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This is from State v. Wallace:

Betty Baucom Murder

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In March 1994, Betty Baucom lived in an apartment in Charlotte with her adopted daughter. On 9 March 1994, Baucom, an assistant manager at the Bojangles' restaurant on Central Avenue, was scheduled to work, but she did not report to work. Baucom's unit director, Jeffrey Ellis, called Baucom's apartment several times but received no answer. Ellis also talked with some of Baucom's co-workers, but no one had heard from her. Additionally, Ellis called Baucom's mother, but she had not heard from Baucom.
The next morning, Ellis became increasingly worried because Baucom was again scheduled to work but did not report. Neither Baucom's mother nor Baucom's aunt had heard from Baucom. Ellis and another employee drove to Baucom's apartment to check on her. They knocked on the door and looked in the windows, and everything appeared normal. Ellis then called Baucom's mother again. Ellis and Baucom's mother decided to contact the police department, and they reported Baucom as a missing person.
Officer Gregory Norwood of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department received a call on the morning of 10 March 1994 to respond to an apartment where a young woman had been found. She was not breathing. Maintenance personnel let Norwood into the apartment. Norwood discovered Baucom's body lying facedown on her bed with a towel around her neck. Approximately an hour after Ellis called police, an officer approached Ellis in the parking lot of the Bojangles' restaurant and told him they had found Baucom's body.
Dr. Sullivan performed an autopsy on Baucom's body on 11 March 1994. He observed blunt-trauma injuries and evidence ofstrangulation, including a ligature in place around her neck. The ligature consisted of a small sheet or pillowcase in a knot with an additional towel wrapped between the skin of the neck and the sheet. Dr. Sullivan observed small abrasions and small contusions of the skin of the neck beneath the ligature and small hemorrhages in the conjunctiva. Additionally, Dr. Sullivan observed abrasions over the left shoulder, both arms, the right upper chest, and the abdomen, and a blunt-trauma injury to the head with an area of abrasion over the right forehead. During the internal examination, Dr. Sullivan observed a buildup of blood in the lungs, enlargement of the brain, small hemorrhages in the muscles in the front of the neck, and small hemorrhages in the lining of the voice box. He testified that the injuries observed were consistent with a struggle. Dr. Sullivan opined that the cause of Baucom's death was strangulation.
Defendant confessed that he went to Baucom's apartment and told her he needed to use the phone. Baucom let defendant into her apartment. They talked for a while. As defendant was getting ready to leave, he placed a choke hold on Baucom, and she fell to the floor. Defendant told her this was a robbery and demanded the alarm code, keys, and combination to the safe for the Bojangles' restaurant where Baucom was the manager. Baucom was very upset, and she took approximately thirty minutes to produce the safe's combination. Defendant then released the choke hold. Defendant remembered Baucom asking, Why did you do that to me? Defendant responded that he was a sick person and that he had hurt many people. Baucom then embraced defendant, said that she forgave him, and told him he needed help. Defendant stated he then became enraged and grabbed Baucom by thethroat, slammed her to the floor, and then scuffled with her. Defendant got Baucom to her feet and took her into the bedroom, where he told her to remove her clothes. Baucom told defendant she did not want to remove her clothes because she had a medical problem. She then showed defendant a rash, which defendant stated looked like an ordinary rash. Defendant then told Baucom he wanted her to perform oral sex on him. She grabbed his penis and started pulling and scratching. Defendant and Baucom began to scuffle again, and defendant sustained a bite on his shoulder and scratches on his abdomen. Defendant was able to tighten the towel around Baucom's neck until she was nearly unconscious. At this point, Baucom removed her clothes and engaged in sexual intercourse with defendant. Afterwards, defendant told Baucom to put her clothes back on. He then placed a towel around her neck and asked her if she had any money. Baucom gave defendant the money in her purse, and he took a gold chain from around her neck.
After strangling Baucom to death, defendant took her television and left in her car. Defendant sold the television for drugs. He then returned to Baucom's apartment to make sure Baucom was dead and to take her VCR. While in Baucom's apartment, defendant used a wet cloth to wipe off the phone, door knobs, and the wall on which some of the struggle took place. Defendant used money from Baucom's purse, the gold chain, and the VCR to purchase more drugs. Defendant kept Baucom's car almost two days. Defendant then left the car in a parking lot, because he thought police officers were following him. Defendant stated that he wiped the interior and most of the exterior of the car, but forgot to wipe the trunk lid.

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Stephanie B.

LAUREL HILL -- Betty Jean ``Suzie'' Baucom was never late for work.

When she didn't show up for her job as manager of a Bojangles restaurant in Charlotte last Thursday, her co-workers began to worry.

Baucom's mother in Laurel Hill called her daughter in Charlotte but got no answer. Friends knocked on her door at The Lake apartment complex on Albermarle Road, but no one answered.

At 10 a.m. on March 10, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police found Baucom, 24, dead on the floor of her bedroom. Police said she was one of 10 victims of Henry Louis Wallace.

Wallace, 28, was charged Sunday in Baucom's death and in the deaths of nine other east Charlotte women.

Wallace was a crack addict who worked in numerous fast-food restaurants in east Charlotte, police said. Wallace knew his victims and strangled them when they let him into their homes, police said. This week, Wallace was linked to the slayings of four other women -- three in Charlotte and one in his hometown of Barnwell, S.C.

Baucom knew Wallace because his former girlfriend worked at the restaurant, a co-worker said Wednesday.

Wallace robbed Baucom's apartment and stole her 1988 Nissan Pulsar, according to her mother, Betty Jean White. The car was found in the apartment complex parking lot the day after Baucom's murder, police said.

Another woman Wallace is accused of killing lived in Baucom's apartment complex. Police said Brandi June Henderson, 18, was found strangled the evening of March 9. Henderson's 10-month-old son was choked but is alive, police said.

Baucom, a Laurel Hill native, had been in Charlotte for six months when she died, White said.

Baucom, whom relatives described as a quiet young woman with a ready smile, was a 1989 graduate of Scotland High School and attended Richmond Community College.

She moved to the city so she could better provide for her 3-year-old daughter, B.J., whom Baucom adopted from a relative, White said.

White said her daughter was working more than 50 hours a week trying to save money so she could attend college in the fall.

Jeff Ellis was one of the first people Baucom met when she began working at the Bojangles restaurant on Central Avenue in Charlotte. He and Baucom began their manager-training together and then worked side-by-side almost every day for the past few months.

``She was one of the nicest people you would ever come across,'' Ellis said.

Ellis said the restaurant will be closed today so co-workers can attend Baucom's funeral at St. Mary AME Zion Church in Laurel Hill.

It was Ellis who called White in Laurel Hill when Baucom didn't show up for work on March 10.

``We knew that something was wrong,'' he said.

White went to Charlotte with B.J. on March 7 to see Baucom on her 24th birthday. White returned to Laurel Hill on March 8 and spoke to her daughter by phone. On March 9, White tried to call Baucom but received no answer. Her daughter's answering machine was not on, which was unusual, White said.

Police later told White that the answering machine was one of the items Wallace stole, as well as Baucom's television, videocassette recorder and gun.

White said she had encouraged her daughter to buy the gun when her roommate moved out. Baucom was going to get a one-bedroom apartment in another complex in April, her mother said.

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Two more weeks passed. Evidence indicates that Wallace's crack addiction was now the center of his life. He didnt get any money from his last victim, so he was still too broke to get high. Perhaps he thought that two weeks was long enough to wait before taking another victim, since Mack's murder hadnt even been reported on the news. On March 8, Wallace went to the apartment complex of his friend Vernon Lamar Woods, with the intention of robbing, raping and murdering Woods's girlfriend, Brandi Henderson. When he got there, Woods answered the door. He hadnt expected that. Flustered, Wallace told him that he was leaving town for a while and said goodbye. Before leaving the apartment complex, he realized he knew someone else that lived there: Betty Baucom, who worked with his girlfriend McKnight at Bojangles. Betty was the assistant manager. Wallace believed that she might have the key and the combination to the safe at Bojangles. He went to her apartment door.

When Baucom answered the door, Wallace told her he needed to use her phone. She was more than glad to help her friend's boyfriend. He pretended to look up a phone number until Baucom turned her back, and then he grabbed her. He demanded keys, the safe combination, and the alarm code for Bojangles. Baucom resisted for over 30 minutes, refusing to give them to him. Finally, she surrendered the combination. Wallace stopped choking her. Baucom asked him, "Why did you do that to me"? Wallace said he was sick. He had hurt many people. According to Wallace's confession, Baucom stood up and told him that she forgave him. She told him that he needed help. Wallace grabbed her by the throat, and pushed her to the floor. The pattern held: He dragged her to the bedroom, and put a towel around her neck, choking her until she was almost unconscious. He took off her clothes and raped her. Afterwards, he ordered her to get dressed, demanded the money in her purse, and strangled her to death. He also took a gold chain from around her neck.

Wallace's new recklessness appeared here. He stole Baucom's TV and her car. He sold the TV, bought crack with the money, and smoked it. Later, he returned to her apartment and took her VCR. He checked to make sure she was still dead. He smoked the VCR too, along with Baucom's gold chain and the money from her purse.

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ConcernedCitizen wrote:

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Not only that, but if you look carefully at the grave marker, it is BAUCOM. Hopefully, the tombstone is correct. Mistakes are made everywhere though. - KWH

Thanks. Here's the photo below:


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Stephanie B.

Here's my YT video tribute to Betty Jean Baucum at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vrpuA1poI8&feature=channel_page

Please watch the video and comment. Thanks.

Steph