SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — An Alabama woman charged in the fatal 1988 beating of a pregnant South Bend woman is being held without bond following her initial hearing.
A St. Joseph County judge entered a not guilty plea Monday for 56-year-old Barbara Brewster of Weaver, Alabama. A public defender will be appointed for her.
Brewster and 76-year-old George Kearney both were charged with murder earlier this month in the slaying of 28-year-old Miriam Rice.
Court documents say a son of Brewster has told investigators that Kearney abducted Rice while she waked her dog on June 24, 1988, and Brewster fatally beat her with tools in a van. Rice’s body was found with multiple skull fractures four days later, 2 miles from her home. She was four months pregnant. She also had a 3-year-old son.