Virginia Russell Exits Prison and Meets a Sociopath
(“Trouble Brewing,” Forensic Files)
If Roy Gene Beck Jr. had any redeeming qualities, they didn’t come across on Forensic Files or any other sources of intelligence about him. The young man from Columbia, South Carolina, financed his crack cocaine habit by robbing women. He raped at least one and killed another.
Once the law caught up with Roy, he tried to blame his crimes on a friend — a nice guy who had helped him.
Speedy read. Fortunately, the criminal justice system sorted out the truth and convicted Roy.
For this week, I looked into where Roy Beck is today. This will be a quick update (which for my blog means 1,200 words) because the case didn’t get a huge amount of press coverage, although a tantalizing tidbit about Roy bubbled up.
So let’s get going on the recap of “Trouble Brewing,” along with extra information drawn from internet research. Because Virginia Russell is the murder victim in this episode, let’s start with her story:
Boyfriend killed. Virginia Russell had long struggled with a drinking problem, which played a role in a horrible accident.
While the South Carolina resident was driving her boyfriend home after a party, her car veered out of its lane, did somersaults, and ejected both of them.
He died.
Virginia, whose blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, got a six-year sentence for vehicular homicide.
Final page. In an effort to get back on her feet financially after she served her time, Virginia began working for an escort service, although she told her family it was a house-cleaning company that paged her when jobs came in.
On Nov. 12, 1996, her beeper went off at 8:54 p.m. and she left for what she called a cleaning job.
While Forensic Files portrays Virginia as at home with family when she got the page, the New Detectives reported that she was at a hospital visiting a cousin’s sick baby.
Scattered evidence. Whatever the scenario, the next day, a man walking his dog found the body of a woman lying face down near Owens Field Park in Rosewood, South Carolina. Her hair was soaked with blood, her stockings had runs in them, and she was missing a shoe.
At the scene, investigators found two Michelob Light bottles, shell casings, a small purse with $2 in coins, and a handbag with no money inside.
Fingerprints identified the victim as Virginia Russell, age 30.
Ruse bought. Inside her car, which was abandoned in a parking lot in Olympia, police discovered Virginia’s blood, a bullet casing, the missing shoe, and a Michelob Light carton with one full bottle inside.
They theorized Virginia and the killer drank beer in the car before he shot her, dragged her to the soccer field, fired two more bullets into her, and stole the bills from her bag.
The victim’s aunt, who still believed the nighttime cleaning job story, mentioned to investigators that Virginia always had a lot of cash. They believed the murderer robbed her of hundreds of dollars.
Charitable pal. Police traced the pager call to an apartment occupied by a young man called Justin Bullard on Forensic Files (he’s referred to as Richard Bullard in court papers — it’s not clear what his real name is, so we’ll keep it at Justin for now).
Justin owned an aquarium-cleaning business and lived with a roommate, Trevett Foster. Lately, Justin had allowed his hard-up friend Roy Beck Jr. to stay there, too.
Although Justin insisted he himself had no involvement in the murder, the forensics and circumstantial evidence suggested otherwise.
Yeah, right. First of all, Justin had no way of proving his alibi that he was home alone when the homicide occurred. He owned a Makarov semiautomatic 380-caliber, which ballistic tests showed was used to execute Virginia. At his apartment, police found a phone book with pages advertising escort services ripped out. And Justin’s black military-style boots had high-impact splatter of Virginia’s blood.
Police officers must have rolled their eyes out of their sockets upon hearing Justin’s explanation — that someone else must have used his stuff in the murder and then returned it to his apartment to frame him.
But tests on a hair found at the murder scene showed it more likely came from Roy than Justin.
Prior felony. And it turned out that a crime against another professional escort had taken place at Roy Beck’s former residence on Whitney Street in Olympia.
Inside, the call girl found the place was lit by candles, but it wasn’t because Roy was a romantic: His electricity had been turned off due to lack of payment.
Roy, who had used the name David Davis when requesting the date, held a knife to the woman’s throat, raped her, and robbed her of about $300, according to court papers. He told her to run away and not look back.
That guy. The escort, age 20, identified Roy Beck from a photo lineup. Cops found Michelob bottles in Roy’s place and confirmed they came from the same factory and batch as the ones from Virginia’s murder scene.
haircut was more
appropriate for
court but it couldn’t save his case
And Richland County South Carolina’s law officers already knew Roy Beck Jr. He had started committing burglaries to finance his crack cocaine addiction in his teens.
Under police questioning, Roy insisted that Justin Bullard — the kind-hearted friend whom Roy was freeloading off of — committed the murder.
Premeditated. But prosecutors had little trouble proving Roy did it.
An associate named Larry Barlow testified that Roy told him about a plan to rob and rape prostitutes and invited him to participate, but he declined.
Investigators believed that Roy and Virginia already knew each other before the night he robbed her, so she would have been able to ID him. After they enjoyed Michelob Lites together, he shot her, took her money, then abandoned the car and quietly returned the boots and gun to Justin’s apartment to transfer the blame to him.
Disobedient con. Prosecutors won a conviction against Roy, and in November 1997, Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cooper handed him a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Roy lost an appeal three years later.
Today, he’s still in prison and making his share of trouble on the inside.
Don’t Be My Guest. According to South Carolina’s Department of Corrections, Roy has committed 21 infractions involving possession of a cell phone or narcotics, plus one violation for possession of a negotiable instrument, which apparently means he got hold of a forbidden form of payment.
For those misdeeds, he’s received losses of visitation privileges for as many as 720 days (nonetheless he’s kept himself trim and presentable with just 124 pounds on his 5-foot-6-inch frame), plus revocations of canteen, TV, and telephone privileges.
Over the years, the state has moved Roy around to a number of prisons. Since 2017, he has resided in Perry Correctional Institution in Pelzer.
Obscure fact. The DOC website lists Roy, who was born on Jan. 19, 1972, as ineligible for furlough, parole, or release.
There his story pretty much ends, but as mentioned, an interesting piece of trivia did pop up via a message board on the Columbia Closings website.
A commenter said that Roy is the son of Roy Beck Sr., who owned a gentlemen’s club called ChippenDolls that riled up some Columbia residents in 1990 by switching from topless entertainers to completely naked ones.
In December 2021, an email from a reader who worked at the (now-defunct) club as a cocktail waitress confirmed that the two Roys were indeed father and son — and Jr. was one scary dude.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
