EDMOND —
A Logan County judge has scheduled a trial date for a Texas woman charged in the death of a Guthrie man.
On Dec. 21, 2011, Logan County District Attorney Tom Lee filed a first-degree murder charge against Beverly Rhea McColm, 66, of Forney, Texas, for allegedly using a .38-caliber pistol in the shooting death of Francis Maurice Byrd, 60, of Guthrie. County prosecutors allege McColm used the pistol to shoot the victim four times on Dec. 7, 2011.
According to his obituary, Byrd went to high school and college in Kansas, was a director of United Way of Kansas, social worker, mentor for troubled youth, real estate developer, building contractor and entrepreneur.
On Sept. 21, the defendant entered a plea of not guilty in court. She is being held without bond. A jury trial is set for April 1 in Logan County District Court.
The defendant’s attorney, Robert Wyatt, did not reply to a message seeking comment.
During the defendant’s preliminary hearing, Kathryn Mansfield, a detention officer for the Kaufman County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office, testified that she processed McColm. Mansfield said she overheard the defendant tell her sister she did not mean to do it, but she was drunk.
Wyatt argued that the state had not established that McColm was the shooter and that she acted with malice aforethought. Evidence at the crime scene could suggest a number of explanations other than first-degree murder, Wyatt argued.
Lee said McColm was there and did pull the trigger. Lee said the case should go to a trial where a jury would decide if the defendant acted with malice aforethought.
On Dec. 10, 2011, the Guthrie Police Department responded to a welfare check call at 1223 E. Vilas. Byrd, the owner of the home, was supposed to be in Kansas for a family meeting that day, but he did not show up, according to court records. When officers entered the home they found the victim deceased, according to court records.
The state medical examiner’s office found he had been shot and listed the death as a homicide. He had been shot four times. One of the wounds was in the back while he was lying face down on the ground, according to court records.
Video surveillance footage linked the defendant to the scene, according to court records. The driver was seen in what appeared to be a gold Toyota or Lexus using a cell phone, police said.
A relative of the victim told investigators a woman at the victim’s funeral said she was his business partner; the relative said the woman identified herself as Beverly McColm from Texas and she was driving a gold Toyota Avalon, police said.
Cell phone records for the victim showed a listing for “Beverly M,” police said. At about 2000 hours on Dec. 7, 2011, a phone call was made from the defendant’s phone to the victim’s phone; the cell phone tower location for the defendant’s phone was in Guthrie, police said.
Under questioning, the defendant told investigators she was in a different room when the victim was shot.
About three months earlier, the victim was going to help the defendant move to Edmond, police said.
marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108
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