Henry Clay Beattie Jr.

The murder of Louise Beattie occurred on July 18, 1911 when Henry Clay Beattie Jr., an American man from Virginia, shot and killed his wife, 23-year-old Louise Wellford Owen Beattie. The young couple had left their five-week-old baby at home for a midnight drive on the Midlothian Turnpike, with Beattie returning with a dead body in the car, his wife's head having been blown off by a shotgun blast. Beattie initially claimed to his wife's uncle that a "tall, bearded" highwayman had killed Louise. Beattie was arrested on July 21, 1911. Beattie pleaded not guilty.²