A Pennsylvania woman, Melissa Fox-Beacom, is on trial for the murder of her mother over custody of her special needs son. Fox-Beacom allegedly planned the murder of 71-year-old Alice Robson with a teenager. She convinced Matthew Jason Bates to fatally shoot her mother. Bates told the detective that Fox-Beacom used to ask him to kill her mother on multiple occasions.
Another person involved in the case was 18-year-old Robert Patrick Jack, who carried out the shooting. Bates provided Jack with a gun, and they both allegedly acted on Fox-Beacom’s order to kill Robson on Dec. 11, 2023.
She reportedly told them, “We need you to put a fat cow down.” Fox-Beacom was vocal about her hate for her mother. She used to despise Robson, who had custody of her special needs son and was still disputing over the custody.
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Jack shot Robson twice in the head and hid the body under her home’s crawlspace with the help of Bates. Her body was discovered when home health care workers found Fox-Beacom’s special needs son alone in the home. According to the Westmoreland County Prosecutor’s Office press release, police were notified about Robson’s disappearance.
The police found the body with the help of the Greensburg Fire Department’s bloodhound team. The canines signaled that the body was under the crawl space. It was covered with debris and a panel.
The detectives also found blood stains in the living room. Soon, they figured out Bates was at her home. At that time, he told them he was there to fix a car. Bates is set to testify against his co-defendants in the case. According to Fox-Beacom’s defense attorney, she is not the murderer, and the case is already solved.
Ex-boyfriend testifies New Florence woman ‘despised’ her mother, discussed wanting to kill her https://t.co/3ZW5XPN3fT
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His opening statement reads, “They have the killer. He’s the star witness for the Commonwealth. They’re trying to bring our clients in. They didn’t shoot Alice Robson.”
A 12-person jury, along with four alternates, will hear the case against the accused. According to the pretrial hearing, all three accused talked about the murder of Robson before her body was found.
Both Bates and Fox-Beacom are charged with first-degree murder, criminal homicide, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse. Jack is charged with conspiracy and homicide, but he will be prosecuted separately for his crime.
