Shot
Steven Beard at his home on October 2, 1999 while he was sleeping; Beard died from his injuries in January 2000. Tarlton said she shot Beard because her lover,
Celeste Beard Johnson, claimed that he was abusing her. Tarlton later testified against Johnson after learning that Johnson had remarried and had hired someone to kill her. Tarlton was released on parole in August 2011 after serving 10 years in prison. Johnson, who denied she and Tarlton were ever intimate, was convicted in 2003 of capital murder, and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after serving 40 years.
