Family of Beverly Carter keeps her legacy alive through foundation 10 years after real estate agent’s killing

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The kidnapping and murder of Arkansas realtor Beverly Carter is a case that made national headlines a decade ago, and now her family is working to keep her memory alive.

Ten years ago this week, Carter went to show a house to a couple in Scott but never came home. Her story has forever changed the real estate world in hopes of making the industry safer.

The loss of this dynamic figure shocked Arkansas and devastated Carter’s family.

“She had the biggest personality but also so sweet and so humble,” son Carl Carter recalled. “She was absolutely the cornerstone, the matriarch of our family.”

Carl shared his memories of that fateful day, saying the family was initially not worried when Beverly could not be found.

“When I got the call from my dad and he said that your mom is not returning my phones calls or my texts, it didn’t really cause any concern to me at all,” he said.

Carl explained that on Sept. 25, 2014, his mom was in the town of Scott doing what she had done hundreds of times – showing a house to potential buyers. The family began to worry, though, when they arrived at the home to find it deserted.

“We arrive there, and this home is empty, and there is my mom’s car locked with her purse inside,” he said. “It was just as if though my mom disappeared.”

The couple thought to be interested in purchasing the home quickly became the focus of a desperate search.

“I’ll never forget the feeling of just, how big the world felt, and how endless the opportunities of where she could be,” Carl remembered.

Realtors, friends, family and strangers all scoured farmlands and fields for Beverly. She was found dead five days later on Sept. 30.

Arron Lewis is serving two life sentences for capital murder and kidnapping for the killing, while his then-wife Crystal Lowery is serving 30 years for first-degree murder.

The story of Beverly’s killing caught fire, spreading across the world. After grieving his loss, a purpose and a passion for change ignited within Carl.

“It was a couple years after actually we lost my mom that an agent confided in me that while she was showing property, she was attacked and raped, and that was the moment within where I was like, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” he explained.

Carl created the Beverly Carter Foundation in January of 2017. The foundation’s goal is to teach personal safety to real estate agents and more.

“I often start with my mom’s situation, and things that could have made a different outcome, and one is do everything we can to verify the identity of the people that we’re working with, that we’re meeting with,” he said.

Beverly’s legacy also included legislation created in Arkansas aimed at keeping realtors safe.

“Something that I’m so grateful our state did is implement the requirement that every real estate agent within the state of Arkansas take one hour of mandated safety training every single year, and beyond the great thing that was put in place, now we’re seeing other states adopt that same legislation,” Carl said.

Watching the industry transform in her honor and memory brings a sense of pride in his mother to Carl, something he shares during every presentation he gives for the foundation.

“I see my first slide, which is a picture of my beautiful mom, I always say ‘Hey mom, this is who we’re talking to today and this is who we’re trying to help,’” he said.

Thousands of people now know the name Beverly Carter, and her story and legacy has inspired 10 years of change and action.

“I feel like people can just read a little bit about her, see her picture, and see the warmth, the real person that was behind it and they relate to her, and I think it speaks so much to who she was that we’re still having the conversation 10 years later,” Carl said.

One thing Carl noted that’s gets him through every day is how he knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that his mom knew she was fiercely loved by her entire family and how he will continue to be her biggest advocate hoping to keep a positive legacy of his mom.

To learn more about the work of the foundation or see how you can get involved, head to BeverlyCarterFoundation.org .

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