According to an 1988 article in the Altoona Mirror, on June 2, 1979, a 22-year-old woman named Betty Jean Shade had a fight with her live-in boyfriend, Charles "Butch" Soult. She was planning on leaving him. Still, she went on a drive with Soult, his brother, Michael, and sister, Catherine, to the nearby Wopsononock Mountain, so Soult and Shade could take a walk.
When they didn't return after some time, Catherine went searching for her brother - and found him beating Shade to death. Shade died of head and stab wounds. The trio transported Shade's body to the garbage dump three days after the killing, as happens in Mindhunter. Soult mutilated Shade's body in the garbage dump, as Benji did to Betty Jean.
Police first arrested Catherine and Michael Soult, then arrested Charles on a Greyhound bus to Pittsburgh. Though the jury sentenced Charles Soult to death, the trial judge overruled the decision and gave him a life sentence. He's currently serving out his sentence in the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Further, the name "Beverly Jean" may be an homage to a murder which took place in Dallas, Texas in 1970. Beverly Jean Hope, mother of three and popular suburban housewife, was murdered in her large mansion. The crime, to this date, remains unsolved, though new information which emerged in 2016 brought another suspect into the mix: Beverly Jean's ex-brother-in-law. Perhaps it's too small a coincidence, but in Mindhunter, Beverly Jean's murder is partially carried out by Benji's brother-in-law.
Either way, the true story of Betty Jean Shade (and Beverly Jean Hope) are reminders that Mindhunter isn't just a TV show to binge-watch before proceeding to the next one. Mindhunter reminds us of lives cut far too short by heinous acts of violence against women.
When they didn't return after some time, Catherine went searching for her brother - and found him beating Shade to death. Shade died of head and stab wounds. The trio transported Shade's body to the garbage dump three days after the killing, as happens in Mindhunter. Soult mutilated Shade's body in the garbage dump, as Benji did to Betty Jean.
Police first arrested Catherine and Michael Soult, then arrested Charles on a Greyhound bus to Pittsburgh. Though the jury sentenced Charles Soult to death, the trial judge overruled the decision and gave him a life sentence. He's currently serving out his sentence in the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
Further, the name "Beverly Jean" may be an homage to a murder which took place in Dallas, Texas in 1970. Beverly Jean Hope, mother of three and popular suburban housewife, was murdered in her large mansion. The crime, to this date, remains unsolved, though new information which emerged in 2016 brought another suspect into the mix: Beverly Jean's ex-brother-in-law. Perhaps it's too small a coincidence, but in Mindhunter, Beverly Jean's murder is partially carried out by Benji's brother-in-law.
Either way, the true story of Betty Jean Shade (and Beverly Jean Hope) are reminders that Mindhunter isn't just a TV show to binge-watch before proceeding to the next one. Mindhunter reminds us of lives cut far too short by heinous acts of violence against women.
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