By Investigative Reporter Tammy Rose
Did Paul Taylor tell investigators everything about what happened to Rebecca “Becky” Beard?
Nearly 40 years after the 22-year-old disappeared from Freeport, Texas, new questions surround her murder.
A comparison of Taylor’s confession and previously undisclosed investigative findings reveals significant differences.
In my exclusive interview, retired Freeport police captain Richard Miller described apparent blood evidence and drag marks inside a home linked to Becky’s murder.
Two cadaver dogs also alerted beneath the property.
Miller began digging and discovered unidentified white material. However, officials ordered him to stop before he could identify it.
Becky’s mother, Linda Barnes, also found a shovel and shoe beneath the house. According to the family, investigators never entered either item into evidence.
Newly uncovered court records raise even more questions. They reference Becky’s body and a Remington shotgun after Taylor’s guilty plea.
What really happened inside that house? And where are Becky’s remains?
What Paul Taylor said happened to Becky Beard
Becky disappeared after visiting the Excalibur Club in Freeport on March 1, 1986.
Taylor admitted that Becky left the club with him. He said they drove to his home, where an argument eventually turned violent.
During a recorded interview with Becky’s mother, Taylor claimed an argument over cocaine led to the shooting.
He said he had promised to obtain cocaine but could not reach his supplier.
According to Taylor, Becky became angry and threatened to call police.
Taylor admitted that he grabbed a gun and tried to frighten her.
He then told Linda that he shot Becky between the eyes.
Taylor claimed Becky died immediately.
He later pleaded guilty to her murder in 1995. However, investigators never recovered her body.
Forensic evidence reveals apparent drag marks inside the home
Taylor described wrapping Becky’s body in bedsheets before placing her in his car.
However, Miller’s account raises questions about how someone moved her body.
During his investigation around 1994, Miller returned to the home where investigators believed the murder occurred.
He removed wall paneling and conducted luminol testing.
Miller said the testing revealed apparent blood smears on the bedroom wall and floor.
He also observed what appeared to be drag marks.
Those marks extended from the bedroom, through a common area and toward the back door.
According to Miller, the marks ended at that door.
Could someone have dragged Becky through the house before placing her body in a vehicle?
Taylor’s account does not explain the apparent drag marks.
However, additional forensic testing would need to establish what caused them.
Two cadaver dogs alerted beneath the house
Miller’s investigation took another unexpected turn when a dog handler brought two cadaver dogs to the property.
The first dog searched the house and alerted beneath the kitchen area, near the back door.
The handler then brought in a second dog.
That dog searched from another direction and alerted at the exact same location.
Miller crawled beneath the house and began digging by hand.
A few inches below the surface, he discovered soft white material.
He immediately thought about the clothing Becky reportedly wore when she disappeared.
However, Miller never determined what he had found.
He said a district attorney’s investigator and the Clute police chief arrived at the property.
They ordered him to stop digging because Taylor’s trial was approaching.
Miller complied and left the excavation unfinished.
Officials never secured the home as a crime scene during that investigation.
Linda Barnes found a shovel and shoe beneath the house
Becky’s mother conducted her own investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.
During her search beneath Taylor’s former home, Linda discovered a short-handled shovel and a shoe.
Linda described burn marks on the shovel. She also claimed it carried dirt similar to soil at the suspected burial site.
According to the family, investigators never entered either item into evidence.
During her recorded interview with Taylor, Linda confronted him about the shovel.
Taylor said he could not remember leaving it beneath the house.
He suggested he might have obtained it from his father or mother.
Years later, Miller discovered apparent blood evidence and drag marks inside the same home.
Two cadaver dogs also alerted beneath the property.
Miller began digging and uncovered unidentified white material.
However, officials ordered him to stop before he could identify it.
Did Linda and Miller discover evidence connected to Becky’s disappearance?
Investigators never established that connection through the forensic testing documented in the available interviews.
Did Paul Taylor place Becky beneath the house?
Taylor claimed he wrapped Becky in bedsheets and roofing paper before placing her body in his car.
He said he later drove to a remote location and buried her.
However, Linda confronted him about the shovel she had discovered beneath his home.
Taylor said he could not remember placing it there.
Miller’s discovery raises another question.
Why did two cadaver dogs alert beneath the home if Taylor immediately transported Becky to another location?
The alerts alone cannot establish that Becky’s body was beneath the house.
They also cannot determine whether someone moved her remains.
Investigators would need additional physical evidence to establish either possibility.
Did investigators recover evidence of a handgun or shotgun?
Taylor admitted that he shot Becky but did not identify the firearm’s caliber during his interview with Linda.
He claimed he found a gun in his mother’s attic and brought it home.
Miller recalled discovering two holes through the bedroom floor, behind the baseboard.
He believed the holes appeared consistent with a large-caliber handgun.
During my interview, Miller examined photographs from the investigation.
He rejected the suggestion that the holes showed evidence of a shotgun blast.
Miller said he believed a handgun could have caused them. He mentioned a .357 as one possibility.
However, he did not identify a specific weapon.
Newly uncovered case records also reference a Remington shotgun.
Miller said he had never heard about that shotgun during his involvement in Becky’s case.
He also explained that investigators sometimes collect multiple firearms for elimination testing.
The available interviews do not establish whether investigators recovered bullets or conducted ballistics testing in Becky’s murder.
Did investigators ever identify the weapon that killed Becky?
Paul Taylor’s timeline raises additional questions
Taylor repeatedly claimed that heavy drinking affected his memory.
He estimated that he and Becky left the Excalibur Club around 12:30 or 1 a.m.
He said he drank approximately 10 alcoholic drinks that night.
After the shooting, Taylor claimed he struggled to decide what to do with Becky’s body.
He described wrapping her in sheets and placing her in his car during daylight.
However, he also said he spent much of the following day recovering from the alcohol and cleaning the house.
Linda confronted him about another reported incident.
According to Linda, a tow-truck operator and a neighbor described Taylor backing his car into a ditch near his home.
Taylor claimed he could not remember the incident.
He also disputed whether it happened.
These details leave questions about when Taylor moved Becky’s body and what happened outside the home.
What happened to Becky’s missing remains?
Taylor maintained that he took investigators to the correct burial site.
He described parking near a tree to conceal his activities from a farmer working nearby.
He said he wrapped Becky in bedsheets and roofing paper before burying her.
However, investigators failed to recover her remains.
Taylor expressed surprise that they found neither her body nor the sheets.
He suggested wild animals, including feral hogs, might have disturbed the burial site.
That explanation remains unverified.
Meanwhile, Miller’s account introduces another location that investigators never fully examined.
The area beneath the house could hold answers about what happened to Becky after her death.
However, the available evidence does not establish that anyone buried her there.
Court records reference possible remains after Taylor’s guilty plea
Becky’s family has spent decades searching for answers.
Their investigation uncovered court records that reference her body and a Remington shotgun after Taylor’s guilty plea in February 1995.
The handwritten court notes also reference investigator Larry Bullard.
One entry describes plans for Bullard to testify about finding Becky’s body. It also references additional time to establish positive identification.
The family says it learned about these records decades later.
During my exclusive interview, Miller said he knew nothing about investigators recovering Becky’s remains.
He also said he had never heard about a Remington shotgun in connection with the case.
Miller questioned why the family would not have learned about such a discovery.
He explained that investigators would ordinarily seek identification through dental records, DNA testing or other forensic methods.
The court documents raise questions about what investigators recovered after Taylor’s guilty plea.
Did investigators discover possible human remains?
Where did those remains go?
Did anyone submit them for forensic identification?
Why did Becky’s family learn about these records decades later?
The documents do not establish that investigators positively identified Becky’s body.
Her family continues to search for her remains.
Why did officials stop the excavation?
Miller’s account presents one of the most significant unanswered questions in this investigation.
Investigators had apparent blood evidence inside the home.
They observed possible drag marks leading toward the back door.
Two cadaver dogs independently alerted beneath the property.
Miller then discovered unidentified white material while digging at that location.
Yet officials ordered him to stop before he could identify it.
Miller said they cited concerns about the upcoming trial.
He never personally entered physical evidence from that excavation into the case.
Nearly four decades after Becky disappeared, her family continues to search for her remains.
Taylor’s confession established his involvement in her murder. However, it did not answer every question about what happened inside the home or where Becky’s body went.
The original forensic reports, evidence logs and sealed court records could help resolve those questions.
Did investigators overlook evidence that could finally lead Becky’s family to her remains?
For Becky’s mother, sister and daughter, the search for answers continues.
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