Opelika mom, boyfriend arrested on murder charges in 20-year-old cold case

OPELIKA, Ala. (WTVM) - The Opelika Police Department arrested a man and a woman in relation to an unsolved homicide from 2000.

On April 23, 2000, Opelika police and rescue personnel responded to a call of an unresponsive 4-month-old child in the 400 Block of Raintree Street.

Responders found Jarquavious Hughley dead upon arrival, who at the time, was in the care of his mother Tomeika Hughley, and her associate, Bobby Beaty.

An autopsy was performed by the state’s medical examiner who ruled the manner of death to be homicide. At the time of the incident, no charges were filed.

Detectives reviewed the facts they had with the Lee County District Attorney’s Office and found sufficient evidence to present the case to a Lee County Grand Jury. In April of 2022, the case was presented to the Lee Co. Grand Jury who returned an indictment against 43-year-old Tomeika Hughley and 42-year-old Bobby Beaty, charging them each with murder.

After the indictment, the U.S. Marshals arrested Beaty in Opelika on August 3, 2022, and Hughley in Dayton Beach, FL where she was extradited back to Alabama on August 27, 2022.

In addition to the murder charged, Hughley also faces a pending, unrelated charge of chemical endangerment of a child from a separate case.