Walker recalled that “I was looking at the list again, and when I saw the name McCraney that stood out because I knew of a McCraney in high school.”
He contacted his former classmate, Coley McCraney, who drove trucks for years and eventually became a minister. He asked if he would give a DNA sample to help locate a distant relative.
McCraney provided a DNA sample willingly to the Ozark Police Department.
The Chief was “blown away” when he learned from the lab that McCraney’s DNA was a direct match to the DNA found on Beasley.
He was arrested on March 15,2019 and charged with capital murder and rape.
Coley McCraney
His trial was in April 2023.
The murder weapon was never found. There are no witnesses that place McCraney and the girls together on the night of the murder. The only physical evidence is the DNA.
In the first interrogation McCraney denied even knowing the girls. During the trial he claimed he met J.B. Beasley at a mall, but only knew her as Julia.
He said he gave her his phone number. On the night the girls were killed McCraney said he saw them at the service station and had sex with Beasley in his truck.
