Testimony: Samantha Bevans knew her stepmom would be alone night of slaying

VINTON — The teen daughter of Samantha Bevans, who is accused of suffocating her stepmother with a pillow in 2022, testified Wednesday that Samantha called her the day of the killing to find out if the stepmother was with the family camping or if she’d stayed home.

Jodie Bevans was expected to join her family July 15, 2022, but never showed up because prosecutors say she was killed July 14 by Samantha Bevans, 35, of Palo, who planned the slaying with her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley.

Samantha Bevans is being tried this week on a first-degree murder charge in Benton County District Court in the slaying of Jodie Bevans, 58, of Palo. Talley, 39, formerly of North Liberty, was convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying last year.

The prosecution may wrap up its case Thursday.

Teen’s testimony

Dezirae “Dezi” Bevans, 17, testified Wednesday she was the last person to talk to Jodie Bevans, who had adopted her as a toddler, on July 14.

Dezi Bevans and Kellie Hughes, Jodie Bevans’ stepdaughter, found Bevans’ body at her Palo home after she failed to show up at the campsite July 14 or for work July 15.

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Dezi said Samantha (her biological mother) wasn’t allowed to go camping with the family because she had been kicked out of the Bevans’ home earlier that year because she was “doing a lot of bad things” and had allowed Talley to come to the family’s home.

Samantha was upset with Jodie because she couldn’t go camping with the family, Dezi testified.

Dezi testified Samantha also had been upset with Jodie in July 2022 because Jodie didn’t come to a court hearing. Another witness said the hearing was regarding a custody issue with Samantha’s children.

Jodie let Samantha move back in with her and her husband in January 2022, which Dezi said was a mistake. Samantha was kicked out after they caught Talley on the property. Dezi helped her grandparents install a surveillance camera in the kitchen of their Palo home.

Dezi was asked to identify the handwriting on a list found during the investigation that said, “Thurs, Kill Jodie.”

Dezi said the note was written by Samantha.

The note continued, “Fri-Sat, No one would talk to me,” with a list of names: Alissa, Stephanie, Kellie, JoJo, Dad, Dezi and Jodie.

At the bottom of the note, it stated: “I can’t believe I spent 11 years w/ boy who was so evil and sick. … Trial and error your own family bk you’re a sick (expletive).”

On cross-examination, Dezi was asked if she saw Talley abuse Samantha Bevans. She said they both abused each other. Talley would give Samantha insulin, which she took for diabetes, while she was asleep and other “things.”

Medical examiner

A state medical examiner testified that Jodie Bevans died by asphyxiation, and the manner of death was homicide.

She had abrasions on her face that were consistent with something like a pillow being held over her face and a blunt force trauma on her left cheek that could have been made by something hitting her, such as a fist, Dr. Dennis Klein testified.

She also had hemorrhaging to her neck, which was consistent with some sore of pressure to her neck, Klein said.

A ride to Palo, motel

In other testimony, Jayson Wells testified he met Samantha Bevans at a truck stop between Cedar Rapids and North Liberty, possibly around July 12, and she asked him for a ride to the Linn County Courthouse the next day for a court hearing. She promised to give him gas money.

When he picked her up July 13, Talley was with her, which she hadn’t mentioned. After court, he took Samantha to the home of Jodie and Mike Bevans to get her clothes. They dropped off Talley in Shellsburg because he couldn’t go to the house.

Wells said Samantha had him stay outside and jump her vehicle, which had been left there. She returned with some clothes and her dog but was in a hurry and made him leave quickly.

According to testimony, this was when Samantha unlocked one of the windows in her stepmother’s house, so she and Talley could return on July 14, when Jodie was killed.

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Wells said they picked up Talley and checked into a Cedar Rapids motel. Wells eventually admitted they were smoking meth and that’s why he stayed around at first, but later said he feared for his life and both of them had threatened him after he overheard what they were planning.

He also said they had control of his car keys or dog and he couldn’t leave without them.

On July 14, they had him drive to the Sugar Bottom Campground because they were “staking out” a camper. Wells later found it was the Bevans’ family camp site.

They left and went back to the motel. Wells said Samantha was acting anxious and on edge. He started thinking something was wrong and wanted to leave.

Samantha started telling him things like that her stepmother had stolen bartending tips from her and the stepmother had breast cancer and was going to die, as if she was trying to justify something.

On July 14, Talley took some of Wells’ tools in his backpack and said they were leaving to go eat but didn’t invite him, Wells said. He stayed in the motel room and slept.

When they returned early the morning of July 15, Samantha was calm and happy, which Wells hadn’t seen before. Talley also was happy.

He said Talley gave him $75 and had a “wad of cash.”

According to testimony, Samantha and Talley took money from the Bevans’ safe when they went to their house and killed Jodie.

Wells testified that later when he was in his car, outside the motel room, he overheard Samantha yelling, “That was awesome, Babe. You holding her down while I got my two cents in.”

Fleeing

Wells said he went with them to the Isle of Capri casino in Bettendorf because he couldn’t get his car and dog away from them at the same time.

He was outside that hotel room door when he heard Samantha saying she grabbed a pillow and held it over “her” face. Talley agreed with her.

Wells finally got out of the room with his dog and car keys when Talley and Samantha were in a physical fight. He planned to go to a library, so he could use a phone or the internet to reach out to his parents because he had left his wallet and phone in the hotel room.

He disconnected his car battery, so they couldn’t come after him and he ran toward the river. Wells said they got the car started and chased him until he took a trail that was too narrow for a car.

Police found him the next morning outside the library, where he had slept for the night. He eventually went to his mother’s home, where he was inter viewed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, He admitted he didn’t initially tell them everything because he couldn’t remember some details and because his father was in the room and he tried to cover up his meth use.

A DCI investigator also testified about the cellphone data and videos they used to track Wells, Talley and Samantha from July 12 to 16, including the video Samantha made in which she said she killed Jodie.

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