An Iowa woman will spend her life behind bars for the murder of her stepmother.
On Monday, a Benton County jury found Samantha Bevans, 35, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2022 killing of 58-year-old Jodie Bevans.
Last week, Bevans testified in her defense, claiming her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley, smothered the victim inside her home in July 2022. Despite her attempts to shift blame, jurors reached a unanimous guilty verdict on their first day of deliberations.
Court documents indicate that after the defendant suffocated Jodie with a pillow, she posted a video on Snapchat, confessing to the crime, according to KWWL.
“I killed her. I killed her myself,” she said on the video.
Talley was also seen on the video, encouraging Bevins to “keep going,” then said, “I knew this was going to happen, so good job.”
Samantha Bevans: “We killed her”
Talley: “Yeah we did”
During Thursday’s testimony, Bevans admitted she partially covered Jodie’s face with a pillow, intending to step on it, but stopped when Jodie vomited. She claimed Jodie was still breathing when she left the bedroom, which is why she told an investigator she didn’t think the victim had passed away.
Bevans alleged that Talley acted alone, but, Special Agent Holly Witt of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation testified that Bevans admitted to placing the pillow over Jodie’s face. She then demonstrated how she “ground” her foot on the pillow.
A medical examiner testified that Jodie had facial abrasions consistent with a pillow being held over her face and blunt force trauma on her left cheek, likely from being struck by an object or a fist. Her official cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.
“It doesn’t matter if you think she had she held the pillow down 100% of the time…If you two are doing it together, then you’re both guilty of it,” prosecutors said.
The prosecution argued that Jodie was killed for “payback and payout,” and that the defendant knew there was a safe with money in the victim’s home. Bevins chose July 14, 2022, knowing family members would be camping while Jodie, a nurse, would stay behind for work the next morning.
Prosecutors added that Samantha wanted revenge after Jodie kicked her out for sneaking Talley into the house. Family members testified that Samantha was also angry because Jodie didn’t attend a court hearing with her concerning a custody issue.
Bevans will be sentenced in mid-June. Under Iowa law, first-degree murder convictions carry a mandatory life sentence without parole.
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[Feature Photo via Benton County PD]
