Murder victim’s family waited years for justice

The mother of murder victim Beth Lynn Jardine brought at least four jurors and her daughter's convicted killer to tears Thursday when she testified in District Court.

In a gentle voice, Linda Jardine recalled the shock of learning in 1985 that her 23-year-old daughter had been slain. "I kind of ran around the house. It seemed like it had to be a mistake," she said.

And then there was rage.

For 22 years, Jardine said she, her husband and two sons waited for justice.

Her first flash of it arrived in 2007 when she spoke to Las Vegas police Detective Kevin Manning. He told her they had found her daughter's killer.

"I told him he was our hero," the mother said on the stand.

The same jury that on Wednesday convicted 61-year-old Charles Conner of first-degree murder for beating Beth Jardine to death with a claw hammer and raping her is considering whether Conner should be given the death penalty.

Prosecutors opened the penalty phase by telling the jury for the first time that Conner was in a Las Vegas jail the day Jardine's body was discovered. Conner had been arrested on unrelated charges, which were quickly dismissed. Conner was released.

He remained free until he was arrested in 1994 for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Arkansas. Conner pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping and burglary in that case. Because of that conviction, Conner's DNA was entered into a national database, which led investigators in the Jardine case to him.

Defense attorney Andrea Luem said that what Conner did was inexcusable but suggested there is an explanation.

Luem told the jury that as a child, Conner was a victim of physical and mental abuse from his father, a World War II veteran who had been a prisoner of war.

Luem also said Conner had been molested by his sister and raped by a co-worker. Luem said he grew up in a home where his father molested his sisters and his mother did nothing to stop it.

Luem said Conner turned to alcohol to escape those memories. She said when he was arrested for rape in Arkansas, Conner's blood alcohol level was 0.49 percent, more than six times the state's legal limit.

Luem said Conner found God after his rape conviction.

"He found God, but he never found peace," she said.

The female victim in the Arkansas sexual assault, now 27, testified Thursday that she woke to find Conner removing her panties. "I knew I had to get away," the woman testified.

She described struggling with Conner and running away, all the while screaming.

Two men heard her and rescued her, subduing Conner until police arrived. The two men also testified.

But it was Linda Jardine's testimony that proved most emotional in Judge Elissa Cadish's courtroom. Both jurors and Conner wept as she spoke.

She described her daughter, an airman 2nd class who had been stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, as sweet and placid. As a child, she had an affection for dolls and loved animals.

Jardine described how her daughter's murder has affected the family.

"To this day, I have unexpected grief attacks," she said. Her husband, David Jardine, was a "sadder man," she said.

After her daughter's murder, Linda Jardine said she didn't want to celebrate Mother's Day.

But it's not just family members who have suffered. Linda Jardine believes that in a way, the whole world missed out.

"She would have rescued a lot of animals," Jardine said. "She would have helped a lot of people."

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@review journal.com or 702-380-1039.