His death can’t bring her back.
“I was just surprised, but indifferent,” said the 26-year-old forensic scientist who now lives in Lexington, Ky. “I feel as if there’s nothing to say. It brought back a lot of memories, but it doesn’t really change anything.”
It doesn’t bring back the mother in whom she could confide her triumphs and challenges.
“I wish I could tell her what is going on in my life,” she said, “but I know she’s there.”
Mary Beall’s best friend, Ellen Westendorf of Centerville, said, “At first I was really happy, and then I started bawling. It was really weird. It brings up emotions that you think aren’t raw anymore, but they really are.”
Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck acknowledged that “no sentence of incarceration, no death can ease the pain of Mary Beall, her family and the community. We can never forget what Mary Beall did for this community.”
The Montgomery County coroner found Beall’s death from an infection in August 2002 was directly attributed to her shooting, ruling the death a homicide.
In February 2001, Twitty had been convicted of felonious assault on a police officer, eight other felonies and three sets of six-year firearm specifications for using an automatic weapon. Beall testified at Twitty’s February 2001 trial from her wheelchair.
Beall and her partner responded May 15, 2000, to reports that Twitty had fired on his girlfriend. Beall’s partner, Shawn Smiley, approached Twitty first, drawing his gun before Twitty suddenly turned around holding an automatic .30-caliber modified carbine pointed at Smiley.
Smiley demanded that Twitty drop his gun, but Twitty refused. Twitty then spotted Beall crouched next to the front of the cruiser. Beall tried to negotiate with Twitty and put down her service revolver.
Twitty then stuck the weapon against Beall’s neck and fired one shot, paralyzing her below the chest. Smiley fired nine rounds, striking Twitty several times.
Beall spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair and underwent intensive rehabilitation, struggling valiantly to reclaim her former life and to remain an active member of her family.
John Beall is still proud of the courageous victim impact statement that his wife made after Twitty was sentenced to 76 years in prison.
“That was an important moment for her,” he said, “and it wasn’t rehearsed. It was straight from the heart.”
Looking directly at Twitty, Beall asked, “I tried to help you, did you know that?”
She confided to the crowded courtroom. “Every morning I wake up, and I say, ‘What if?’ ”
Now, her family faces a lifetime of “What ifs?”
“There will never be closure for us,” John Beall said. “There never is when someone is murdered. It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years since she was shot.”
The couple’s youngest daughter, Maddie, 17, is entering her senior year in high school. Their son Ian, 23, has re-enlisted in the Navy serving as a cryptologist on reconnaissance planes.
“Despite the tragedy, they’ve been very successful,” Beall said. “I’m very proud of them.”
He also thinks of all the milestones they’ve missed — and will continue to miss. “Vanessa and Ian are both in serious relationships, so there could be wedding bells in the future,” he said. “We had a lot of fun together. I miss her.”
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