Celeste Beard

Celeste Beard is the notorious villainess behind the murder of her wealthy husband, Steven Beard.

Celeste Beard was born Celeste Johnson in Santa Barbara on February 13, 1963, though she claimed that her adoptive parents abused her physically during her childhood. Celeste married Craig Fletcher and gave birth to two daughters at age 17: Jennifer and Kristina; losing custody of the girls after her divorce. Celeste suffered two more divorces before meeting wealthy and elderly Steven Beard, a former FOX executive, sometime in 1992, with their relationship being found out by Steven's daughter during Super Bowl XXVII.

Celeste married Steven in early 1995, though she was suspected of marrying Steven solely for his wealth. She had a number of affairs during the marriage, including one with a woman named Tracey Tarlton sometime in 1999. Celeste turned heel later that year by manipulating Tracey into killing Steven, claiming that Steven was physically abusive towards her and that she became suicidal as a result. She added that she and Tracey could be together following Steven's murder, which was committed on October 2, 1999, when Tracey entered Steven's bedroom and shot him in the stomach. Steven briefly survived the shooting, but died of a blood clot on January 22, 2000, shortly after his 75th birthday.

Tracey was arrested after she was identified as the shooter, but remained silent after stories of her relationship with Celeste were made public. However, after learning that Celeste had remarried months after Steven's death, Tracey realized that Celeste used her to kill Steven to inherit his wealth, and gave Celeste up as the true mastermind. Celeste was arrested in March of 2002, and the true motive was revealed: Steven had become tired of Celeste's extravagant spending, so in response, the evil Celeste planned to kill her husband, manipulating Tracey to commit the murder for her. There were also claims that Celeste had hired a friend of hers to kill Tracey to tie up a loose end.

Celeste was convicted of capital murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison, and will not be eligible for parole until April 1, 2042, when Celeste is 79 years of age. She was featured in the very first episode of Snapped, which aired on August 6, 2004, and she continued to maintain her innocence in her husband's murder.