During the first half of their 35-year marriage, Carl and Beverly Carter persevered through hardscrabble times, often living with family or in small trailers.
They moved often, from one Arkansas town to another -- wherever Carl could find construction jobs. Beverly stayed at home with their three sons until the youngest started school. Then she found work as a receptionist.
In the early 2000s, Beverly became intrigued by the real estate business. She proved good at it and soon ranked among the top sellers. But as her new career became increasingly lucrative, the Carters suffered a devastating blow.
In August 2003, their middle son, Christopher, was killed in a car wreck.
Christopher, 19, left behind a baby girl, Bailey. And his death left a void so immense that the Carters were nearly incapacitated by grief.
At that time, the couple lived in a home they had designed and built in Scott. But Christopher had lived there, too. Every turn of every corner evoked memories. The Carters moved to Sherwood for a while, then to a new house back in Scott.
Beverly's career continued to flourish. She was a multimillion-dollar producer, popular with her fellow real estate agents and clients.
Little Bailey helped Beverly and Carl learn to smile again. And then more grandchildren arrived, each of them giving the Carters new reasons to laugh. Over the next few years, Christmas evolved from a subdued affair, dampened by sorrow, to a joyous celebration.
After so many years of hard times, little money and tragedy, the Carters began to enjoy life. Their new house sat next to a lake, prompting them to buy a boat. They found a golf cart for the grandkids to drive around the property. There were beach vacations with their sons, their wives and girlfriends, and the children.
When Bailey's grades started to slip last fall, the Carters took her in, hoping that enrolling her in a different school district might help. Beverly loved having the 11-year-old there. The two often went shopping, selecting outfits for the pageants that Bailey entered. And Beverly, who had long enjoyed watching the Miss America pageant, delighted in watching her granddaughter onstage in a tiara.
Life was good, promising to be even better with the announcement that another grandchild was on the way.
And then, on Sept. 25, Beverly encountered a parolee named Arron Lewis.
Missing
As a Realtor with more than a decade of experience, Beverly, 50, knew to be cautious when meeting potential buyers.
She wrote down names and phone numbers in an appointment book. And she always told someone the address of a home she was going to show and when she would be there.
On Sept. 25, she wrote down the name and number of the person -- a potential cash buyer -- who wanted to see a large home at 14202 Old River Drive in Scott.
She didn't know that the name and number were fictitious.
At 5:30 p.m., Beverly called Carl and gave him the address. She also planned to show a couple of other houses that evening.
She never returned home.
Carl found his wife's car parked at the address she had given him. The house was unlocked, so he searched inside.
Empty.
Carl called 911.
Over the next four days, hundreds of volunteers -- many of them real estate agents from the North Little Rock Crye-Leike office where Beverly had worked for 10 years -- arrived in Scott. They were determined to find Beverly.
On Sunday, investigators shared with the public a photo of the suspect they were seeking. That picture of Arron Lewis spread quickly over social media.
Lewis, a 34-year-old habitual offender, was arrested the next day. While he admitted to kidnapping Beverly, he refused to tell investigators where she was.
Tuesday, a tip led authorities to Lewis' former place of employment, a concrete plant, where deputies found Beverly's body in a shallow grave.
They have not yet disclosed a cause of death or a motive.
Beverly's slaying stunned and frightened real estate agents across the nation. Many firms already are changing their practices. Agents are signing up for concealed-carry classes and self-defense lessons.
If this could happen to Beverly -- known in the profession as a capable and cautious woman -- it could happen to anyone.
"Beverly just went to work", said daughter-in-law Kim Carter, who is married to Carl Jr.
"She did everything right."
Grieving
Beverly's family has nothing to say publicly about Lewis, who faces a charge of capital murder and is jailed with bail set at $1 million.
For now, they will focus only on Beverly.
Family members have spent the past few days immersing themselves in photos and memories while planning Beverly's funeral. They listen to old voice mails, reveling in the sound of Beverly's soft voice that lilted with a Southern twang.
"None of us have processed this yet," Kim explained. "It's almost like she's still here."
That will change after today's funeral service , Kim added.
That's when family members will have to face the empty chair at the dining table, the lack of phone calls from Mawmaw.
And Carl will face each night the empty place in bed where his wife once lay, cozily attired in pajamas and watching the Miss America Pageant.
"Come Monday, our lives will truly change forever," Kim said, weeping. "That's when we have to start again. We've had life before Beverly. We've had life with Beverly. This will be life after Beverly."
In an attempt to comfort Kim, a friend told her be grateful that Beverly hadn't suffered through a long, chronic illness, like cancer.
"I almost wish it was a chronic illness," Kim said. "At least you get to tell them goodbye. But how do we find closure in this? Everyone loses their parents. I understand the circle of life. But you shouldn't lose anyone this way. No one should have to go this way."
On Facebook, Carl Jr. wrote: So many of you have asked how I'm doing. It's a roller coaster, as you can imagine. Weird things give me deepest feelings of grief I've ever known, but then I'll see a photo of her smile and I feel better. I'll be honest, today was my first time to feel anger over it all. I'll spare you those details, but I'm sure you can imagine. Photos and memories of her smile are what are getting me through right now...
In closing, CALL YOUR MAMA. Be good to your mama. Call or text her daily. Make her think that you have "failure to launch" issues because you shower her with so much love. Cause trust me, she sho' loves you. That's what mamas do.
A life cut short
Beverly was born in Alabama but grew up in Texas. By age 16, she was working at a dairy bar.
A group of construction workers met there daily. The one named Carl caught her eye.
Over the next few years, the couple married, had a baby they named Carl Jr. and moved to the elder Carl's home state of Arkansas.
They settled first in Monticello. Over the years, they moved often. Two more babies arrived: Christopher and Chad.
And then Beverly ventured into real estate.
Kim laughed when describing the house hunt that she and Carl Jr. embarked upon with Beverly when they decided to move.
"We lived in Park Hill and we wanted to stay in Park Hill. So she took us to 15 houses in Park Hill and all of them were fixer-uppers. The last one she showed us was the one she thought we should buy. It was in Sherwood. But we loved it. As she walked away, my husband and I just looked at each other, going, 'She is so good at her job.' "
Beverly used her commission from that sale to buy a bedroom suite and dining room table for her oldest son and his wife.
The pair had dated on and off for several years before Carl Jr. finally proposed. That happened only after his exasperated mother pulled him aside and said, "Carl, you have got to get it together. Either you marry her, or I'm adopting her."
Her son fell silent for a moment, then said, "Well, that's just going to make Christmas really awkward."
But Beverly got her way, said Kim, laughing. Her mother-in-law was just as persistent with her pleas for another grandchild.
Baby Collin is only 6 months old. "But Beverly very much wanted me to have another baby immediately," Kim recalled. "Oh, and it had to be a girl."
As the mother of three sons, Beverly knew how to dote on boys.
But she adored pretty clothes and jewelry.
"She loved flashy bling," Kim said. "If she wasn't in bright colors, animal print or bling, she was in her pajamas."
Last December, when Beverly turned 50, the family decided to overwhelm her with glam and glitter.
"We were on the third floor of the River Market building, and the cake -- it was blingy and gaudy. It even had rhinestones. She loved that party. It's the most fun I've ever seen anyone have. I'm so glad now that we did that."
The family also joked about Beverly's food fixations. Every so often, she got hooked on something, bought a lot of it and ate it for weeks.
"She went through a pico de gallo phase where she was just buying tubs of that stuff," Kim said. "Then there was the ice cream. That time, she had 10 different kinds in her freezer. Oh, and when she came back from a cruise and she'd tried molten lava cake, well -- she bought one of those every day for weeks."
Sometimes Beverly would try to hide her latest craving. But she always ended up telling on herself.
"One day, there's this Promised Land chocolate milk in the refrigerator, and she tells us, 'I have a glass of this every day.' Kim recalled. "I'm in my 40s, and I wouldn't admit that."
Carl Jr., a marathon runner, was appalled.
"That's, what, 1,200 calories a day?"
One of Carl Jr.'s goals was to get his mother running. And once Beverly got her first 5K medal -- big, shiny and blingy -- she was hooked.
"The more bling they had on them, the more motivated she was," Kim said. "She bought this long bar to hang them on and every time she ran a 5K it was, 'Come look at my new medal.' "
Carl Jr. and Beverly also shared a love of flowers. Just like his mother became enamored of running races, Carl nurtured an obsession with flowers. He even helped plan flower arrangements for a couple of events, including a wedding.
Now he is working on the flowers for his mother's funeral.
In a Facebook post, Carl Jr. wrote:
A note about flowers: those of you that know me well, know that I'm not about to have my mama's service looking like a yard sale of floral arrangements. Mama loved her some hot pink and bling, so we're going to display those colors of flowers around her. The other arrangements will be prominently displayed in the foyer as a beautiful welcome.
Carl Jr. and Beverly talked every day.
"Their relationship is what made me so happy that we were having a boy," Kim said.
She cried when she talked about how her son, only 6 months old, won't remember or know his Mawmaw. Neither will the grandchild on the way.
"Those babies will never know how wonderful she was."
Editor's note: In writing this story, reporter Cathy Frye relied on interviews with family and friends of Beverly Carter, real estate agents, court documents, newspaper archives and obituaries. The family gave permission for Carl Jr.'s Facebook post to be used. Family photos used with this story also were used with the Carters' permission.
A Section on 10/04/2014