Dateline NBC: Whispers in a Small Town
Did you catch Dateline a few weeks back when they aired Whispers in a Small Town?
It’s the story of popular high school valedictorian Kim Nees, who was 17 back in 1979, and how she was stabbed to death and left in a river just after graduating high school–just before she set out to go to college.
Through twists and turns right out of a fiction book, Barry Beach was arrested in 1983 four years after he death, and convicted of murdering Kim Nees the following year.
Rumors, however, persisted in this little town for years that jealous school girls killed Nees.
Beach, while making a confession to police, retracted it and maintained ever since he confessed because he was coerced–not because it was the truth. He also confessed involvement in the killing of three girls in Louisiana at the same time, though police realized soon thereafter that those confessions were false and he was never charged in those cases.
Did you know that 25% of confessions end up being false? Its staggering.
I just wanted to publicly state that I absolutely believe Barry Beach, and today with all that has been uncovered on this case, I don’t think it takes any ability in deception to see this man’s innocence. It takes only simply logic.
I am happy to hear that Beach is free today, after a judge finally set him free, but he still may face another trial. I hope if another trial goes forward that Barry Beach finally gets the justice he deserves.
