Bastrop, Tx–The father of a teen murder suspect in the August 2009 death of a McDade mother and popular restaurant waitress was indicted March 22 for driving drunk last year with a juvenile passenger, a felony offense. The juvenile named in the drunk driving case, Haley Bellard, has been separately charged in the Aug. 14 death of her mother, Tracy Bellard, 42.
The indictment, handed up by a state grand jury in Bastrop, orders Kenneth Douglas to stand trial for driving drunk on June 18 last year with Haley Bellard, then 14, as a passenger. Both Haley Bellard, now 15, and 18-year-old Joseph Douglas are in custody on murder charges in the death of Tracy Bellard last August at her McDade home.
Investigators have alleged Tracy Bellard was shot to death and her body later transported to a site near Smithville where it was burned in a brush pile. Tracy Bellard was widely known in the Bastrop area in connection with her work at the family restaurant, Mimi G’s, on FM 1441 north of Bastrop. She had repeatedly attempted to thwart a romantic relationship between her daughter and Joseph Douglas, according to police and court records.
Officials close to the case have declined to comment on possible connections between the Kenneth Douglas indictment and the murder prosecution of Joseph Douglas and Haley Bellard. Prosecutors are seeking to have the case against Haley Bellard handled under adult criminal rules instead of juvenile law. A hearing on that move has not been scheduled in 423rd District Court.