Trial Begins For Man Facing Capital Murder Charge In De Kalb Double Homicide
NEW BOSTON, Texas–A jury was selected Monday at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston for a man accused of killing two people during a burglary at a home near De Kalb, Texas, last summer.
Clyde Allen Stephens II, 36, is facing life without the possibility of parole if found guilty of capital murder in the June 19, 2025, deaths of Donna Culpepper, 63, and Charles Beckham Jr., 64. The state is not seeking the death penalty, the only other punishment available under Texas law for capital murder.
A jury of seven women and five men was chosen Monday to decide the case. Opening statements and testimony from the first of the state’s witnesses are expected to begin Tuesday morning before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell.
In addition to capital murder, Stephens has been charged with two counts of first-degree felony murder, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. The indictments cite two prior felony convictions, and the state has moved to enhance the punishment range Stephens faces on those charges should he be convicted.
Beckham, a correctional officer at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Johnston Unit in Winnsboro, returned home in the early morning hours of June 19 after working a shift and found Stephens burglarizing the house, the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office said after the arrest. Investigators believe Stephens shot Beckham multiple times outside the house before setting Beckham’s body and truck on fire to conceal the crime.
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Culpepper arrived at Beckham’s home in the 700 block of Private Road 42041 several hours later for a planned trip into town and was shot once, according to the sheriff’s office and a probable cause affidavit. She was discovered lying face down in the driveway with facial trauma after her family was unable to reach her and a relative went to check for her at Beckham’s home, as TXKtoday reported at the time.
Beckham was known to own several firearms, but none were found in his residence after the murders. Culpepper’s purse and wallet and both victims’ cell phones were also missing, according to a motion filed by prosecutors. So was the gray 2025 Nissan Sentra that Culpepper had rented from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Enterprise reported the Sentra stolen June 19, and it was entered into state and national crime databases, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the vehicle case. Through “investigative techniques and law enforcement databases,” investigators came to believe the car was in the Searcy, Ark., area, the affidavit said.
Detectives in Searcy found restaurant security video from about 2 a.m. June 21 showing a man getting out of the stolen car and walking into the Waffle House on East Race Avenue in Searcy. The man in the video was identified as Stephens, according to the affidavit, which a Bowie County magistrate signed June 23.
Stephens was arrested by White County, Ark., deputies the same day. He was found at a residence in Searcy and fled but was taken into custody after a short pursuit, driving Culpepper’s rental car, according to court records and the White County Sheriff’s Office. He was first held in Arkansas on charges of theft by receiving and fleeing.
The sheriff’s office said evidence collected at the scene, an interview with Stephens and evidence gathered after his arrest link him to both murders, and named him as the lone suspect. The FBI, Arkansas State Police, Texas Department of Public Safety, Searcy Police Department and White County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
Prosecutors asked in June 2025 for Arkansas authorities to release evidence to Bowie County, including Culpepper’s rental car. Items recovered from a house on Dolly Lane in Searcy, where Stephens had allegedly been staying, may include shell casings, jewelry and articles of clothing that belonged to Beckham and the personal effects and identification of Culpepper, the motion said. Interviews with witnesses in Arkansas led authorities to a mobile home in the 4200 block of Highway 367 in Searcy where the stolen firearms may have been stashed, according to the motion. Tidwell granted the request in July 2025.
Stephens waived extradition and has been held in the Bowie County jail since he was transferred from Arkansas custody to Texas custody on July 2, 2025. His bail amounts total $7.3 million.
Stephens is represented by Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson, who was appointed to the case by Tidwell. The state is represented by District Attorney-elect Kelley Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins.