On August 6, 1983, Beets reported her husband missing from their home near Cedar Creek Lake in Henderson County, Texas. Her son, Robert Branson, later testified that Beets had said that she intended to kill her husband and told her son to leave the house. On returning to the house two hours later, he found Jimmy Don Beets dead with two gunshot wounds. He helped his mother conceal the body in the front yard of the house, after which Beets telephoned the police.