Tonight on a brand-new edition of ABC’s 20/20, a breakthrough leads to a shocking arrest decades after authorities found two teenagers murdered in the trunk of a car.
What’s Happening:
- The last time anyone heard from Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, two teenagers on the verge of their senior year in high school, was on a sweltering July night in 1999. Tracie called her mother from a payphone to say they were on the way home from celebrating J.B.’s birthday — but the two never made it home. The girls’ bodies were discovered in the trunk of J.B.’s car, less than a mile from the payphone, with gunshot wounds to their heads.
- Despite exhaustive efforts, including attempts to identify unknown male DNA found on one of the girls, the involvement of multiple agencies, national TV appeals, and even attempts at hypnosis of eyewitnesses, the case eventually went cold. In 2019, the use of genetic genealogy led to a breakthrough, resulting in a shocking arrest. Could they have finally found the killer?
- An all-new 20/20 features reporting from co-anchor Deborah Roberts and her exclusive jailhouse interview with Coley McCraney, who is serving time for the girls’ murders and appealing his conviction.
- Additional interviews include Carol Roberts, Tracie’s mother; Cheryl Burgoon, J.B.’s mother; Patti Simpson, J.B.’s guardian and dance teacher; Jeanette McCraney, Coley McCraney’s wife; Steve Marshall, Alabama attorney general; Emmett Massey, Dale County assistant district attorney; Marlos Walker, former Ozark chief of police; and Andrew Scarborough and David Harrison, McCraney’s defense attorneys.
- 20/20 airs Friday, May 10th (9:01-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC, streaming the next day on Hulu.
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