The murder of Vanessa Bearden — I am Ivana Estelle

Dec 27

Dec 27 The Case of Vanessa Bearden and Olivia Moody

Usually when I tell a true crime story, I cover from the victim’s perspective. Someone has gone missing or has been murdered. I like to tell their story, who they were to bring a reminder of the humanism within. This week I decided to tell a story from the murderer’s perspective. I came across this case from the podcast Sistas Who Kill. Their cases usually cover murderesses and their crimes, and I was absolutely fascinated. Probably because I saw myself in the “villain” because that wasn’t who she was at all. She was a girl on her way to having everything who succumbed to a situation that altered her life forever. And I believe so many of us can relate to that.

This is the story of Olivia Moody.

Olivia Moody is smart. There is no denying that. Growing up in Chicago life wasn’t easy. Olivia was born to her mother Vanessa Moody in Chicago in 1991. From the start things were difficult. Olivia's mother was addicted to drugs and consequently left Olivia in the hospital a couple days after her birth. Olivia was taken in by her grandmother and spent most of her days focusing on school in spending time with cousins. In elementary school Olivia's aunt Paula moved her in with her. At the time she had a daughter of her own that was around the same age as Olivia and the two girls became best friends. The goal continued, Olivia worked hard to get good grades. She kept in touch with her mother as much as she could, When she was 8, Olivia was featured in a Time magazine article that chronicled her mother’s efforts to give up her life on the streets with the help of Genesis House, a drug recovery center on the North Side. 13 years later, Olivia barely remembers the visit, during which she drew a portrait of her mother and added a caption describing her as “the best mom I’ve ever had.” but she knew in order to have a positive outcome in her life and change the lives of her grandmother, aunt, cousin, and mom she had to get an education and move out of her neighborhood in Chicago.

By high school Olivia was doing incredibly well. At Percy L. Julian High School, making nearly perfect grades while playing cymbals on the drum line and oboe in the concert band. She secured scholarships, grants and student loans to pay for college. She had gained a copious amount of accolades including winning science projects, being known as incredibly outgoing in school, getting high grades and honors. It wasn’t that surprising considering her mother Vanessa Moody, had also been in honors in high school, it was post graduate when she became addicted to drugs and entered prostitution, that things took a major turn. Olivia knew it was down to the wire that she would need to continue to do well in school to get into college and move out of her Roseland neighborhood. Olivia was known to be somewhat of a loner. Outside of spending time with her family she kept to herself. Even though she was likable and warm in school she was never in a specific clique or group. She went to prom with a young man in a wheelchair and that was about as far as any romantic experience wise for Olivia.

Olivia was beautiful with brown skin and short brown hair, she had an athletic build and round cheeks. Olivia had large almond eyes and didn't dress up much or wear much makeup but carried a really warm smile. Olivia attended the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff. The school was an HBCU, and unlike other popular schools like Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, and Virginia State… it was not in a city. Pine Bluff is the country. Plain and simple if you were to go there you could probably imagine a lot of fields and long windy roads with limited street lights. It's one of those places where everyone does not know everyone but people are pretty familiar. By Olivia’s sophomore or junior year she ended up moving off campus. She was 21 in 2011 and this was her first big girl apartment. When I was in college I also lived off campus at one point, but my experience is a little bit different than Olivia's. I was at an off-campus housing that was home to a lot of college students colleges that were in my neighboring neighborhood including Catholic University and University of Maryland as well as my alma mater Howard. The building was big enough to house a lot of people while also not being super overwhelming. Olivia's off campus housing was a lot different. It wasn't specific towards college students it was just an apartment that college students could probably afford to rent while also being in school. This was an incredible accomplishment for Olivia and that makes sense, who wouldn't want to live off campus in their own apartment. I can remember how excited I was my first time. The independence of my own place, and the realization of my responsibilities’. A new apartment brought new experiences which included a boyfriend. This young man manages to stay anonymous throughout the entire case and story. I've listened to podcasts, watched a short documentary, and read numerous articles and not once is Olivia’s boyfriend at the time named. This of course is strange due to the fact that the victim who we will meet shortly and Olivia are both involved with this boyfriend. The two dated for a while but eventually their relationship fizzled out. Olivia recalled "I was in a rush to grow up," Moody said. "I lived in this little fantasy world where I felt like I would come to Arkansas, get married and have kids. I was moving too fast, me and the boy I was with."

Once their relationship ended Olivia focused on school doing her own thing and making friends. However it didn't take her boyfriend long to move on with another young lady named Alisha Jeffers. There isn't much about Alisha, she's managed to keep a pretty low profile since 2011 when the ordeal occurred. However she was good friends with Olivia Moodys neighbor Vanessa Bearden. Vanessa was a 21 year old born and raised in Pine Bluff AR. She had a slender build with very dark brown hair. She was a mother of two and was close to her siblings. Vanessa did not go to the University of Arkansas nor did the girls that she spent time with however she lived across the street from the apartment complex that Olivia Moody resided in. That is when the trouble began. The new girlfriend, Alisha spent time at least at Vanessa's house, it was not specified whether or not she also lived near Olivia but she spent a majority of her time heckling Olivia. Vanessa was a part of the group of girls that also bullied Olivia constantly. At first it was the obvious, “I stole your boyfriend, the man is mine now,” and then it began to escalate to Olivia's appearance and the threats became more volatile. When it wasn't in person the bullying continued online. The messages were usually pretty much on the same topic surrounding the boyfriend. Most times as the girls would harass Olivia, she wouldn't respond. There were times she was reluctant to go outside and walk to the corner store because the girls would be there waiting and heckling. Online the messages were usually one sided the girls just continuously picking on Olivia.

It was an exchange on Facebook that would ultimately result in Olivia’s life changing forever. On June 26th2011 in the parking lot of the sunset village apartments at 2611 W 34th ave, things took a major turn. The dispute began between the back and forth messages. The thing about social media is it takes a lot to get information scrubbed. I'm sure if you dug deep enough you could find my old Facebook messages when I was bullied in about the 8th grade, so 2011- 2012 if you were to search far enough you could probably find Olivia Moody's exchange with Alisha and the other girls. However on June 26th 2011 the girls went back and forth regarding this boyfriend again. Olivia recalls that was her first time ever really responding to the posts, she doesn't specify what or why she decided to finally give a response but she fed into it a bit. Trying to stand up for herself. Later on in the day Olivia decided to go to the grocery store, she was going to pick up a couple of items and then head back to her apartment and just kind of spend the evening watching TV and doing a little bit of studying. She explained that outside of the exchanges from that day with Alisha most communication was simply that she wanted to be left alone. Olivia and the ex boyfriend were not together they had a little bit of communication here and there but Olivia was no longer interested in this boyfriend. And here's the thing these young adults were in their early 20s. Fighting over a boy is so stupid, I cannot express that enough especially a guy that you probably won't end up with in the long run anyway. However this one beyond just a caddy girl fight over some kid. This was harassment continuously and all Olivia wanted to do was be left alone when she walked to the store that day she wasn't looking for a fight yet the girls were outside looking for her. Olivia began to walk down the street the store in her view when about 8 girls walked up to her.

Colby Dukes was a good friend of alicia's. She was a part of the group of eight that was there that day but more so she was friends with Vanessa and Alisha and spent a pretty frequent amount of time around the girls. Dukes and the victim, Vanessa Bearden, went to the Holiday Apartments in Pine Bluff to visit a friend, Alisha Jeffers. As they pulled into the parking lot, Dukes reported that she and Bearden saw Jeffers "hollering" at a woman walking in the street. The woman, who was later identified as Olivia Moody, responded to Jeffers that "I'm not worried about it. So what's up?" The verbal confrontation eventually resulted in a physical fight between Moody and Jeffers, and a fairly large crowd of people closely gathered around to watch.

Dukes told the jury that at some point during the fight she too fought Moody for about ten seconds and that a man named Brian Caddy pulled Moody off of her. Moody then broke free from Caddy's grasp and ran straight to Vanessa Bearden, who was recording the fight on her cell phone. Moody and Bearden fought for a brief time, until Caddy picked up Moody, put Moody in his vehicle, and drove away.

Alicia Jeffers left Dukes's and Bearden's company, and Dukes and Bearden walked to a fenced, shaded area in a nearby apartment complex across the street from where Jeffers lived. The two girls sat on the wooden fence while hanging out with a group of people.

I want to take this time to explain Olivia's version of events, and then I'm going to continue this story through other witness recounts.

Olivia said that the 8 or so girls including Alisha wanted to fight her similar to before Olivia and Alisha began fighting however at some point the other girls slowly began to jump in. Olivia recalled that all she could do is protect herself and cover her face in ball up into a ditch at one point she broke free from the grasp of a person named KC who was trying to help break up the fight. She searched for her phone wallet and keys. KC had a car and the two drove to Olivia's apartment when she tried to go inside she noticed that there were girls out front, it was clear that they were either waiting for her or looking for trouble. At some point KC gave Olivia a gun it isn't specified whether this was right when the two were in the car or after driving around awhile Olivia then returned to her apartment beer entrance she said that she was afraid of the girls and just wanted to get inside and feel safe this is when she saw the girl sitting on the fence by her apartment she heard them chanting get her.

Colby recalled sitting on the fence with the girls she was still high off of the adrenaline from the fight but about 45 minutes had passed that's when they noticed a white Tahoe driving by with Olivia sitting in the passenger seat the vehicle had actually made a couple passes by the apartment building and eventually it slowed down and Olivia yelled out ‘y'all come on and come see me’ and then the car drove off. About 10 minutes later a man named Garyl Allen appeared now it isn't clear who specifically Allen is friends with, he has a mutual tie to both parties. Allen recalls that Olivia told him, "Go around and tell them [the girls sitting on the fence] to come around here if they still want to fight and jump on me." Allen delivered the message, but the girls "didn't buy into it" and continued to sit on the fence. He then told Moody that "[the girls] didn't want to fight." At that time, according to Allen, Moody was about forty yards from a breezeway, where he was standing; she began to walk straight towards him.

Moody continued to walk past Allen, who was in the breezeway. When Moody came close, Allen said that he noticed that she had a gun in her right hand. Allen followed "two or three feet" behind Moody as she walked. When Moody and Allen reached the end of the breezeway, Allen said that he saw that a few of the girls had "disappeared" from sitting on the fence, but that Bearden was "running back and forwards, like [she] didn't know which way to go." According to Allen, when Bearden saw Moody, Bearden turned around to go the other way and Moody "pulled a gun and shot one time." Allen testified that Bearden and Moody were about six feet apart and that Bearden had nothing in her hands when she was shot. After Moody shot Bearden, she pointed the gun at another girl sitting on the fence; Allen said that he stopped Moody by saying that the girl on the fence had "nothing to do with it."

Returning to Colby Dukes's account of events, after Caryl Allen had conveyed the message to the girls on the fence, Vanessa Bearden stood up to go towards the breezeway, but did not get very far. Dukes warned Bearden not to see what Moody wanted because it seemed "fishy." Bearden then showed Dukes a little pocket knife that she kept tucked in her shorts and covered by her shirt. According to Dukes, Bearden walked about three feet toward the breezeway when Moody appeared with a small gun. Dukes heard Moody yell something provocative, but ran away when she saw Moody had a gun. Dukes turned around when she heard Bearden yell and saw that Bearden was holding herself and running at the same time. Dukes ran for a while before stopping and coming back to the crime scene. When she arrived, Bearden was on her back bleeding.

Olivia recounts that she was simply trying to scare the girls and had no intention of actually murdering anyone that day. She explained after shooting the girl she had walked back into the breezeway and seemingly disappeared. Reverend Barnes who was nearby ran to Vanessa and tried to administer CPR however it was too late.

Doctor Daniel diyed who was a part of the Arkansas State crime lab testified that vanessa's death was caused by a wound from a 9 millimeter bullet which matched the shell that was found on the scene. Police immediately arrested Olivia Moody and took her in for questioning that night. Olivia was pretty upfront about the whole thing she and Alisha had been enemies for awhile and to Olivia's point she was tired of the bullying she wanted nothing to do with her ex boyfriend yet these girls were relentless.

Friends and supporters rallied around Olivia. She was able to be freed on a $25,000 bond and for the next year was actually out. She graduated with a 3.6 GPA and those that she knew actually raised about $10,000 for her defense they also donated money to Vanessa Beard and's mother who has terminal cancer and was also responsible for Vanessa's Two children. Olivia’s family also supported back in Chicago explaining this was a result of bullying. They held fish fries and car washes and sold raffle tickets to raise money to drive to Arkansas for graduation and help with legal bills. Olivia's trial was set four days after her May 12th graduation. She graduated with a degree in criminal justice and was super excited about her future. In her opinion her case was pretty much a slam dunk this was self defense and she wouldn't be doing much time. She was so confident in fact that she actually decided to not take a plea deal. A plea deal is understandable if you think you can beat the case because why have your record completely ruined when you have a chance to have a clean slate? However the plea deal would have offered Olivia to do basically no time. It is now time to change," Moody said in a cellphone video. "My undergraduate career is over. I must now live a graduate's lifestyle."

During the trial a number of people testified including Garyl Allen, Colby Dukes and the reverend that tried to save Vanessa's life. Olivia Moody also testified in her defense she had character witnesses and when it was time for her cross examination she was questioned about the her relationship with Alisha Jeffers as well as Vanessa Bearden. There were certain things that were not allowed to be discussed and thrown out that could have been really beneficial to Olivia's case including specifics about the Facebook messages and specific text messages on Olivia's phone. Olivia was pretty matter of fact about the whole entire situation, she took responsibility but also was adamant about the fact that this was a case of bullying over a silly boy and her intention was not to hurt Vanessa or Alisha but simply to scare them and truly protect and stand up for herself.

After the three day trial in 2012 the jury found a Olivia Moody guilty and charged her with second degree murder. Olivia was sentenced 30 years in prison with a minimum sentence of 7.5 years.

In the jury's opinion this was another senseless killing and a predominantly African American city they chose the maximum for her case and it isn't clear if their motive was to make an example out of her, or because they truly believe that Olivia should have known better. Olivia was interning with a judge before everything went down and so she knew the system, she graduated with a degree in criminal justice the jurors believed that she knew she could have walked away or called the police or done something other than hopping into that car obtaining a weapon walking back to the group of girls aiming and firing. It isn't clear what the best case or worst case scenario would be. Either she meant to kill Vanessa and Alisha which is a double homicide, or she senselessly was just shooting at people which is also incredibly terrifying. Regardless Vanessa is dead. Her mother at the time had cancer and was fighting for her life and she was a mother to a toddler and a six month year old who now will never know her she also was an aunt and her nieces and nephews will never know her either. She was 21 and had her life in front of her, she could have ended up changing her ways and growing up to get a job of her own, she had just completed her own nursing certification. She could have ended up meeting someone falling in love getting married and maybe she would have even moved out of Pine Bluff, but now none of that's going to happen.

Supporters of Olivia continue to say that this was self defense and that the 30 year sentence is excessive. John Tate a retired army vet who had provided financial help and support for Olivia said “That girl had been threatened, bullied and beat up before. When this incident happened, she was fed up with it, so she instinctively did what she had to do,"

There are a lot of supporters of Olivia and it's not that surprising. I think sometimes we get super swept up in drama that we don't realize the long term consequences. Yes, what Olivia did was horrible but the trauma of being in a fight or being jumped isn't something to take lightly. Sometimes when we see on television shows the idolization of violence we forget that that specifically is entertainment. Shows like “Bad Girls Club” and “Love and Hip Hop” the entire Zeus Network Where women are fighting with each other usually are suited with contracts and security and people making sure that no one really gets hurt. But to be in an altercation where none of that is present is incredibly dangerous. Olivia situation made me think about my own fight. I was maybe a year younger when i was jumped by friends and I think about it often. I think about the idea of what decision I would have made if I had a weapon I think about the trauma it caused and how it seemed like a laughing matter but there wasn't **** funny about it.

Olivia now spends her days in prison she works on fields where she tends to crops for next to nothing a day it's been 10 years since her ability to be up for parole became evident, and then hasn't been much update or movement on whether or not she will be released. Her family including her mother Vanessa Moody, and her grandmother Ernestine Moody still have hopes for Olivia too be freed. Olivia says that she thinks she was placed here for a reason she's writing a book about her life and she still plans to be a lawyer.

This situation though a decade old is so prominent of what we go through in our young adolescents major mistakes that can alter our lives in the blink of an eye. Olivia story is a lesson for many and if you would like you can check out the documentary titled what happened to Olivia Moody: bullied but not broken. It was actually created by seniors from the Percy L Julian high school where Olivia attended.