Anderson County investigators say two persons of interest identified in missing woman cold case

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office is releasing new information about an unsolved cold case that has haunted the community for more than 20 years.

Billie Jo Beam-Hughes, who went by BJ, disappeared from Anderson County in 2000.

For the first time, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office announced that they have two persons of interest in this case.

“She’s just disappeared off the face of the earth,” BJ’s sister, Teresa Beam Hill said.

On July 6, 2000, BJ caught a ride with an unnamed person at Williamston Curb Market.

The trail stops about a mile away at the intersection of Highway 8 and Highway 20 in Pelzer, where investigators were told BJ got out of the car and walked toward a gas station.

”With the interviews that were conducted, she was going there to basically use the payphone. That has not been confirmed nor denied in the last 23 years. We don’t know why she was there, but what we do know is that this was the last place that anyone saw her alive,” Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer, Shale Remien said.

One week later, BJ’s family found out that she was missing.

”She was supposed to go with some friends to the beach and apparently she didn’t show up. They had already left, went on their trip, and come back. My stepmom was told afterwards that she didn’t even go with the group to the beach. She didn’t show up,” Teresa Beam Hill said.

Her family searched frantically, but she never came home.

“I was just waiting for her to call her mom. Her and her mom were really close and practically inseparable. She was always there for her mom. She loved her mother. She was a mother’s girl. She took care of her mother because she was disabled and it just didn’t seem right that she was not around,” BJ’s sister said.

BJ’s brother said their mom died without ever knowing what happened.

“She was my sister and I love her. She didn’t deserve what she got. I know she is dead. I know this. There’s not a doubt in my mind. There’s no way that girl wouldn’t call her mother. No way. It’s just impossible. Somebody needs to pay for what they did,” BJ’s brother, Bobby Elmore said.

The sheriff’s office is not naming the two persons they believe are responsible, but they did tell us that BJ knew them.

“They all ran in a similar circle, as far as these two people, and supposedly those are the last two people that saw her alive,” Remien said.

Investigators believe someone out there knows what happened, and all they need is one person to come forward and lead them to BJ’s whereabouts.

“There’s enough pieces of evidence, information, interviews, and countless hours within that case file. Even with so much time passing, its still possible to do that,” Remien said.

A DNA sample has been entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Anyone with information about this case should contact the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

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