I · The Case II · At a Glance III · Timeline IV · Key Figures V · Evidence VI · Verdict
Forgotten True Crime · Case File OK-1952-008 · Acquitted

Murder or Nothing

An Oklahoma City scoutcar officer was shot in the abdomen with his own service revolver, in his own garage apartment, during a quarrel over five dollars. He got to a neighbor's door and named his wife. He died two hours later. She was twenty-one, she told the investigating officers she “didn't like policemen,” and she was charged with murder. Her lawyers told the court the crime was “murder or nothing” — and a jury turned her loose.

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Oklahoma City, OklahomaLocation 1950 → 1954Period 21 people · 21 sourcesIn this file AcquittedStatus
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Section II

The Case at a Glance

Case
State of Oklahoma v. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman
Court
Oklahoma County District Court; appeal at the Court of Criminal Appeals (No. A-11966)
Victim
Delbert Ira Beaman, 27 — Oklahoma City police scoutcar officer; U.S. Army veteran
Burial
Spencer, Oklahoma — the country where he grew up (grave visited, 2026)
Accused
His wife, Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21 — born Jacquelyn Collins, of Sasakwa
The Shooting
~11 p.m., Sunday, July 6, 1952 — one .38 slug to the abdomen, from his own service revolver
The Place
The couple's garage apartment, 2112½ NW 11, Oklahoma City
The Quarrel
A missing five-dollar bill — roughly sixty dollars today
Death
Mercy Hospital, 1:00 a.m., Monday, July 7, 1952 — about two hours after the shot
The Marriage
590 days — married the day after Thanksgiving, 1950; he was 25, she was 19
Her Account
The revolver was in the top dresser drawer and discharged as she put it back — “I did not pull the trigger intentionally”
His Account
Dying, he told police she grabbed his gun and said “I'm going to kill you” — and also: “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie”
The Defense
Epileptic attacks since age eleven, and a blackout at the moment of the shooting — “murder or nothing”
Trial
Three days — January 20–22, 1953, before Judge Baker H. Melone
Jury
Seven women and five men; first ballot 9–3 for acquittal
Verdict
NOT GUILTY — 4:35 p.m., January 22, 1953, nine days before her twenty-second birthday
Aftermath
His estate sued her over his $2,000 life policy; the State's appeal was abandoned, and answered anyway
Section III · The Spine of the Case

Detailed Timeline

ACT I — TWO COUNTRY KIDS (1931–1950)
January 31, 1931
Jacquelyn Kay Collins is born in Oklahoma. She grows up in Sasakwa, Seminole County; her epileptic attacks begin when she is eleven.
April 1950
The 1950 census finds the Collins family — Luther, 52; Opal, 42; Kenneth, 20; Jacquelyn, 19 — already in Oklahoma City, at 1909 N.W. 31.
November 24, 1950
Delbert I. Beaman, 25, a policeman raised south of Spencer, marries Jackie Collins, 19, at the Lone Star Baptist Mission, five miles south of Edmond — the day after Thanksgiving.
ACT II — FIVE DOLLARS (July 1952)
~April 1952
The threats his family would later testify to — “one of these days I'm going to have to shoot him” — said to Delbert's own relatives, who took it as a joke. About three months before the shooting.
July 6, 1952, ~11 p.m.
During a quarrel over a missing $5 bill in the garage apartment at 2112½ NW 11, Delbert Beaman is shot once in the abdomen with his own .38 service revolver — 590 days into the marriage.
July 7, 1952, 1:00 a.m.
He dies at Mercy Hospital. In the emergency room he tells Lt. Robert Grimes his wife grabbed the gun and said “I'm going to kill you” — and, in the same conversation, “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie.”
July 7, 1952
Jacquelyn is arrested, held without bond, and arraigned before J.P. Paul Powers. She pleads innocent “between sobs” — and tells investigating officers she “didn't like policemen.”
ACT III — THE EXAMINATIONS (July–August 1952)
July 8, 1952
One day after the arraignment, her attorneys put on testimony of eleven years of epileptic fits; Judge Albert C. Hunt orders a mental examination.
July 18–31, 1952
Two weeks under observation at the Coyne Campbell-Sleeper clinic, at defense attorney Dave Shapard's request — then transferred to Central State Hospital at Norman for a second examination.
August 12, 1952
On the state psychiatrists' report, Judge Hunt rules her mentally competent and frees her on $10,000 bond — an outcome the AP's “usually reliable sources” had called before the judge announced it.
ACT IV — KANGAROO COURT (October–November 1952)
October 1, 1952
The preliminary hearing. She arrives 45 minutes late with a physician's affidavit; Delbert's sister-in-law and brother testify to the threats, then agree on cross they thought she was joking; Powers threatens to jail Shapard from the bench and binds her over without bond.
October 3, 1952
District-court arraignment. Not guilty. Shapard calls the Powers hearing “nothing more than a kangaroo court”; Hunt overrules his motion to dismiss, sets a jury trial — and frees her again on $10,000 bond.
November 5, 1952
The State blinks — Asst. County Attorney Hubert Gibson announces he will ask to scrap the State's own preliminary hearing and redo it in another justice court, citing the transcript and her constitutional-rights claim.
ACT V — THREE DAYS IN JANUARY (1953)
January 20, 1953
Trial opens before Judge Baker H. Melone. The State's case: ten witnesses, “mostly police officers and medical men who talked with the victim before he died.” Grayson's opening: epileptic attacks since she was eleven, and a blackout at the moment of the shooting.
January 21, 1953
She takes the stand — voice barely audible, sobbing. Asked to turn and tell the jury everything that happened July 6, she faces them and freezes. Asked three times. Her mother runs to her; Grayson carries her back to her chair; Melone recesses the trial.
January 22, 1953, morning
The State asks for a first-degree manslaughter instruction. The defense answers that the crime is “murder or nothing.” Melone refuses the lesser — the jury gets all or nothing.
January 22, 1953, 11:27 a.m.
The case goes to a jury of seven women and five men. At 12:15 they return with one request — read us Lt. Grimes' testimony: the dying man's accusation, and his plea.
January 22, 1953, 4:35 p.m.
NOT GUILTY. First ballot 9–3 for acquittal; the holdouts change over because the verdict they wanted — manslaughter — no longer exists. She sobs on her mother's arm, and on the shoulder of her lifelong friend Bonnie Biggs. Gibson serves notice of appeal before the verdict is even read.
ACT VI — THE FOURTH ACT (1953–2003)
May 13, 1953
Delbert's estate — administratrix Maude I. Beaman — sues Occidental Life and Jacquelyn for the $2,000 proceeds of his group life policy. The outcome is unknown.
July 7, 1954
The Court of Criminal Appeals hands down State v. Beaman — two years to the day after Delbert died. The State never filed a brief and never appeared; the court answers anyway, publishing the manslaughter-instruction rule over the case's name.
1955–2003
The Collins family leaves Oklahoma. Records point strongly — though not yet conclusively — to Jacquelyn remarrying, and dying at San Rafael, California, on August 5, 2003, aged 72. Fifty years and six months after the verdict; fifty-one years longer than Delbert got.
Why This Case

Themes & Story Angles

Murder or Nothing

The defense's own phrase, and the whole case in three words: a blackout defense leaves no room for a middle verdict, and when the judge agreed, three jurors who wanted manslaughter had to choose between a life sentence and the door.

The Dying Declaration

The State's entire case was what a dying man said: the accusation and the plea, in the same conversation, carried by one lieutenant — and it was the one testimony the jury asked to hear twice.

“I Don't Want Anything to Happen to Jackie”

The last recorded thing Delbert Beaman said about his wife. Nothing did: she got fifty more years than he did. Then his family sued her.

The Collapse on the Stand

Her defense was that she blacked out at the moment of the shooting; asked to describe that moment to the jury, she blacked out again. Corroboration or performance — the record holds both readings open, and so does this file.

A Warning Nobody Heard

“One of these days I'm going to have to shoot him,” said to his own family, who laughed. Premeditation evidence that arrives with “we thought she was kidding” attached does the opposite work.

The Press Convicted Her First

“Slayer of Husband Goes to Asylum” ran more than a year before a jury cleared her completely. The gap between what the papers called her in 1952 and what twelve people called her in 1953 is the story of how this case was covered.

Five Dollars

Roughly sixty dollars today. A man died over it, in a space too small for two people to walk away from each other. The whole marriage in miniature.

Forgotten by Design

The case entered Oklahoma law as one clean sentence about jury instructions, with every human thing stripped out. That is, in a sense, why nobody remembers it.

Section IV

Key Figures · 21 People

Delbert Ira Beaman
Victim
Oklahoma City police scoutcar officer, 27
A country boy from south of Spencer in eastern Oklahoma County, where he attended the Star school; his parents were Mr. and Mrs. A. I. Beaman. He became an Oklahoma City police scoutcar officer and married Jackie Collins, 19, on the day after Thanksgiving, 1950, at a rural Baptist mission south of Edmond. Five hundred and ninety days later — late on Sunday night, July 6, 1952 — he was shot once in the abdomen with his own .38 caliber service revolver in the couple's garage apartment at 2112½ NW 11, during a quarrel over a five-dollar bill. Gutshot, he made it to the downstairs neighbor's door and named his wife. He died at Mercy Hospital at 1:00 a.m., July 7, 1952. From his hospital bed, in the same conversation in which he said his wife had grabbed his gun and said “I'm going to kill you,” he also said: “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie.” A U.S. Army veteran, he is buried at Spencer, Oklahoma — home, in the country where he grew up. His grave was located and visited by this research desk in August 2026.
Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)
Suspect — Acquitted
His wife, 21; the defendant
Born January 31, 1931, she grew up in Sasakwa, Seminole County, and moved to Oklahoma City with her family by 1950. She had suffered epileptic attacks since she was eleven. Married at nineteen out of her parents' house on N.W. 31, she was twenty-one and 590 days into the marriage when her husband died of a gunshot from his own service revolver. Her account never changed: the revolver was in the top dresser drawer, she was searching for a missing $5 bill during the argument, and it discharged — “I heard the gun go off but I did not pull the trigger intentionally.” She told investigating officers she “didn't like policemen,” a line the AP made a headline. Held without bond, committed for two mental examinations, ruled competent, and tried in January 1953, she froze on the witness stand when asked to tell the jury what happened — and was acquitted on January 22, 1953, nine days before her twenty-second birthday. Records point strongly (though not yet conclusively) to her remarrying, moving to California, and dying at San Rafael in 2003, aged 72 — fifty-one years after Delbert.
Mrs. Orna Vaughan
Witness
Downstairs neighbor at 2112½ NW 11
Lived in the unit below the Beamans' garage apartment. She heard the gun go off through the floor, and Delbert Beaman came to her door, dying. What he said there survives in two wire-service versions — “Help me, Jackie has shot me” (AP day one) and “Don't let me die. Jackie shot me” (AP day two) — recorded here side by side, unresolved, exactly as the papers left them.
Capt. Wayne Harbolt
Investigator
OKCPD homicide captain
Head of the homicide investigation into the death of one of the department's own officers. It was Harbolt who told the wires the couple had argued over $5, and who announced on the day Delbert died that he would ask the county attorney to file charges against the widow.
Lt. Robert Grimes
Witness — Police
Carried the dying declaration
The police lieutenant who sat with Delbert Beaman in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in the last two hours of his life, and testified to what the dying man said: that his wife grabbed his gun from a dresser and said “I'm going to kill you” — and that “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie.” His testimony was the heart of the State's case, and it was the one thing the jury asked to have read back to them before they acquitted.
Paul Powers
Justice of the Peace
Presided over the arraignment and preliminary hearing
Arraigned Jacquelyn Beaman on July 7, 1952, and ran the October 1 preliminary hearing — threatening to forfeit her bond when she arrived 45 minutes late, and shouting at defense counsel Dave Shapard from the bench: “You sit down and shut up before I put you in jail.” He bound her over to district court without bond. Five weeks later the State itself moved to throw out his hearing and start over in another justice court.
Judge Albert C. Hunt
District Judge
Pretrial judge
Ordered the mental examination her attorneys requested on July 8, 1952 — the day after her arraignment — and, on August 12, acting on a report from state psychiatrists, ruled her mentally competent and released her on $10,000 bond. At the October 3 district-court arraignment he overruled the defense motion to dismiss and set the case for jury trial, freeing her again on bond.
Judge Baker H. Melone
District Judge
Trial judge
Presided over the three-day trial in January 1953. On the morning of Thursday, January 22, the State asked him to instruct the jury on first-degree manslaughter; the defense answered that the crime was “murder or nothing”; Melone refused the lesser instruction — leaving the jury all or nothing. The Court of Criminal Appeals later answered the reserved question by quoting the rule that a manslaughter instruction is owed whenever any evidence supports it.
Hubert Gibson
Prosecutor
Assistant County Attorney
Prosecuted the case. In November 1952 he made the extraordinary move of asking to scrap the State's own preliminary hearing after reading the transcript of what Powers had done. At trial he built the State's case on ten witnesses — “mostly police officers and medical men who talked with the victim before he died.” In closing: “There are too many coincidences here — too many to make it ring true.” He served notice of appeal on the instructions before the verdict was even read, saying a ruling “will have affect on future cases.”
Granville Scanland
Prosecutor
Oklahoma County Attorney
Appealed the manslaughter-instruction question on a reserved question of law and had the record prepared at county expense — then never filed a brief and never appeared. The Court of Criminal Appeals treated the appeal as abandoned, and answered the question anyway.
Dave Shapard
Defense Attorney
Pretrial defense counsel, Oklahoma City
Her first lawyer. Within a day of the arraignment he had testimony of eleven years of epileptic fits before a district judge and a mental examination ordered. At the October 1 preliminary he was told to “sit down and shut up” by the bench; at the district-court arraignment he called that hearing “nothing more than a kangaroo court” — and five weeks later the prosecution itself asked to redo it, citing her constitutional-rights claim. The loudmouth who got told to sit down was right. Gone from the case by the January 1953 trial.
George Hill
Defense Attorney
Trial counsel, of McAlester
One of the two southeastern-Oklahoma lawyers who tried the case. When Jacquelyn froze on the stand, it was Hill who told reporters: “This is just one of those epileptic attacks. Her hands are cold as ice. They come on like that.”
Frank Grayson
Defense Attorney
Trial counsel, of Holdenville
Told the jury in his opening that Jacquelyn had been subject to epileptic attacks since she was eleven and blacked out at the moment of the shooting. When she froze on the stand after he asked her three times to tell the jury what happened on July 6, he picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her chair. In closing: “If she had wanted to kill Delbert Beaman she could have pumped his body full of bullets, but only one shot was fired.” Holdenville is about fifteen miles from Sasakwa — both trial lawyers came from her part of the state.
Mabel Beaman
Witness
Delbert's sister-in-law
Testified for the State at the October 1 preliminary hearing that, about six months earlier — roughly April 1952 — Jacquelyn had said: “One of these days I'm going to have to shoot him.” Asked on cross whether Jacquelyn had been joking, she said she thought so at the time.
Bill Gene Beaman
Witness
Delbert's brother
Testified at the preliminary hearing: “She told me and my wife she would take a blackjack and beat him.” Like Mabel, he agreed on cross that he had taken it as a joke. The State's premeditation evidence arrived and left in the same breath.
Opal Collins
Family
Jacquelyn's mother
For most of the case's paper trail she was only “Mrs. Luther Collins” — the woman who rushed to her daughter's side when she froze on the witness stand, and on whose arm Jacquelyn burst into violent sobbing when the verdict was read. The 1950 census gives her a name: Opal Collins, 42, born in Oklahoma, keeping house at 1909 N.W. 31.
Luther D. Collins
Family
Jacquelyn's father
Head of the Collins household at 1909 N.W. 31 in April 1950 — 52 years old, born in Arkansas, and, per the census work columns, not working, not looking for work, with no job to return to. Why is unknown. He died in New Mexico in 1955, three years after his daughter's trial; the family later settled in California.
Kenneth J. Collins
Family
Jacquelyn's brother
A year older than Jacquelyn; a bookkeeper for an oil field tool company in 1950. He appears in no newspaper account of the case at all — not at the preliminary, not at the trial, not among the “jubilant friends and relatives” after the verdict. His absence is one of the file's quiet open questions.
Bonnie Biggs
Witness — Friend
Jacquelyn's lifelong friend
“A life-long friend” — which means Sasakwa. Jacquelyn wept on her shoulder as she was led out of the courtroom through a group of jubilant friends and relatives after the acquittal; the moment was photographed, and the restored print is in the exhibits below.
Maude I. Beaman
Family
Administratrix of Delbert's estate
Four months after the acquittal, as administratrix of Delbert's estate, she filed suit in Oklahoma County District Court — case No. 130720 — against Occidental Life Insurance Co. of California and Jacquelyn Beaman, for the $2,000 proceeds of his group life policy. She is almost certainly Delbert's mother, the “Mrs. A. I. Beaman” of the August 1952 reporting — though that identification, and the suit's outcome, remain unconfirmed.
C. E. Dixon
Juror
Jury foreman; a mail carrier
Foreman of the jury of seven women and five men that heard the case. Jurors later confided they stood 9–3 for acquittal on the first ballot — and that the three holdouts came over because, with manslaughter off the table, they could not return the verdict they actually wanted.
Section V · The Evidence Locker

As It Was Printed

Every fact in this file traces to a primary-source clipping. Tap any headline to read the full entry.

Holdenville Daily NewsJuly 7, 1952 · p.1 · AP wireMurder Charge Will Be Filed

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 7 (AP)—Homicide Capt. Wayne Harbolt said Monday he will ask the county attorney to file charges against the wife of police officer Delbert Ira Beaman, 27, who died of gunshot wounds early Monday. Harbolt said the couple had an argument over $5 before Beaman was fatally wounded in the stomach with a slug from his .38 caliber service revolver. Beaman died in Mercy hospital at 1 a.m., about two hours after the incident. Mrs. Jacquelyn Beaman, 21-year-old wife of the officer, was arrested and held without bond. She told officers her husband was shot accidentally when she dropped the gun. But Mrs. Orna Vaughan, who lives in a downstairs apartment at the Beaman's address, said she heard the gun go off. She said Beaman then came to the door of her apartment and said, “Help me, Jackie has shot me.” Scoutcar officers quoted the dying man as saying he was wounded after his wife told him he was going to shoot him.

Delbert Ira BeamanJacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Capt. Wayne HarboltMrs. Orna Vaughan
Article #1 — the first article in the case; the AP day-one wire, and the anchor date. Note what the wire does not give: the address, the exact time, whether Delbert was on or off duty, and how long they had been married.
Blackwell Journal-TribuneJuly 7, 1952 · p.2 · AP wireWife Held After Police Officer Fatally Shot

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 7 (AP)—Homicide Capt. Wayne Harbolt said Monday he will ask the county attorney to file charges against the wife of police officer Delbert Ira Beaman, 27, who died of gunshot wounds early Monday. Harbolt said the couple had an argument over $5 before Beaman was fatally wounded in the stomach with a slug from his .38 caliber service revolver. Beaman died in Mercy hospital at 1 a.m., about two hours after the incident. Mrs. Jacquelyn Beaman, 21-year-old wife of the officer, was arrested and held without bond. She told officers her husband was shot accidentally when she dropped the gun. But Mrs. Orna Vaughan, who lives in a downstairs apartment at the Beaman's address, said she heard the gun go off. She said Beaman then came to the door of her apartment and said, “Help me, Jackie has shot me.” Scoutcar officers quoted the dying man as saying he was wounded after his wife told him she was going to shoot him.

Delbert Ira BeamanJacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Capt. Wayne HarboltMrs. Orna Vaughan
Article #2 — identical AP copy to #1 under a different headline: Blackwell led with the dead officer, Holdenville with the charge coming. The cleaner text of the two.
The Daily OklahomanJuly 8, 1952 · p.1Studio portraits of Jacquelyn and Delbert Beaman

Two portrait photographs stacked in a single column, captioned “Jacquelyn Beaman” (top) and “Delbert I. Beaman” (bottom). She appears in a light blouse with a lace or crochet collar, dark shoulder-length hair, looking down and slightly away — a portrait, not a booking photo. He appears in a suit and tie in three-quarter profile — also a studio portrait, not a uniform shot. The paper did not run him in uniform.

Delbert Ira BeamanJacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)
Article #3 — a photo cut; the accompanying article text was not captured in this crop and remains a high-priority re-pull. The choice to run studio portraits of both — rather than a uniform photo of him or a jail photo of her — is itself an editorial fact. Restored color versions of both portraits appear in the exhibits below.
Miami News-RecordJuly 8, 1952 · p.7 · AP wireO. C. Woman Who 'Dislikes' Officers Held for Murder

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 8—(AP)—Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21, charged with murdering her 27-year-old scoutcar officer husband, Delbert, told investigating officers yesterday she “didn't like policemen.” Mrs. Beaman was held without bond. The slender brunette pleaded innocent between sobs when arraigned before Justice of the Peace Paul Powers. She was returned to her county jail cell. Beaman was shot in the abdomen in the couple's garage apartment yesterday with his own service revolver. Mrs. Beaman said the shooting was accidental, climaxing a quarrel over a $5 bill. During the argument, she told officers, she started looking through a dresser drawer for the missing money. She said the revolver was in the top drawer, and it went off as she started to put it back after looking for the bill. “I heard the gun go off but I did not pull the trigger intentionally,” she said. “I don't know where he was standing when the gun went off. I heard him cry out.” Before Beaman lapsed into unconsciousness he reportedly told a neighbor: “Don't let me die. Jackie shot me.”

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Delbert Ira BeamanPaul PowersMrs. Orna Vaughan
Article #4 — the AP day-two wire, and a major one: “didn't like policemen,” the garage apartment, her full dresser-drawer account, and the arraignment. Note the dying-words discrepancy with #1/#2 — two versions of what he said at the neighbor's door, logged side by side and never merged.
The Wewoka Daily TimesJuly 9, 1952 · p.1 · UP wireMental Exam Ordered For Former Sasakwan

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 9 (UP)—District Judge Albert C. Hunt has ordered a mental examination be given the wife of a slain Oklahoma City police officer. Hunt ordered the examination for Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman at the request of her attorney. Mrs. Beaman is charged with murdering her husband, police scoutcar officer Delbert I. Beaman, 27. Attorneys for Mrs. Beaman appeared before Hunt Tuesday and submitted testimony that she has suffered from epileptic fits the past 11 years. Beaman was shot in the couple's home Sunday night. [Local insert:] Mrs. Beaman is the former Jacquelyn Collins, who attended school in Sasakwa and lived there for many years.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Judge Albert C. HuntDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #5 — the UP wire, carrying facts the AP never had: the epilepsy (eleven years of it, put before a judge the day after her arraignment), the mental examination, and her maiden name and hometown. The bold “former Sasakwan” line is the Wewoka paper's own local insert — to Seminole County this was a hometown story.
The Elk City Daily NewsJuly 10, 1952 · p.6 · UP wireMental Test Slated On Slain Cop's Wife

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 9 (UP)—District Judge Albert C. Hunt has ordered a mental examination be given the wife of a slain Oklahoma City police officer. Hunt ordered the examination for Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman at the request of her attorney. Mrs. Beaman is charged with murdering her husband, police scoutcar officer Delbert I. Beaman, 27.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Judge Albert C. Hunt
Article #6 — the same UP story as #5, cut to two paragraphs. No new facts, but it proves the Wewoka “Sasakwan” line was a local insert, and shows the story ran statewide — papers cut wire copy from the bottom, so the longest version of any wire story is the one to trust.
Guymon Daily HeraldJuly 15, 1952 · p.1 · UP wireSlayer Of Husband Goes To Asylum

OKLAHOMA CITY, July 15 (UP)—Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, charged with murdering her policeman husband, was to be committed to an Oklahoma City mental hospital Friday for examination.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)
Article #7 — one sentence, and a period artifact: “Slayer,” in a headline, more than a year before a jury cleared her. The examination was not outpatient — she was committed to an institution, nine days after her husband died. “Friday” is almost certainly July 18, 1952.
The Oklahoma County NewsAugust 1, 1952 · p.1 · StaffSlain Officers Wife Taken To State Hospital

Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman was transferred to Central State hospital Thursday for a second mental examination. She has been under observation at the Coyne Campbell-Sleeper clinic the past two weeks at the request of Dave Shapard, defense attorney. Mrs. Beaman is charged with murder in the pistol slaying of her husband, Delbert Ira Beaman, Oklahoma City police officer. Beaman formerly lived south of Spencer and attended Star school. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. A. I. Beaman.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Delbert Ira BeamanDave Shapard
Article #8 — the first article that treats the victim as a person: Delbert grew up south of Spencer, attended the Star school, parents Mr. and Mrs. A. I. Beaman. It also names the defense-chosen clinic (Coyne Campbell-Sleeper) and reveals a second examination at the state hospital — the court getting its own look.
The Seminole ProducerAugust 12, 1952 · p.2 · UP wireFormer Sasakwan To Face Murder Trial

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 12 (UP)—Judge Albert C. Hunt Tuesday ruled Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman to be mentally competent and ordered her released on $10,000 bond pending trial for the slaying of her husband, a policeman, last July 6. Hunt made the ruling after receiving a report on Mrs. Beaman's mental condition from state psychiatrists. The 21-year-old brunette was returned to county jail Monday after undergoing a two-week mental examination at Central State hospital, Norman. Mrs. Beaman told police she shot her husband, officer Delbert I. Beaman, 27, by accident after an argument in the couple's apartment over a $5 bill. [Local insert:] Mrs. Beaman is the former Jacquelyn Collins, one-time Sasakwa resident.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Judge Albert C. HuntDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #9 — the pretrial mental-health phase ends here, and it ends against her: ruled mentally competent on the state psychiatrists' report, and released on $10,000 bond — roughly $120,000 today, for a family from Sasakwa. Important caution: competency to stand trial and mental state at the time of the shooting are different questions — the epilepsy defense survived this ruling completely.
The Ada Evening NewsAugust 13, 1952 · p.7 · AP wireExpect Ruling On Slayer's Sanity

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — District Judge Albert C. Hunt is expected to decide today on the sanity of Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21-year-old Oklahoma City woman charged with the murder of her scoutcar officer husband. Usually reliable sources speculated she would be judged sane and bond set for her release. Mrs. Beaman was returned to the Oklahoma County jail yesterday after a two-week examination at Central State Hospital, Norman. She was previously examined at the Coyne Campbell hospital at Oklahoma City. Beaman was shot in the abdomen with his own .38 caliber revolver in the couple's apartment. The shooting reportedly climaxed an argument over a $5 bill.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Judge Albert C. Hunt
Article #10 — the AP's curtain-raiser to the ruling #9 reports — and the leak: “usually reliable sources” told the AP the outcome before the judge announced it, and they were exactly right. A third headlining of “Slayer” before any verdict.
The Wewoka Daily TimesOctober 1, 1952 · p.1 · UP wireMurder Hearing Of Ex-Sasakwa Girl Starts

BULLETIN — OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 1—UP—Justice of Peace Paul Powers Wednesday ordered Mrs. Jacquelyn Beaman, 27, bound over to district court without bond to stand trial for the murder of her policeman-husband. OKLAHOMA CITY, Oct. 1—UP—Two witnesses at the murder hearing of Jacquelyn Beaman testified Wednesday that she had stated she was going to kill or beat her husband, but both later said she was probably joking. The preliminary opened 45 minutes late after Justice of Peace Paul Powers threatened to forfeit Mrs. Beaman's $10,000 bond if she did not appear. Mrs. Beaman's attorney, Dave Shapard, presented a physician's affidavit that she was ill and asked a continuance. Powers pointed out the hearing had been delayed twice, and ordered Shapard to produce Mrs. Beaman or forfeit bond. Mrs. Beaman appeared 45 minutes later. Mrs. Mabel Beaman, sister-in-law of the dead officer, and a brother, Bill Gene Beaman, both testified Jacquelyn had said six months ago she would kill her husband. Mabel Beaman said: “Jackie (Jacquelyn) said, 'one of these days I'm going to have to shoot him'.” Bill Gene Beaman testified: “She told me and my wife she would take a blackjack and beat him.” When Shapard asked if Jacquelyn said it in a joking manner, both answered they thought it was a joke at that time. Shapard asked Judge Powers repeatedly to delay the hearing and for a change of venue. On one occasion Powers told Shapard: “You talk too much.” “Yes sir, I do,” Shapard fired back, “but my client's taking a raw deal.” Powers half rose in his chair and shouted: “You sit down and shut up before I put you in jail.” Shapard sat down. [Local insert:] Jacquelyn Beaman is the former Jacquelyn Kay Collins, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Collins, and lived most of her life in Sasakwa, attending school there before moving to Oklahoma City with her mother.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Paul PowersDave ShapardMabel BeamanBill Gene BeamanOpal CollinsLuther D. Collins
Article #11 — the best article in the file: the first testimony, the first verbatim courtroom dialogue, and the first evidence about the marriage. Note Mabel's exact grammar — not “I'm going to shoot him” but “I'm going to HAVE TO shoot him” — said to his own family, who took it as a joke. Also note: the “27” here is a wire-desk error (Delbert's age); every other source says 21.
The Seminole ProducerOctober 5, 1952 · p.1 · StaffInnocent Plea Is Entered by Former Sasakwan in Slaying

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 20-year former Sasakwa resident who has been accused of the slaying of her husband, entered a plea of not guilty when she was arraigned Friday before Albert C. Hunt, district judge, in Oklahoma City. Judge Hunt ordered the case set down for jury trial after overruling a motion to dismiss the charge by the woman's attorney, Dave Shapard. Mrs. Beaman was permitted to go free under $10,000 bond. She was bound over to district court earlier this week following a preliminary hearing in Paul Powers' justice court. She is charged in the death of Delbert I. Beaman, who was slain during an argument over a $5 bill in the couple's garage apartment in the 2100 block NW 11 last July 6. The county attorney's office said she probably will go to trial in district court sometime in November.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Judge Albert C. HuntDave ShapardDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #12 — the address at last: a garage apartment in the 2100 block of NW 11. Also the district-court arraignment (not guilty; motion to dismiss overruled; “kangaroo court”), bond restored after roughly two days back in custody — and a November trial that never happened.
The Harrah HeraldNovember 7, 1952 · p.1 · StaffNew Hearing Is Sought for Wife Of Slain Officer

The county attorney's office will seek a new preliminary hearing for Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21, charged with murder in the slaying of her policeman husband last July 6, Hubert Gibson, assistant county attorney, disclosed Wednesday. Delbert I. Beaman, 27, the slain man, before his marriage, lived south of Spencer and attended the Star school. Mrs. Beaman, who told officers she accidentally shot and killed Delbert I. Beaman, following a quarrel over a $5 bill, was given a preliminary hearing and bound over to district court recently by Paul Powers, justice of the peace. At her district court arraignment, Mrs. Beaman asked dismissal of the charge on the ground of insufficient evidence and claimed the hearing held by Powers was nothing more than a “kangaroo court.” Gibson said he will ask Clarence M. Mills, district judge, to remand the case to Elmo McCallister's justice of the peace court for a new preliminary hearing. He said he decided upon this course of action after studying testimony given at the first hearing and because Mrs. Beaman contended her constitutional rights were violated.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Hubert GibsonPaul PowersDave ShapardDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #13 — the State blinked: the county attorney's office moved to throw out its own preliminary hearing and start over in a different justice court, after studying the transcript of what Powers did. Shapard — shouted down in that courtroom — won the argument outside it. This detour is a large part of why a July 1952 killing didn't reach a verdict until 1953. Whether the second hearing ever took place is still unknown.
The Frederick LeaderJanuary 20, 1953 · p.4 · UP wireBeaman Trial Opens Tuesday

Oklahoma City, (UP)—Trial was to open in District Court here Tuesday for Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21, on a charge of murdering her policeman husband in their garage apartment last July 6. Assistant County Attorney Hubert Gibson said he planned to call 10 state witnesses, mostly police officers and medical men who talked with the victim, Delbert Beaman, 27, before he died. Mrs. Beaman, now free under $10,000 bond, has contended her husband was killed when his service pistol discharged accidentally during an argument over a $5 bill.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Hubert GibsonDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #14 — the trial date at last: Tuesday, January 20, 1953, six and a half months after the shooting. And the State's case in outline: ten witnesses, “mostly police officers and medical men who talked with the victim before he died” — a case built on the dying declaration. (Clipping image not yet in the vault; transcription on file.)
Holdenville Daily NewsJanuary 21, 1953 · p.6 · UP wireMrs. Beaman Is Unable to Talk; Falls in Trance

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 21 — UP—The murder trial of Jacquelyn Kay Beaman was recessed suddenly Wednesday when Mrs. Beaman suffered what her attorney termed “an epileptic attack” on the witness stand. Mrs. Beaman was being questioned on events of the day on which her husband, Delbert, 27, was shot to death when she suddenly froze in an apparent trance. Her mother, Mrs. Luther Collins, rushed to her side, and her attorney, Frank Grayson, Holdenville, picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her chair. The 21-year-old brunette is charged with the murder of her husband in their apartment here last July 6. Grayson said Tuesday her defense would include testimony that she had suffered an epileptic attack and “blacked out” at the time her husband was shot. George Hill, a second attorney for Mrs. Beaman, said he had feared she would collapse under the strain of the trial. “This is just one of those epileptic attacks,” Hill said. “Her hands are cold as ice. They come on like that.” District Judge Baker Melone ordered the trial recessed. Hill said it might be possible to continue the trial shortly. Prior to the apparent attack, Mrs. Beaman answered questions as to her weight and age and said her former home was Sasakwa, Okla. Her voice was barely audible. She sobbed frequently. Then Grayson asked Mrs. Beaman to “turn and tell the jury everything that happened July 6.” Mrs. Beaman faced the jury and froze. Grayson repeated the request three times before Mrs. Collins rushed to her side. Mrs. Beaman stated earlier that her husband was killed when his service pistol accidentally discharged. She said the pistol fell out of a dresser drawer when she went to get a $5 bill over which they had been arguing.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Frank GraysonGeorge HillJudge Baker H. MeloneOpal CollinsDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #15 — the central scene of the entire case. Her defense was that she blacked out at the moment of the shooting — and asked to describe that moment in front of the jury, she blacked out again. Whether the jury saw the thing itself or a performance of it, there is no cross-examination for it. The papers hedged — “an apparent trance,” “what her attorney termed” — and this file holds both readings open exactly as the record does. (Clipping image not yet in the vault; transcription on file.)
The Alva Review-CourierJanuary 21, 1953 · p.2 · UP wireBeaman Trial Is Recessed

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 21 — UP—The murder trial of Jacquelyn Kay Beaman was recessed suddenly Wednesday when Mrs. Beaman suffered what her attorney termed “an epileptic attack” on the witness stand. Mrs. Beaman was being questioned on events of the day on which her husband, Delbert, 27, was shot to death when she suddenly froze in an apparent trance. Her mother, Mrs. Luther Collins, rushed to her side, and her attorney, Frank Grayson, Holdenville, picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her chair. [Same UP copy as the Holdenville printing, in full.]

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Frank GraysonJudge Baker H. Melone
Article #16 — identical UP copy to #15, catalogued for the headline contrast: Holdenville, fifteen miles from her hometown, ran “Mrs. Beaman Is Unable to Talk; Falls in Trance”; Alva, three hundred miles away, ran the flat “Beaman Trial Is Recessed.” Same words, two entirely different degrees of sympathy. (Clipping image not yet in the vault.)
The Enid Daily EagleJanuary 21, 1953 · p.3 · UP wireMrs. Beaman Will Testify For Self

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 21 —UP—Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman was to take the stand in her own defense Wednesday as trial entered its second day on a charge she murdered her policeman husband. Frank Grayson, Holdenville, attorney for the 21-year-old brunette, told the jury Tuesday that Mrs. Beaman had been subject to epileptic attacks since she was 11 and that she suffered a blackout at the time of the shooting. Mrs. Beaman previously stated her husband's service pistol accidentally discharged. She said the pistol fell out of a dresser drawer when she went to get a $5 bill over which they had been arguing. Her husband, Delbert Beaman, 27, was killed in the couple's garage apartment last July.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Frank GraysonDelbert Ira Beaman
Article #17 — the opening statement: Grayson put the blackout defense to the jury on day one, before any evidence — so when she froze on the stand the next day, the jury had already been told exactly what they were about to watch. The “since she was 11” also triangulates with July's “past 11 years” to settle her age at 21. (Clipping image not yet in the vault.)
The Frederick LeaderJanuary 22, 1953 · p.1 · UP wireBeaman to Jury

Oklahoma City, (UP)—The murder trial of Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, charged with murdering her policeman husband, went to a district court jury at 11:30 a. m. Thursday.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)
Article #18 — two sentences that close the trial: the case went to the jury before noon on Thursday, January 22, 1953. The whole trial ran three days — fast for a murder charge with a dead police officer — and it dates the manslaughter-instruction fight to that Thursday morning. (Clipping image not yet in the vault.)
The Daily OklahomanJanuary 23, 1953 · p.45 · StaffJurors Acquit Wife in Death Of Policeman

A jury of seven women and five men Thursday found Mrs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman innocent of murdering her husband, Delbert Ira Beaman, 27-year-old Oklahoma City scoutcar officer. The jury deliberated three hours before freeing the tiny defendant. The trial was held before district judge Baker H. Melone. Mrs. Beaman, who sat during most of the three-day trial with little show of emotion, burst into violent sobbing on her mother's arm after Judge Melone read the verdict handed him by Foreman C. E. Dixon, a mail carrier of 124 SW 46. She sobbed on the shoulder of Bonnie Biggs, a life-long friend as she was led through a group of jubilant friends and relatives. Later jurors confided they stood 9 to 3 for acquittal on the first ballot, but the holdouts changed over because they could not render a manslaughter verdict. [Manslaughter Ruled Out] Jurors were faced with either setting Mrs. Beaman free or giving her a life term in the penitentiary after Judge Melone, in his instructions, held that a first degree manslaughter verdict could not be rendered. Just prior to reading of the verdict, Hubert Gibson, assistant county attorney, who prosecuted Mrs. Beaman, served notice he is appealing Judge Melone's instructions to the criminal court of appeals. Although the appeal will have no bearing in the Beaman case since she has been freed and cannot be tried again, Gibson said a criminal court ruling will have affect on future cases. [Testimony Reading Asked] The jury began deliberations at 11:27 a.m. and returned to the courtroom at 12:15 p.m. to ask that the testimony of police Lieut. Robert Grimes be read to them. Grimes' testimony dealt with a conversation with Beaman in an emergency room at Mercy hospital before he died. In his testimony, Grimes quoted Beaman as saying his wife grabbed his gun from a dresser in their apartment at 2112 1/2 NW 11 and said, “I'm going to kill you.” Grimes also quoted Beaman as saying, “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie.” Jurors returned to their deliberation at 2:30 p.m. and came in with a verdict at 4:35 p.m. [Epileptic Seizure Claimed] The defense, handled by Frank Grayson, Holdenville, and George Hill, McAlester, adopted the argument Mrs. Beaman, an epilepsy victim since she was 11, was thrown into a seizure during an argument with her husband over a $5 bill and blacked out. They say she was brought back to reality by the gunshot and her husband's scream. Gibson, in his final argument to the jury, said, “there are too many coincidences here—too many to make it ring true.” But Grayson answered with, “if she had wanted to kill Delbert Beaman she could have pumped his body full of bullets, but only one shot was fired.”

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Delbert Ira BeamanJudge Baker H. MeloneC. E. DixonHubert GibsonLt. Robert GrimesFrank GraysonGeorge HillOpal CollinsBonnie Biggs
Article #19 — the verdict story, and the most important document in the file. The jury said the quiet part out loud: 9–3 for acquittal on the first ballot, and the holdouts came over because they could not render a manslaughter verdict — the exact verdict Melone had taken away. The “murder or nothing” gamble worked precisely as designed, and the jurors themselves said so.
The Daily Law Journal RecordMay 14, 1953 · p.1 · Court docketFiled 5-13-53 — Case No. 130720 (docket listing)

Filed 5-13-53 130720—Maude I Beaman, admx of Est Delbert I Beaman decd v Occidental Life Ins Co of Calif, a corp, and Jacquelyn Beaman, for recovery of proceeds of life ins Group Policy No 753150, $2000, ans 6-12-53, Schwoerke & Schwoerke, and James E Grigsby, plff attys. (Attys' lien claimed).

Maude I. BeamanJacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Delbert Ira Beaman
Article #20 — the story does not end at the acquittal. Four months after the jury freed her, Delbert's estate sued Jacquelyn and the insurer over his $2,000 group life policy — a civil court decides on the preponderance of the evidence, a lower bar than a criminal jury's. How the suit came out is the case's biggest unanswered question.
The Daily Law Journal RecordJuly 9, 1954 · p.5 · Court reportingCriminal Court Of Appeals — Opinions: State v. Beaman

A11966 — State of Oklahoma, Plaintiff in Error, vs. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, Defendant in Error. Appeal from the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, Hon. Baker H. Melone, Judge. Jacquelyn Kay Beaman was acquitted in the District Court of Oklahoma County for murder and the State appealed on a reserved question of law. Opinion by Jones, J. Powell, P. J. and Brett, J., concur. Syllabus: Where a defendant is charged with the crime of murder, it is the duty of the trial court to instruct on the law of manslaughter in the first or second degree, if there is any evidence that the alleged crime might have been committed under circumstances that would reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter, and this is true whether the evidence comes from witnesses produced by the State or by the accused, or by both.

Jacquelyn Kay Beaman (née Collins)Delbert Ira BeamanJudge Baker H. MeloneHubert GibsonGranville Scanland
Article #21 — the opinion as the Oklahoma bar first read it, two days after the July 7, 1954 decision — handed down two years to the day after Delbert Beaman died. The published syllabus is the manslaughter rule Gibson appealed to establish — and he got it without filing a brief or sending anyone to argue. Read the listing cold and nothing in it says a twenty-one-year-old walked free because of the error it describes: the case entered Oklahoma law as one clean sentence with every human thing stripped out. That is, in a sense, why nobody remembers this.
★ Of Note

Research Nuggets & Connections

The jury explained itself — and it proves the whole case. Jurors confided afterward that the first ballot stood 9–3 for acquittal, and that the three holdouts changed over “because they could not render a manslaughter verdict.” Three people on that jury wanted to convict Jacquelyn Beaman of manslaughter; Judge Melone had taken that verdict off the table at the State's own urging to instruct on it — refused, at the defense's insistence that the crime was “murder or nothing.” Faced with a life term or the door, the three let her walk. The gamble did precisely what it was designed to do, in a way that needs no speculation — the jurors said so to a reporter.

The numbers under the story: the marriage lasted 590 days. She was acquitted nine days before her twenty-second birthday. The appellate opinion came down on July 7, 1954 — two years to the day after Delbert Beaman died at 1:00 a.m. And the woman the papers called “Slayer” outlived her husband by fifty-one years.

The identification of her later life is strong but not yet proven: a Social Security Death Index record for Jacquelyn K. Skrobis — born January 31, 1931, SSN issued in Oklahoma before 1951, died at San Rafael, California, August 5, 2003 — lands nine days inside the birth-date window this file had already derived from four independent age statements. It is treated throughout as a strong lead, not a settled fact, pending a confirming document.

Clippings & Exhibits

Click any exhibit to open the original scan.

Newspaper · July 7, 1952
Holdenville Daily News — “Murder Charge Will Be Filed”
Article #1 — the AP day-one wire and the anchor date of the case. Scan: 1952-07-07_Holdenville_Daily_News_p1.jpg
Newspaper · July 7, 1952
Blackwell Journal-Tribune — “Wife Held After Police Officer Fatally Shot”
Article #2 — the same AP copy under Blackwell's headline; the cleaner text of the two day-one printings. Scan: 1952-07-07_Blackwell_Journal-Tribune_p2.jpg
Newspaper · July 8, 1952
The Daily Oklahoman — the portraits
Article #3 — studio portraits of Jacquelyn and Delbert Beaman, stacked in a single column on the hometown daily's front page. Scan: 1952-07-08_The_Daily_Oklahoman_p1.jpg
Newspaper · July 8, 1952
Miami News-Record — “O. C. Woman Who 'Dislikes' Officers Held for Murder”
Article #4 — the AP day-two wire: “didn't like policemen,” the garage apartment, and her full dresser-drawer account. Scan: 1952-07-08_Miami_News-Record_p7.jpg
Newspaper · July 9, 1952
The Wewoka Daily Times — “Mental Exam Ordered For Former Sasakwan”
Article #5 — the UP wire with the epilepsy, the mental examination, and her Sasakwa origins. Scan: 1952-07-09_The_Wewoka_Daily_Times_p1.jpg
Newspaper · July 10, 1952
The Elk City Daily News — “Mental Test Slated On Slain Cop's Wife”
Article #6 — the trimmed UP copy that proves the Wewoka local insert and shows the story ran statewide. Scan: 1952-07-10_The_Elk_City_Daily_News_p6.jpg
Newspaper · July 15, 1952
Guymon Daily Herald — “Slayer Of Husband Goes To Asylum”
Article #7 — one sentence and a period artifact: “Slayer,” more than a year before the acquittal. Scan: 1952-07-15_Guymon_Daily_Herald_p1.jpg
Newspaper · August 1, 1952
The Oklahoma County News — “Slain Officers Wife Taken To State Hospital”
Article #8 — staff copy with Delbert's origins south of Spencer, the Star school, and the Coyne Campbell-Sleeper clinic named. Scan: 1952-08-01_The_Oklahoma_County_News_p1.jpg
Newspaper · August 12, 1952
The Seminole Producer — “Former Sasakwan To Face Murder Trial”
Article #9 — ruled mentally competent and released on $10,000 bond. Scan: 1952-08-12_Seminole_Producer_p2.jpg
Newspaper · August 13, 1952
The Ada Evening News — “Expect Ruling On Slayer's Sanity”
Article #10 — the AP curtain-raiser with the courthouse leak: “usually reliable sources” called the ruling before the judge did. Scan: 1952-08-13_The_Ada_Evening_News_p7.jpg
Newspaper · October 1, 1952
The Wewoka Daily Times — “Murder Hearing Of Ex-Sasakwa Girl Starts”
Article #11 — the preliminary hearing: the threats, the joke, and “you sit down and shut up before I put you in jail.” Scan: 1952-10-01_The_Wewoka_Daily_Times_p1.jpg
Newspaper · October 5, 1952
The Seminole Producer — “Innocent Plea Is Entered by Former Sasakwan”
Article #12 — the district-court arraignment, bond restored, and the address: the 2100 block of NW 11. Scan: 1952-10-05_Seminole_Producer_p1.jpg
Newspaper · November 7, 1952
The Harrah Herald — “New Hearing Is Sought for Wife Of Slain Officer”
Article #13 — the State moves to throw out its own preliminary hearing. Scan: 1952-11-07_The_Harrah_Herald_p1.jpg
Newspaper · January 23, 1953
The Daily Oklahoman — “Jurors Acquit Wife in Death Of Policeman”
Article #19 — the verdict story: 9–3 on the first ballot, the Grimes read-back, and the acquittal at 4:35 p.m. Scan: 1953-01-23_The_Daily_Oklahoman_p45.jpg
Court Record · May 14, 1953
The Daily Law Journal Record — the insurance suit
Article #20 — the docket listing for case No. 130720: Delbert's estate v. Occidental Life and Jacquelyn Beaman. Scan: 1953-05-14_The_Daily_Law_Journal_Record_p1.jpg
Court Record · July 9, 1954
The Daily Law Journal Record — the appellate opinion
Article #21 — State v. Beaman as printed for the Oklahoma bar, syllabus and all. Scan: 1954-07-09_The_Daily_Law_Journal_Record_p5.jpg
Vital Record · November 24, 1950
Marriage Record No. 174 — Beaman–Collins
Source D — Oklahoma County marriage record: Delbert I. Beaman, 25, of 229 N.E. 4th, and Jackie Collins, 19, of 1909 N.W. 31, married the day after Thanksgiving 1950 at the Lone Star Baptist Mission, rural, five miles south of Edmond. He died 590 days later. Scan: SOURCE-D_1950-11-24_Oklahoma_County_Marriage_Record_174_p509.jpg
Vital Record · April 7, 1950
1950 U.S. Census — the Collins household
Source E — E.D. 78-30, sheet 23, 1909 N.W. 31, Oklahoma City: Luther D. Collins, 52; Opal Collins, 42; Kenneth J. Collins, 20, bookkeeper; and Jacqueline, 19, at home. Her mother's name, her brother's existence, and the family address — all from one sheet. Scan: SOURCE-E_1950-04-07_1950_Census_OKC_ED78-30_sheet23_Collins.jpg
Photograph · July 8, 1952
Delbert Ira Beaman — restored portrait
The Daily Oklahoman's studio portrait of Delbert Beaman (Article #3), digitally restored in color. Not a uniform photo — a suit and tie, in three-quarter profile. Scan: Delbert_Beaman_portrait_restored_color.jpg
Photograph · July 8, 1952
Jacquelyn Kay Beaman — restored portrait
The Daily Oklahoman's studio portrait of Jacquelyn Beaman (Article #3), digitally restored in color. A portrait, not a booking photo — light blouse, lace collar, looking down and slightly away. Scan: Jacquelyn_Beaman_portrait_restored_color.jpg
Photograph · January 22, 1953
Leaving the courtroom — January 22, 1953
Restored press photograph. Original caption: “Jacquelyn Kay Beaman, 21, is helped from the courtroom by her lifelong friend, Bonnie Biggs, shortly after Mrs. Beaman's acquittal of murdering her husband.” Two other women are in frame; the caption names only Biggs. Scan: Jacquelyn_Beaman_Bonnie_Biggs_courtroom_1953.jpg
Section VI

Verdict, Appeal & Aftermath

THE VERDICT

Not guilty — 4:35 p.m., Thursday, January 22, 1953, after about three hours of deliberation by a jury of seven women and five men. The first ballot was 9–3 for acquittal; the three holdouts wanted manslaughter, and manslaughter no longer existed. Judge Melone, at the State's request for the instruction and over the defense's answer that the crime was “murder or nothing,” had refused to submit the lesser offense — so the choice was a life term or freedom. She burst into violent sobbing on her mother's arm as the verdict was read.

THE APPEAL

Assistant County Attorney Hubert Gibson served notice before the verdict was even read — conceding it could never touch her, since an acquitted defendant cannot be retried, but saying a ruling “will have affect on future cases.” County Attorney Granville Scanland perfected the appeal on a reserved question of law at county expense — then the State never filed a brief and never appeared, and the Court of Criminal Appeals treated the appeal as abandoned. It answered the question anyway, quoting Igo v. State: where any evidence supports manslaughter, the instruction must be given. The opinion came down July 7, 1954 — two years to the day after Delbert Beaman died — and its syllabus, the manslaughter rule Gibson wanted, entered Oklahoma law over the case's name.

THE INSURANCE SUIT

On May 13, 1953 — four months after the acquittal — Maude I. Beaman, administratrix of Delbert's estate, sued Occidental Life Insurance Co. of California and Jacquelyn Beaman in Oklahoma County District Court, case No. 130720, for the $2,000 proceeds of his group life policy. A civil court decides on the preponderance of the evidence — a lower bar, a different room, a second try. The outcome of the suit is unknown, and it is now the most important unanswered question in the case.

DELBERT'S REST: He was a U.S. Army veteran, and he was brought home — buried at Spencer, Oklahoma, the country he grew up in, where he had attended the Star school before becoming a city policeman. His grave was located and visited by the Section 29 research desk in August 2026. The funeral coverage, his obituary, and the Beaman family's side of the story remain to be pulled.

THE REST OF HER LIFE

Luther Collins died in New Mexico in 1955; the family left Oklahoma for California. Records point strongly — though not yet conclusively — to Jacquelyn remarrying Richard John Skrobiszewski, being widowed a second time in 1996, and dying at San Rafael, Marin County, California, on August 5, 2003, aged 72. The last recorded thing her first husband said about her, from a hospital bed with a bullet in his stomach, was “I don't want anything to happen to Jackie.” Nothing did. She got fifty more years than he did.

Loose Threads

What We Still Don't Know

Citations

Sources

  1. Murder Charge Will Be Filed — Holdenville Daily News, July 7, 1952 p.1 (byline: AP wire).
  2. Wife Held After Police Officer Fatally Shot — Blackwell Journal-Tribune, July 7, 1952 p.2 (byline: AP wire).
  3. Studio portraits of Jacquelyn and Delbert Beaman — The Daily Oklahoman, July 8, 1952 p.1.
  4. O. C. Woman Who 'Dislikes' Officers Held for Murder — Miami News-Record, July 8, 1952 p.7 (byline: AP wire).
  5. Mental Exam Ordered For Former Sasakwan — The Wewoka Daily Times, July 9, 1952 p.1 (byline: UP wire).
  6. Mental Test Slated On Slain Cop's Wife — The Elk City Daily News, July 10, 1952 p.6 (byline: UP wire).
  7. Slayer Of Husband Goes To Asylum — Guymon Daily Herald, July 15, 1952 p.1 (byline: UP wire).
  8. Slain Officers Wife Taken To State Hospital — The Oklahoma County News, August 1, 1952 p.1 (byline: Staff).
  9. Former Sasakwan To Face Murder Trial — The Seminole Producer, August 12, 1952 p.2 (byline: UP wire).
  10. Expect Ruling On Slayer's Sanity — The Ada Evening News, August 13, 1952 p.7 (byline: AP wire).
  11. Murder Hearing Of Ex-Sasakwa Girl Starts — The Wewoka Daily Times, October 1, 1952 p.1 (byline: UP wire).
  12. Innocent Plea Is Entered by Former Sasakwan in Slaying — The Seminole Producer, October 5, 1952 p.1 (byline: Staff).
  13. New Hearing Is Sought for Wife Of Slain Officer — The Harrah Herald, November 7, 1952 p.1 (byline: Staff).
  14. Beaman Trial Opens Tuesday — The Frederick Leader, January 20, 1953 p.4 (byline: UP wire).
  15. Mrs. Beaman Is Unable to Talk; Falls in Trance — Holdenville Daily News, January 21, 1953 p.6 (byline: UP wire).
  16. Beaman Trial Is Recessed — The Alva Review-Courier, January 21, 1953 p.2 (byline: UP wire).
  17. Mrs. Beaman Will Testify For Self — The Enid Daily Eagle, January 21, 1953 p.3 (byline: UP wire).
  18. Beaman to Jury — The Frederick Leader, January 22, 1953 p.1 (byline: UP wire).
  19. Jurors Acquit Wife in Death Of Policeman — The Daily Oklahoman, January 23, 1953 p.45 (byline: Staff).
  20. Filed 5-13-53 — Case No. 130720 (docket listing) — The Daily Law Journal Record, May 14, 1953 p.1 (byline: Court docket).
  21. Criminal Court Of Appeals — Opinions: State v. Beaman — The Daily Law Journal Record, July 9, 1954 p.5 (byline: Court reporting).
Provenance
Research basis: 21 catalogued newspaper articles (1952–1954), the appellate opinion in State v. Beaman (1954 OK CR 90, 272 P.2d 490), an Oklahoma County marriage record, and the 1950 U.S. Census
Wire coverage: Both major wires pulled on every date — AP and UP carried materially different facts throughout
Newspapers: Holdenville Daily News, Blackwell Journal-Tribune, The Daily Oklahoman, Miami News-Record, The Wewoka Daily Times, The Elk City Daily News, Guymon Daily Herald, The Oklahoma County News, The Seminole Producer, The Ada Evening News, The Harrah Herald, The Frederick Leader, The Alva Review-Courier, The Enid Daily Eagle, The Daily Law Journal Record
Court records: Source A — State v. Beaman, Okla. Crim. App. No. A-11966, decided July 7, 1954; the district court file and trial transcript are not yet obtained
Vital records: Oklahoma County Marriage Record No. 174, p. 509 (November 24, 1950); 1950 U.S. Census, Oklahoma City, E.D. 78-30, sheet 23
Field research: Delbert Beaman's grave located and personally visited at Spencer, Oklahoma (August 2026) — confirming his burial place and U.S. Army service
Identification caution: The post-1953 life (Skrobis, California, d. 2003) rests on a Social Security Death Index match — strong, but treated as unconfirmed pending a corroborating document
Method: Where two sources disagree — the dying words, her age, the pistol's handling — the versions are logged side by side, never merged
Compiled: Section 29 / Forgotten True Crime research desk, July 2026
— End of File —
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