, with Robertson maintaining her innocence, and going so far as to say she didn't even know Wollner. Facebook posts showing the two hugging up in bed quickly proved Robertson a liar, and she gave up her role in the incident fairly quickly. Later, court records would show her name listed as a victim in a domestic battery and a protection order, issued in response to that incident. She would shed many tears publicly: an act that, in this author's opinion, is at least Rotten Tomatoes worthy! Her criminal history reads in much the same way as that of her girlfriend, Debra Wollner, with drug charges, theft, conversion and traffic offenses.

Robertson agreed to the same plea deal taken by her girlfriend, with 105 days added to her sentence for a separate, prior violation. Once that time is served, Robertson will also serve three years enrolled in the home detention program.

James Edward Wilson, Jr.

James Edward Wilson, Jr. served just one year in the Vanderburgh County Jail for his role in the beating of James Martin. Wilson has a very long history with law enforcement, and this was not his first violent offense. He reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, and pled guilty to battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, and conspiracy to commit battery in this case. He has a history of vehicular homicide, possession of methamphetamines and other drug charges, domestic violence on at least two occasions, assisting a criminal, dealing methamphetamine and sexual battery. Sexual battery is defined as, "touching someone sexually to arouse them, touching someone without their knowledge, or sexually touching a person with a disability."

Keep in mind that Cara Beckerle freely admits that these people knew Aleah well, and had spent time with her. These are the people Cara chose for her children to spend time with. That, at the very least, calls for an investigation into the wellbeing and safety of her remaining children, and any other children that may come in to contact with her, or may be inside her home. Evansville Police and Vanderburgh County Prosecutor's Office and Division of Family and Children and her very own mother have all let Aleah down. Aleah lived with the influences her mother brought to her home. Unable to speak for herself or remove herself from the home, she was completely at the mercy of her mother her entire life and, I believe, in death.