Austin: Businessman shot, killed
Threnody
actually how I found out about Laci Peterson. Anyway, here's one to tease
us until more information comes out:
Business Man Shot & Killed In His Store
Mon Feb 10, 7:41 PM ET
An Austin business owner is dead after a man allegedly shot him in his
store Monday morning. The body of 32-year-old Michael Cervenka was found
in a Nextel store in south Austin on Ben White Boulevard. Police have the
alleged gunman in custody. 38-year-old Glenn Newton was arrested in Buda.
Officers believe Newton and Cervenka had a business relationship but it's
unclear what happened. This is the 3rd murder in Austin this year.
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cr...@austin.TAKETHISOUTrr.com | Please remove the obvious to reply
"Certainly, exposure to opera at an early age did not inspire me to
stab someone and sing about it." Nancy Rudins, alt.true-crime
=======================================================================
Bo Raxo
"Threnody" <cr...@austin.TAKETHISOUTrr.com> wrote in message
news:Xns931FC72A...@216.166.71.233...
> I always jump on these "few details" initial press releases. That's
> actually how I found out about Laci Peterson. Anyway, here's one to tease
> us until more information comes out:
>
> Business Man Shot & Killed In His Store
> Mon Feb 10, 7:41 PM ET
>
>
> An Austin business owner is dead after a man allegedly shot him in his
> store Monday morning. The body of 32-year-old Michael Cervenka was found
> in a Nextel store in south Austin on Ben White Boulevard. Police have the
> alleged gunman in custody. 38-year-old Glenn Newton was arrested in Buda.
> Officers believe Newton and Cervenka had a business relationship but it's
> unclear what happened. This is the 3rd murder in Austin this year.
>
>
The shooter had been a rookie cop from 98-99, and resigned just days before
his one year probationary period was up. He was seen running from the scene
of the crime.
Some more information:
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=61001&SecID=2
Man charged with South Austin murder
Updated: 2/10/2003 4:29:05 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff
Witnesses suspected foul play when, they said, they saw a man run from an
All-Star wireless Inc. business Monday morning.
"We have a person who was in an adjacent business that noticed an individual
laying in the floor of the All-Star Wireless and called 9-1-1," Kevin
Buchman, of the Austin Police Department, said.
Michael Cervenka, 31, was pronounced dead just before noon.
Down the road in Buda at about that same time, Glenn Hollis Newton, 38, went
to Buda Primary School to talk to his wife who was a teacher there. She was
hysterical at what he had to tell her and witnesses said he was arrested
shortly afterwards.
Newton is the same man witnesses said they saw fleeing All-Star Wireless
Inc. earlier that morning.
"As soon as the sheriff's officers got to the campus, they removed the staff
member and the individual who appeared on campus, and so the security of the
students and the staff was never in question or jeapordized," Julie
Crimmons, with the Hays Independent School District, said.
Another school within the district went into lockdown mode after hearing
authorities were headed to the Buda Primary campus. Fortunately, no one was
hurt at any of the schools.
"Luckily the children didn't know what was going on, so they weren't
involved," Crimmons said.
Austin Police have Newton in custody and they have charged him with murder.
His bond has been set at $850,000.
Homicide detectives are still investigating the case. Both Newton and
Cervenka's wives worked as teachers at Buda Primary School.
Newton was an APD officer from April 1998-April 1999. He voluntarily
resigned days prior to completing his one-year probationary period.
Copyright © 2003 TWEAN d.b.a. News 8 Austin
Threnody
http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/tuesday/metro_state_6.html
South Austin businessman is found slain in his store; partner is charged
By Claire Osborn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Police arrested a Buda man Monday in the slaying of his business partner
at their South Austin cell phone store.
Glenn Hollis Newton was charged with murder. He is accused of shooting
Michael Cervenka, also of Buda. Newton is a former Austin police officer
who voluntarily resigned from the department in 1999 after less than a
year on the job.
Police received a 911 call at 11:47 a.m. Monday after someone saw
Cervenka, 31, lying on the floor of All Star Wireless at 403 E. Ben White
Blvd., Suite A. Cervenka died at the scene. Investigators said he had
been shot once, but they would not elaborate.
A witness saw a man leaving the store shortly before Cervenka's body was
discovered, police said.
Officers later arrested Newton, 38, at Buda Primary School, where his
wife and Cervenka's wife teach in adjoining classrooms. No motive for the
killing has been determined, said Kevin Buchman, a spokesman for the
Austin Police Department.
Relatives of Cervenka and Newton declined to comment. Neighbors said the
two men's families were close and frequently dined together. Cervenka had
three boys and Newton has three girls. The men even built houses in the
same neighborhood.
The men's wives were childhood friends, said Jerry Boswell, who leased
the store to Cervenka and Newton. Boswell said he was stunned by the
shooting.
"This is literally the last thing I would have expected," Boswell said.
"I never saw a cross word between the two of them."
He said Newton was quieter than Cervenka, who was always laughing and
joking.
"Glenn is just a really nice guy, calm and very polite," Boswell said.
All Star Wireless is in a strip of stores in a commercial area on the
south side of Ben White Boulevard, just east of Congress Avenue. Several
employees at a store across from All Star Wireless said they never heard
shots and learned something had happened only after police had arrived.
Boswell said Cervenka and Newton always paid their rent on time and their
business seemed to be doing well. Their lease had just come up for
renewal, and they joked with Boswell about lowering the rent, Boswell
said.
One of Cervenka's neighbors said the victim always seemed to be outside
doing something with his three boys.
"Yesterday, he was out playing basketball with his boys and the other
neighbors' boys," Steve Becker said. Cervenka was active in the Little
League and his church, Becker said.
Cervenka was the ideal neighbor because he was outgoing and always
willing to help with a project, Becker said.
"Michael Cervenka and his wife were just rock solid," he said. "They were
the people you don't ever hear about much because they're too busy doing
what they're supposed to do."
cos...@statesman.com; 445-3630
Threnody
[*whack!*]
> The shooter had been a rookie cop from 98-99, and resigned just days
> before his one year probationary period was up. He was seen running
> from the scene of the crime.
Yup. I read your reply after I posted my morning update on the story.
Thanks, Bo.
Hope Munro Smith
on Celeste Beard-Johnson's murder trial?
(I'm just interested in talking about it!)
until soon, Hope
Threnody
Actually, I don't. I can't make up my mind who is lying and who is
telling the truth, or if they're all telling the truth as they see it. It
just seems that there is so much circumstantial material that everyone is
able to interpret it differently, which means a lot of stories that are
false, half-right, and real.
How about you?
Hope Munro Smith
news:Xns931F9CACD...@216.166.71.233:
> On 11 Feb 2003, Hope Munro Smith <hop...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
>> Since you're in Austin, do you have any opinions
>> on Celeste Beard-Johnson's murder trial?
>>
>> (I'm just interested in talking about it!)
>>
>> until soon, Hope
>
> Actually, I don't. I can't make up my mind who is lying and who is
> telling the truth, or if they're all telling the truth as they see it.
> It just seems that there is so much circumstantial material that
> everyone is able to interpret it differently, which means a lot of
> stories that are false, half-right, and real.
>
> How about you?
>
Well, my husband used to work for Steve Beard, so we are following
the case pretty closely. We think Celeste Beard is lying, that she
conned Tracey Tarlton and got her to kill her husband. The thing is,
Steve Beard didn't die until 4 months after being shot, from a blood
clot. So there is actually the question of whether or not
the shooting caused his death, or if he would have died anyway
-- he was 75 and very overweight and out of shape.
until soon, Hope
Bo Raxo
"Hope Munro Smith" <hop...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:Xns931FA94F12AB1h...@146.6.70.83...
I think she will get convicted. She is an unsympathetic defendant, the jury
sees a motive, May-December "romances" always make juries suspicious...she's
toast.
Hope Munro Smith
news:b2fad6$45f$1...@slb9.atl.mindspring.net:
That's what we're thinking too. Here's today's update on the case:
Johnson's murder trial focuses on relationships
Testimony links widow to killer
By Andrea Ball
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Celeste Beard Johnson insisted Tracey Tarlton wasn't her lover.
The Westlake woman laughed at the love notes Tarlton sent her, friends
say. She called her names. She mocked Tarlton behind her back.
But several months before Johnson's husband was shot, the two women
attended couples counseling together, an Austin psychotherapist
testified Wednesday.
"The topic was the status of their relationship," said Barbara Grant, a
therapist who saw the pair in July 1999. "Ms. Beard was going to be
leaving on an extended vacation, and Ms. Tarlton was apprehensive that
the relationship would not resume when she returned."
Grant's testimony came as prosecutors in the Johnson capital murder
trial continued to hammer away at their theory that Johnson and Tarlton
had a romantic relationship.
Johnson, 40, is accused of orchestrating the October 1999 shotgun
shooting of her former husband, Steven Beard Jr. Prosecutors say Johnson
manipulated Tarlton to pull the trigger in order to gain control of his
multimillion-dollar estate.
Beard died four months after the shooting. He was 75.
Tarlton, a former manager at Book People, has pleaded guilty to the
murder and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. She is expected to
testify sometime during the trial, which is slated to last through
February.
Defense lawyers say that Johnson had nothing to do with the shooting and
that the two were not lovers. Instead, they contend, Tarlton was
obsessed with Johnson and shot Beard because she believed he was keeping
Johnson away from her.
If convicted, Johnson faces life in prison.
Johnson and Beard married in 1995 after meeting at the Austin Country
Club. She was a 32-year-old waitress. He was a 70-year-old retired
television executive. He was worth $11 million. She was worth $20,000.
Throughout the trial, witnesses have testified that Johnson -- who has
since married her fifth husband -- often said she married Beard only for
his money.
Johnson and Tarlton met in the psychiatric unit at St. David's hospital,
where both were receiving treatment.
In the following months, witnesses said, the pair acted like a couple in
love.
On Wednesday, two former Book People employees testified that they saw
Tarlton and Johnson locked in a romantic embrace at a party in 1999.
Defense lawyers have painted the incident as sparked by alcohol and
marijuana.
"It was a full-mouth kiss," said Emily Basham, now an interior designer.
"I personally would call it a passionate kiss -- enough where we felt
embarrassed and wanted to leave."
That same summer, Johnson and Tarlton had an hourlong, joint counseling
session with Grant. Tarlton worried that their relationship would end
when Johnson went on a long vacation to Europe with her husband. Johnson
reassured her that it wouldn't, Grant said.
During that session, Johnson also confided that she did not think she
was gay. But she also did not think she was bisexual as Grant suggested,
the therapist testified.
"She said, `No, I don't think so, because I have to drink to be
sexual,' " Grant said.
Defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin disputed that the counseling session
confirms the pair was romantically involved.
"(Johnson) didn't say, `Tracey and I have sex all the time,' did she?"
DeGuerin asked.
"No," Grant answered.
Two months after Beard was shot, Johnson's credit card was used to buy a
wedding ring at James Avery Craftsman in the Barton Creek Square mall.
Defense lawyers say that Johnson never bought the $125 ring and that the
signature on the credit card receipt, shown to jurors Wednesday, is a
forgery.
The 1/4-inch-wide ring, made of 14 karat gold and sterling silver, was
purchased in a size 7 1/2. Its name in the company catalogue: the
Simplicity Wedding Band.