Buried memories

by Irene Pence

1985, Gun Barrel City, Texas: Police searching for missing Fire Department Captain Jimmy Don Beets dug inside a wishing well in the neatly-tended garden of his wife, 48-year-old Betty Lou Beets. Not only did they find his body, but that of Betty Lou's fourth husband, Doyle Wayne Barker. Each had been shot in the head and buried in a sleeping bag. It wasn't long before investigators unearthed the terrible truth.As Betty Lou's sordid past as a topless dancer, cocktail waitress, and wife to five husbands emerged, so did her chilling trail of marital violence. She shot her second husband, Billy York Lane, in the back. She tried to run over third husband, Ronnie Threlkeld, with a car. Both survived to tell their horrific stories. But Barker and Beets, spouses four and five, weren't so lucky.After a sensational trial, Betty Lou Beets was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Fifteen years later, on February 24, 2000, she again drew national attention by becoming the second woman to be execut