Bastrop, Tx–After a hearing today a state district judge ruled that 15-year-old Hailey Bellard can be tried as an adult for the shooting death last August of her mother, Tracy Bellard, 42, of McDade. The teen was immediately arrested on a murder charge and ordered held in the Bastrop County Jail under $100,000 bail.
Hailey Bellard had been held in a juvenile detention facility since she and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Joseph Douglas, were questioned in August 2009 about the disappearance of Tracy Bellard, who worked at the family restaurant, Mimi G’s, on FM 1441 north of Bastrop. Douglas, also charged with murder, remains in jail under $500,000 bail.
District Attorney Bryan Goertz said he will seek a grand jury indictment against Hailey Bellard next week. Grand jury action is required to send any felony case to trial.
Criminal investigators believe Tracy Bellard was shot to death at her McDade home after she repeatedly tried to interfere with a romantic relationship between her daughter, 14 at the time, and Douglas.
Tags: teen murder charges