On the evening of March 31, 2017, Angela Juanette Bishop, a 38-year-old mother of four, traveled from her home in South Carolina to visit her husband, 42-year-old James Beard, at his apartment in Decatur, Georgia. Her four children were with her, waiting in the car, as she went to the second-floor apartment to see if their father was home. The visit ended in a tragedy that cut her life short and left her children without their mother.
Angela and James had been in a relationship for over 13 years and had four children together. Their relationship was described as tumultuous, with a history of domestic violence that led to James Beard's arrest on two separate occasions in South Carolina. Angela had even confided in family members that Beard had threatened her with a gun. In a surprising turn of events to those who knew them, the couple had recently married just a few weeks before the fatal incident. However, Angela had expressed to her family that she felt she had made a mistake.
That Friday night, after Angela knocked on the door of his apartment at the Hidden Villas Apartment Complex on Panthersville Road, James Beard opened it and shot her. He then carried her down the stairs and placed her inside a gold Toyota Camry. Beard asked a bystander to call 911 and then threw the. 40 caliber Beretta handgun he had used behind the apartment building. When police arrived around 11:30 p.m., they found Angela's lifeless body in the car.
James Beard admitted to the police at the scene that he had shot his wife. He claimed that he heard a loud banging at his door and when he looked through the peephole, he couldn't see anyone as it was being blocked. He told officers that when he opened the door, the gun 'went off.' His children, who were still in the car, told police that the last time they saw their mother, she was being carried to the car by their father.
Beard was arrested and charged with murder. In November 2021, a DeKalb County jury found him guilty of Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison plus five years. The four children were placed in the care of relatives.
