Bastrop, Tx–On Oct. 20 a state grand jury in Bastrop ordered an 18-year-old Smithville area resident to stand trial for murder in the August death of his 14-year-old girlfrend’s mother in McDade. In a separate action the Bastrop County District Attorney’s Office is seeking to have the juvenile’s case, also on a murder charge, transferred into the adult criminal justice system.
Those younger than 17 are generally considered children under Texas law and their cases handled under a separate set of criminal and family laws. In exceptional cases, however, juveniles may be transferred for adjudication under adult criminal rules.
Tuesday’s murder indictment names Joseph Douglas as responsible for the shooting death of Tracy Bellard, 42, “on or about Aug. 17″ this year. The grand jury action puts the defendant on formal notice of the charge he will face in court.
Douglas is being held in the Bastrop County Jail, apparently unable to post bail, pending trial. The victim’s daughter, identified in court records as Haley Bellard, is being held in a juvenile detention facility in Seguin.
Tracy Bellard was reported missing Aug. 14 after she failed to appear for work at her family’s restaurant, Mimi G’s, on FM 1441 that day. Douglas and the daughter were questioned Aug. 17 after Tracy Bellard’s auto was spotted at the residence where Douglas lived near Smithville.
Subsequently both the juvenile and another witness told investigators from the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Department that they had seen Douglas gun down Tracy Bellard at her McDade home with a 22-calibre rifle, according to court records.