The Killer Truth (2020): Season 1, Episode 2 - Deadly Drive - full transcript

Dead. Authorities say this is
becki dillard was found

near where becki's body was
found. They say she was near

her car, but her injuries were
not consistent with that of a

car crash.
The vehicle was still

running. The young lady was
laying in the roadway with a

gunshot wound to her head.
When Justin drank, he became

a totally different person. He
became angry.

Every day, I've gone over
what happened, if I could do

anything different.
A lot of cases turn on just

luck. And that's what happened
in this case.

Adrenaline was coursing
through my veins. How far



behind was I from the killer?
Five unique perspectives.

Five points of view.
One murder.

I'm becki dillard's husband.
I am becki's mother.

I was the first responding
trooper to the murder.

I'm a criminal investigator.
And I was the prosecuting

attorney.
My name's Justin dillard.

I'm becki dillard's husband.
Becki was like a little

Bumblebee. She was adhd,
running around, touching

everybody, making everybody's
life happy. Like a little fairy,

just as sweet as she could be.
I loved that she could walk in

a room, and it could be a bad
day in that room, and she'd

just turn it all around. "I'm
here. Here I am. Smile now."

"It's okay." We were doing
pretty good at that

happily‐ever‐after fairy tale,
kind of what we wanted. Here we



are married, down the road, and
kids. This is my best friend,

my wife, mother of my kids. We
were supposed to be together,

arguing, bickering over her
cooking 20 years from now. My

life literally changed ‐‐ all
‐‐ it changed completely in one

day. I have never felt the pain
that I felt. I wouldn't wish

this on anybody. It was Friday
the 13th. I remember thinking,

"oh, lord, here we go. What's
gonna happen today?" Becki got

home and changed and was
getting ready to go to her

sister's party. It was sarah's
21st birthday party. She was

already late. She had to get
gas, she had to go back to

Walmart. She was gonna pick
something up for Sarah. I

really didn't want to go. I
changed my mind two or three

times and finally, I decided,
"you know what? I'll just stay

"home." well, at 9:30 that night,
her brother had called and said,

"where's becki?" She should be
there pretty soon. She left at

9:00. 10:00 came around, and
she still wasn't there. Talked

to Sarah that time, and Sarah
said, "well, she should be here"

by now." And I said, "well,
yeah, she should be there." And

she still wasn't. By the third
phone call, I was worried. I

thought, "okay, something ain't
right." At that point, I knew

it was not good. So then, okay,
we need to go find out where

she's at. So I called my friend
Lindsey that was also her

friend, as well. I said,
"Lindsey, come up here and get

me." so Lindsey says, "I'm on
my way." And she comes and gets

me, and we try to track her
down, and we went where she was

supposed to be going. We
actually went to the gas

station she was going to. We
went the way she was going, and

she wasn't on the side of road.
Nobody knows where she's at.

And that's not like her. We
always knew where everybody

else was. We get to the party
and there's some police that

want to talk to me. They tell
me that I need to come with

them. I didn't think it had
anything to do with becki. My

world was perfect. And she's
not supposed to be hurt. She's

not supposed to be harmed. That
never crossed my mind. When

becki and I met, we hit it off
right off, right off the bat.

We became really close, really
good friends. Becki was the new

girl. And, you know, when
somebody is new, everybody

wants to find out about them,
what they're doing, who they

are, what's going on. And I had
a small, little crush on her.

Our interests were very
similar. She was into fashion

and clothes and hair and
appearance. And I know that

sounds vain, but back then, we
were still in high school. We'd

call each other and be like,
"well, what are you gonna wear?

"I'm gonna wear this." We were
always inseparable, but we were,

for real, together. We
graduated high school in may.

And by mid‐june, she moved in
with me and my mom. I got to

the police station. I sat there,
and it seemed like I sat there

forever and ever and ever
before anybody even came in.

And but then this man came in.
They wouldn't tell me anything.

They wanted me to answer all
these questions, but they would

not answer any of mine. And
finally, this older gentleman

said, "well, we found becki
without a pulse." I'll never

forget the pain, the sickness.
That is not something you can

describe, when someone tells
you your whole world is not

alive, is gone, is dead, is
over ‐‐ that blunt. You don't

just do that to somebody. They
questioned me for, it seemed

like hours. They asked me
questions like, "do you have"

weapons? Do you have guns? Is
there anybody that would harm

her? Would you harm her? "I
watch enough TV to know that"

they come after the husband or
the spouse in these situations.

I thought, "well, surely."

I'm Clinton howell. I was
the first responding trooper to

the murder of becki dillard. I
was north of west plains on 63

highway working some traffic
that night. And troop called me

and informed me of a motor
vehicle crash with injuries on

ff highway, in the Southern
part of howell county. While I

was en route, then I was
advised that there may be a

fatality involved. I come
around the corner, and there

was a vehicle sitting on the
left‐hand side of the road in

the grass, still running. And I
could see a young lady laying

near the center line, all
crumpled up, and there was a

few people standing around. I
jumped out of my car real quick

and went right to her right off
the bat. I noticed blood on her

scalp. I assessed her real
quick, and she was already

gone. There was nothing I could
do for her at that point. This

young lady was still very warm.
It wasn't like she'd been

laying there very long. It was
an odd scenario because the

vehicle didn't have any damage
on it when I rolled up. And it

was upright, sitting off in the
grass like it had been pulled

off there. So my gut instinct
was already going wild. Started

looking around, located a
couple shell casings in the

road near her body. They shined
in my patrol car headlights.

Adrenaline was coursing through
my veins. Is there somebody out

just 20 feet off the road in
the brush? Because there's no

lighting out there, and the
only way the scene's lit up is

with my patrol car headlights.
I knew that I needed some help

real quick. I immediately keyed
up and told troop to get ddcc

investigators en route. As I'm
waiting for my investigators

and backup to show up, I'm
telling everybody to stay put

and not move because they're
actively part of a crime scene.

One of them could be the
shooter. So I visited with each

one of them individually to try
to assess them and their story,

why they were there. There was
no flags from anybody I talked

to. I moved over to her vehicle,
making sure not to touch it,

looked in it through the glass.
I could shine my flashlight in

there. I could see that the
heater was on and it was

sitting there idling. Her purse
was still there in the vehicle.

It didn't appear to be
disturbed. It was, like, in the

same spot where she had set it,
over in the passenger side.

When people break in and steal
vehicles, of course, they

usually dump them or scatter
stuff. Robbery was not a motive

with this victim. When entry
was made into the vehicle, it

was made by Warren wiedemann,
our ddcc investigator. He

looked in her purse, of course,
so there was a driver's license

and it was easy to make
positive identification right

there. Her name was becki
dillard, from the west plains

area. The early assumption is
that she was traveling to an

undisclosed location ‐‐ we
didn't know ‐‐ and for some

reason, she got flagged down,
and she exited her vehicle to

get out and talk to them, and
they shot her right there in

the middle of the road. She
would not stop in the middle of

the night for a stranger in the
middle of nowhere on this old

backroad. It was blatantly
obvious it was somebody that

she knew and that she felt
comfortable with. Everything

was intact. None of her
clothing was ripped. There was

no signs of no struggle. So all
the obvious indicators are it

was a hit. And it was our job
to find out why and get that

person. If there's a fatality
involved, then I have to notify

next of kin and contact family.
And we never do that by the

phone. We always do it in
person. Throughout our

conversations with some of our
local contacts and people, we

were able to determine that
becki had a husband and his

name was Justin dillard. Of
course, we don't rule out

anybody at that early stage.
Everybody is a suspect at that

point, and we needed to
interview him. We developed

information that becki's
husband was at a party on a

county road west of west
plains. So me and a deputy

rolled onto that location. We
tell him that we have, you know,

some bad news for him. He's
distraught. Very, very, very

dramatic. Some initial
observations that made some

flags go off, from just an
investigation standpoint ‐‐

he's a young male married to a
beautiful young woman with two

beautiful kids, and he's
wearing pink cowboy boots, a

pink shirt, and has makeup on.
And that may not be a flag in a

Metro area, but in rural howell
county, that's a huge flag. We

had to figure out, was there,
you know, extramarital affairs

going on? Was there domestic
violence? We placed him in a

patrol car, headed towards the
sheriff's office as quickly and

safely as possible. At that
point, it was time for me to

step back out. When I left the
sheriff's office that night, he

was one of the suspect.

I am Debbie talbert, becki's
mother. Around 2:00 that night,

the phone rang. I got up and
answered it. And it was becki's

father, Benny. He was crying,
which is unusual for Benny, and

he said, "something has
happened to becki, and you need"

"to come to the police station
right now." We got there to the

police station. Charlie, who
was sarah's husband at the time,

grabbed me and sat me down, and
told me that becki was gone.

Before I even had a chance to
react at that particular time,

Justin comes running in the
room and grabs me by the head

and said, "oh, my god, oh, my
god, becki's dead," and

started crying. I immediately,
instead of crying, got angry

because I knew that he had done
something. I wasn't surprised

when becki told me that she was
seeing Justin. I thought he was

a little feminine then, but he
seemed to be a really nice boy,

and they hit it off pretty
good. Justin would listen to

becki, and he knew exactly what
to say to her. He was a more

softer person, more gentle.
When becki found out she was

pregnant, she had a good
support system on both sides.

Both becki and Justin wanted to
go to cosmetology school.

Justin's mom, Debra, took care
of cobey while they went to

school. And they were getting
along really good living at

debra's house. When they were
going to school, Justin started

to drink a little bit more. I
don't exactly know why. Maybe

he was more scared of actually
raising cobey and providing for

cobey as a father. He was
falling down on his duties as a

provider for the family. And a
lot of times, he missed school

because he over‐drank the night
before. It was causing a rift

in their relationship. She
didn't want to live in that

house forever. She wanted her
own house, just like every

person does. Becki was hoping
that once they had saved up

enough money, they could get a
place of their own and they

could actually make a go of
being a happy family. Well,

after cobey was about 3 1/2
years old, becki became

pregnant again. She had asked
Justin to stop drinking because

she wanted to have another
child. So he did for a while,

and then after she became
pregnant again, he started

drinking again. When Justin
drank, he became a totally

different person. He became
angry at everything and

everyone. I begged her to
please come and stay with us,

but she wouldn't do it. Becki
did have some hope that they

would be able to be together
and make a happy family. But in

my heart, I didn't see that
happening. So she started

taking some of her check and
hiding it so that she would

have some money, eventually, to
get an apartment or a down

payment on a home. She was
trying to move out of the house

with Justin and get out from
underneath the chaos that was

in the dillard home. Whenever
someone is murdered, you

usually look to the spouse
first. On that particular night,

Justin did show up at sarah's
party at a particular time, and

he was yelling and crying out,
"where's becki? Where's becki?

"And they didn't know what was
going on. He was crying, "oh,

"she's in a ditch somewhere,
dead." My whole family knew

that Justin was involved in
some way. They just had to

prove it. Whoever was in the
truck following becki had

stopped her on the highway.
There was a vehicle that came

from the opposite direction,
and they saw both vehicles

stopped there.
There's two cars. A s. U. V.

And, uh, I think a Chevy
pickup. It was parked on the

side of the road.
It was a big break in the

case for the detectives,
because had not someone

remembered seeing that truck on
the road, they probably never

would have been pointed in the
right direction.

My name is Warren wiedemann
with the Missouri state highway

patrol. I'm a criminal
investigator, and I assisted in

the investigation in the
homicide of becki dillard. When

I advised Justin of his Miranda
rights, he became extremely

emotional, to the point of
almost being hysterical. It was

obvious that he was under the
influence of something. We

weren't really getting a whole
lot out of him. He was leaning

forward and just rocking side
to side and crying. He just

didn't seem that concerned to
help us. He was more worried

about his own emotions than he
was trying to figure out what

happened to his wife. We didn't
have enough to take him into

custody, but we still felt it
was very possible that he was

involved in this death.
Lieutenant Gary lambe and I

began to interview numerous
people that had been at the

party. Dean ellis'name came up
quite a bit. We found out the

Dean Ellis was actually
justin's father, who had had

nothing to do with Justin for
about 15 years. And it was my

understanding that Dean Ellis
was having some heart problems

and had decided he wanted to
basically reconnect with his

family and get to know his son.
So Dean Ellis, just a short

time before this, had actually
moved back into Debra dillard's

residence with Debra dillard
and her current boyfriend, and

becki dillard and her husband,
Justin. So it was unusual

having your father living with
your mother and your mother's

boyfriend, all in the same
residence. We'd gone back to

the residence to photograph
vehicles, to check for any

firearms and other weapons at
the residence. And then when

Dean was there, as he came out,
you know, I asked if he'd be

willing to talk to me. He was
an older man, did not seem very

healthy, did not get around
real well. It just did not

appear that he was involved. He
didn't have the ability to

leave the residence. He was
pretty open with discussing,

you know, the coming and goings
at the house, of becki getting

home from work, of Debra
dillard going to run errands,

about what time people got
home. It did kind of stand out

to me when he told me that
Billy eastep had been sleeping

all evening through all of
this. Billy eastep's name had

come up during the
investigation. That was Deborah

dillard's boyfriend and lived
with her. I specifically asked

him, "how do you know that he
was sleeping?" And that's when

he pointed out that that's what
Debra dillard had told him to

tell us. Now, it seemed unusual
that Debra dillard is providing

alibis for Billy eastep. That
was definitely a red flag. Our

initial interview with Billy,
basically, we were just trying

to kind of go through the
timeline of the previous day.

It seemed like he was trying to
distance himself from

everything and just say he was
asleep and knew nothing. I felt

like he was holding information
back. Between Debra dillard,

Justin dillard, and Billy
eastep, we're really narrowing

it down, but we're not sure if
it's all of them, one of them.

So we're still looking for more
physical evidence. About five

days later, a witness comes
forward. And that was a big

turning point in this
investigation. And that was

Tyler bean. Tyler bean was
driving on highway ff that

night with his girlfriend.
There was a vehicle sitting

facing northbound with the
headlights on. And when he went

by, Tyler described that as
this black Ford explorer. And

he said behind it was a
Chevrolet pickup.

Um, can you describe that
truck for me again?

Um, I know it was a
dark‐colored Chevy pickup. It

had a light‐colored mismatched
body part on the driver's side

of it. Um, it was probably late
'90s, early 2000s model.

Okay, uh, when you say
light‐colored, what color would

you say the body part was?
I'd say more like white.

That was an absolutely huge
moment. Not only that somebody

had drove by and saw this, but
somebody who knew vehicles well

and could not only just say
that he saw two vehicles ‐‐ he

described them and was able to
pick those vehicles out. He

actually looked at photo
lineups of vehicles and picked

out the vehicle that becki
dillard was driving and Billy

eastep's truck. We absolutely
wanted to bring back Billy for

an interview and basically
either confirm through a

polygraph that he was the one
that did this or to help clear

him. The questions would be
very direct of whether he

caused the death of becki
dillard or whether he knew for

sure who did cause that death.
Billy eastep showed deception

was indicated during that
examination. But in the

post‐test interview
interrogation, he did not admit

to having shot becki or even
being present when she was

shot. He stuck to his story and
continued to deny it until

eventually he wanted to leave,
and so he was allowed to leave.

We didn't have enough at that
point to charge him. His

girlfriend, Debra dillard, is
requested, and she voluntarily

comes to the highway patrol
headquarters. She is driven

there by Billy eastep in his
vehicle with the white door.

Debra dillard comes in for her
polygraph. And she also fails.

After somebody fails a
polygraph examination, in the

post‐test interrogation, it's a
very direct accusation, because

now you know that they either
did it or they know for sure

who did it. And so you go after
them. During the interrogation,

she admits that she has lied to
us and that she knows who

killed becki dillard. And she's
saying that Billy eastep is the

one that did. She said he threw
the gun into a lake and that

the gun is gone. So, of course,
with Billy eastep also being

present, officers immediately
got a hold of him and began to

talk to him, also. They're
letting him know that she is

telling the truth and she is
blaming him and that he's the

one that did it. And at that
point, he admits that he was

there and he has lied to us.
But he says that Debra dillard

was the one that pulled the
trigger.

My name is rizwan ahad, and

my name is rizwan ahad, and
I was the prosecuting attorney

in this case. I'd received a
phone call from law enforcement

officers that they had asked
Billy eastep to come to the

highway patrol to discuss his
involvement. When I arrived,

he'd been speaking to law
enforcement for probably about

30, 45 minutes. When Billy
eastep was confronted with

Debra dillard's statement, I
just remember the surprised

look on his face, almost like
he knew he'd been caught. At

the time that Billy eastep was
arrested, we knew that Debra

had knowledge of the murder,
but we didn't know her

involvement. When he made that
statement that he was present

at the shooting, in my mind,
Debra became a stronger person

of interest. During the
investigation, we'd determined

that Debra dillard and becki
dillard had a tumultuous

relationship, that there was a
lot of animosity between the

two of them. There were a lot
of disagreements ‐‐ mostly over

Justin, but there were other
things. We learned that becki

may have been thinking about
leaving Justin. And Debra was

very concerned that if becki
were to take the children, that

she may not have any more
contact with them. Billy eastep,

in his explanation, he stated
to us that Debra dillard and

becki had an argument, that
becki was wanting to go to the

party and that Debra wanted her
to stay so that Justin could

get ready and go with them. But
becki had left. According to

Billy eastep, he didn't know
exactly what was going on.

Debra told him to get into the
vehicle, and they followed her.

They caught up to her, at which
point, Billy says, Debra

dillard started flashing her
lights. Becki pulled over.

She got out, and she said,
"becki, come here. And becki"

started walking over there.
Stopped in front of the truck,

and she said, "Justin wants you
to go back and go get him." And

when she turned around, Deb
went, "pow."

At that point, becki went
down. And Billy saw Debra walk

up to becki and shoot her a
second time.

Then she got back in the
truck, and I looked at her and

I said, "I ‐‐ I can't believe
you did it. I can't believe you"

really did it."
It would have been enough to

charge her, but it wouldn't
have been enough, I believe, at

that point, to take her to
trial and convict her. We found

more evidence later on. What
happened was, the longer Billy

stayed in jail, the more Debra
was becoming a little more

guilt‐ridden. She started
discussing with individuals

that Billy was being railroaded,
that he had nothing to do with

it. We received information
that Debra dillard had written

a several‐page letter. Law
enforcement officers then went

to Debra dillard's house, where
they discovered she was laying

in bed with a gun next to her,
and this letter that she had

written. She's confessed in
that letter that she was the

one who shot becki dillard that
night on that highway.

According to the officers, she
was very distraught. They

stated to me she looked
suicidal at that point. The

sheriff himself, I believe,
removed the gun from her. It

was loaded.
Are you're afraid of sitting

in jail for what you've done?
No.

No, I'm serious.
I haven't done anything.

She said that she cared
about Billy so much that she

figured that she was gonna
write this letter admitting to

this, and then killing herself
so that Billy could be

released.
That's my story that I made

up to get him out.
She then said that she

decided that she wasn't going
to do it, but it was too late

because she had already sent
out these letters.

I gotta have you tell me the
absolute truth today. I am so

sick of all the drama and the
bullcrap, man, I could ‐‐ I

could flush it all away.
You don't, because I want to

know who killed becki. And I'm
telling you.

At that point, we weren't
100 percent sure she was

confessing to the crime or she
was trying to get Billy out of

it.
I just want to believe with

everything that I am that Billy
didn't do it.

We only have one shot to
convict a person. Otherwise,

double jeopardy attaches and we
would not be able to try her

again.
You realize how bad this

looks, Deb?
I'll take my break.

A lot of cases turn on just
luck. And that's what happened

in this case. Now, west plains
is a pretty small town, and one

day, the sheriff of howell
county, Mike Shannon, happened

to be getting a cup of coffee
at the convenience store. The

cashier made a statement to him
that Debra dillard had once

stated to her that she was
going to kill becki dillard,

but that she received a
reprieve because she was

pregnant with a child, and that
she was gonna wait a year. And

oddly enough, almost to the day,
a year later, becki dillard was

murdered. When we received that
information, we felt like we

had enough evidence to charge
Debra dillard with the murder

of becki dillard.

I've dealt with other
scenarios with in‐laws and

family members and everything,
but never nothing so violent,

so cold‐blooded. They're just
acting like the concerned

grandparent and her boyfriend.
And the whole time, they're the

ones that done it.
Every day for 10 years, I

have gone over what happened. I
don't feel that my mother had

anything to do with it, the way
that everybody is saying she

did.
Our theory behind the case

was that Debra dillard just
wanted becki out of the way.

She was making justin's life
miserable, that Debra had had

enough.
She wanted those children,

and the only way that she saw
she was gonna keep them is by

getting rid of becki. Because
Justin ‐‐ there's no way that

he would ever get custody with
his alcohol problems.

Becki is gonna get the
babies, she's gonna get child

support, and then she's gonna
go on with her life.

Debra knew that once those
children left, that becki's mom

and the rest of her family was
not gonna let those children go

back.
We believe that was the

motivation that pushed her over
the edge. That night, becki had

angered Justin, and we believe
Debra had just had enough, and

that she was going to cure the
problem.

When I walked into the
courtroom, Debra dillard looked

at me, but I tried to ignore
her as much as possible. I saw

the hatred in her eyes.
Deb dillard felt like she

could control things, like she
could make this happen and that

she could get away with it.
The defense focused on Billy

eastep, stating that Billy was
actually the one that did it.

She had to put the blame on
someone. So she chose Billy, to

put him as the scapegoat.
He knew that she had extra

money because it was Christmas.
He robbed her. And so she

wouldn't tell on him, he killed
her and played it off like

nothing had ever even happened.
We believed we had enough

evidence to prove Debra dillard
guilty beyond a reasonable

doubt without him. But we
wanted him to testify. We found

out when we arrived for trial,
is that somebody had hit Billy

eastep, had given him a black
eye. And at that point, Billy

refused to testify. Debra
dillard also took the stand,

and she testified on her own
behalf. And she explained that

she and becki had a wonderful
relationship, that she was a

great daughter‐in‐law.
She is my child. I love her.

She didn't even know what a
mama was until she ‐‐ until she

moved into my home.
She wanted me to be with

becki. She liked becki. She
still will say "my daughter"

when she talks about becki.
The entire focus of her

cross‐examination was the
letter that she had written. I

went line by line with her on
that and actually gave her the

opportunity to explain it away.
And she tried, and it was

obvious to me that she was not
being truthful.

Her brother testified
against her and actually told

the whole court that she had
conspired to do this a year

before when she found out becki
was pregnant, that she was

going to be the one that
murdered becki because she was

bad for her son.
If she was gonna kill

somebody, it wouldn't be her
children. It wouldn't be me. It

wouldn't be becki. It wouldn't
be our kids. It would be

somebody that hurt us. My
mother confessed because if she

didn't, she was afraid that
they would come after me and

the kids.
Whenever a case goes to the

jury, I'm always concerned. Did
they believe the witnesses? Did

they believe debra's version?
Every prosecutor has that

concern because, of course, we
have to prove a case beyond a

reasonable doubt. The jury
found her guilty. She broke

down. I mean, she basically
fell apart.

Not until the jury came back
and said "guilty" did she show

any kind of emotion. That just
tells me she was guilty, with

no remorse whatsoever.
She didn't kill anybody. She

wasn't there. She couldn't have
been there. Whoever killed

becki, I don't think we will
ever know why.

In a first‐degree murder
case in Missouri, the only

sentence in this case would
have been life without parole.

So when the verdict came down
and the sentencing came down, I

just felt like justice had been
served.

We were never able to prove
that Justin dillard had

anything to do with becki's
death. There is suspicion. But

even today, I couldn't tell you
for sure who pulled the

trigger.
Becki's family has done a

very good job of making me look
bad. Feel like I have been

victimized, very much so. I
lost my house, my kids, my wife,

my mom. 10 years, and it still
hurts just as much. It's never

gonna go away, ever.
Whatever Justin did, Debra

told him to do. Whatever Billy
did, Debra was in control of

that. She was the more dominant
one in that home, and there was

only one person in that home
that wanted to defy her, and

that was becki.
The wolf followed becki to

that roadside spot where she
was killed. And so, we work

hard for every victim, but it's
especially difficult when you

see somebody that isn't doing
the wrong thing and bad things

come and find them.
My best friend, my wife, my

everything is in the ground. I
pray every day that heaven's

real, because that's where
she's at. And I know that all I

have to do is keep praying and
I'll see her again.