Beth Anne Quatse (Shifflett)

Part One

Beth Anne Quatse (Shifflett)

Everything is not on the internet. As a child I remember hearing rumors that my second grade teacher had been killed. They – the grown up people – probably didn’t want me to hear any of the details. It would have shocked them to know I had already been sneaking into the adult section of the library where they kept the really good books and was watching horror movies when my cousins were supposed to be babysitting me but were off making out with their boyfriends. When I asked what had happened to my teacher over the years, I received a lot of … “I think.” … “Maybe.” … “Go ask your mother.” … “I don’t remember.” The only thing I had was an old report card from 1969 with her signature on it. Beth Shifflett. 

 

As I got older, I tried searching for her on the internet. All I knew was she had been alive in 1969 and had taught school in Staunton, Virginia which is in Augusta County. The only thing I could find was a forum running from 2009-2012 asking the same questions I was asking. Their answers were the same rumors I had heard over the years. So I gave up and didn’t even think about looking for her for quite awhile.

Then one day while I was using one of my favorite websites … FindaGrave.com … for research into family history and backgrounds for novels because I’m too cheap to pay for the other sites, it dawned on me to type in her name. I didn’t hold out much hope of finding anything. I didn’t even know if Beth was her name or a nickname. And after all those years of wondering, there she was right on the computer screen in front of me. Well, not her but a picture of her grave marker. Her last name wasn’t listed as Shifflett but as Quatse and I still wasn’t sure I had the right woman. The cemetery she was buried in was in Rockingham County, Virginia and I drive past it every week on my way to my mother’s house. Even the cemetery records state that her last name was Shifflett but the tombstone reads Quatse.

I guess when your husband murders you; it’s it would be bad etiquette to put his name on your grave marker. 

 

So armed with a name and a death date, off I went and after weeks of research, trips to two libraries and learning to use the microfiche reader and a walk through the cemetery (thanks to the daughter for locating the grave), here is what I found. Disclaimer: Most of the information was taken from newspapers written at the time and I’m only repeating what they reported. 

 

Beth Anne Quatse was born July 3, 1940 to Charles E. Quatse and Mary Slaven Quatse in Harrisonburg. She was a 1958 graduate of Elkton High School (where her father was a faculty member and her mother was a secretary) and a 1962 graduate of Madison College (Madison College became James Madison College in 1976). There is an article in the college paper The Breeze that during spring rush on March 11, 1961 Beth walked to the sorority of her choice, Alpha Sigma Tau’s Zircle House. The newspaper states the day of the murder, she was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa Sorority and in the spring 1982 issue of The Anchor of Alpha Sigma Tau on page 15, Joyce Busel Miller made a memorial contribution in Beth’s name. Members of the Alpha Delta Kappa Sorority served as honorary attendants at her funeral. 

 

She was a Senior Girl Scout Instructor at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. She taught Bible school and worked with the Methodist Youth Fellowship. She was a member of the Central United Methodist Church. She was an officer in the Staunton Education Association.

Beth taught second grade at Northside Elementary School in Staunton. In 1970, she became the director of the Mary Baldwin College Kindergarten program. She would have completed her Masters Degree in June of 1971. 

 

But she never made it past November of 1970.

 

Beth married William Lloyd Shifflett on May 19, 1962. He was born on May, 13, 1939. They were both from Elkton, Virginia. Shifflett was a 1957 graduate of Elkton High School and attended Shenandoah College (which became Shenandoah University in 1991). He worked for Rockingham Milling Company before joining Combine Insurance Company. He served in the National Guard in Staunton.

They had lived at 456 Mountain View Drive in Staunton for about six years. Neighbors describe them as a quiet, friendly couple who had numerous friends and were well liked.

Until Thursday, November 5, 1970. 

 

That fall, there were two Madison College students staying at the house while they were doing student teaching at Northside Elementary and were scheduled to finish their training and return to college that day. Beth came home shortly sometime after noon from teaching a kindergarten class at Mary Baldwin College. The only witness to the murder was one of the student teachers who was at home at the time. The other was still at the school.

Beth was found on the kitchen floor. She had been shot eight to ten times in the back with a small caliber weapon. She had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and her throat had been slashed.

Shifflett was found lying in the living room with two small caliber bullet wounds beneath his heart. 

 

The student ran to the neighbors and then was taken by the police to the hospital and treated for shock.

Shifflett was transported to Kings Daughters Hospital by Staunton Rescue Squad and after her release, the two students were taken back to Madison College in Harrisonburg.

And Beth was dead.

 

Part Two

William Lloyd Shifflett

 

William Lloyd Shifflett was operated on Thursday night at Kings Daughters Hospital. He was listed in satisfactory condition and was being guarded by the police. Saturday night, Staunton Police Chief, Major J. M. Boyers stated a warrant had been issued, charging Shifflett with the murder of his wife but that it would not be served until the accused man was released from the hospital. Shifflett was transferred to Augusta County Jail on November 23 and was being held in lieu of $50, 000 bond while waiting for a preliminary hearing. Two hearings were held to determine if Shifflett should be given a psychiatric examination. On January 18, 1971 Staunton Circuit Court Judge William S. Moffett reaffirmed an earlier decision and ordered Shifflett to be examined. On January 28, he was examined by two psychiatrists and was found competent to stand trial, so there was no reason to suspect mental instability Augusta County Sheriff John E. Kent said.

But there was.

Shifflett was being held in a first floor five man cell block with separate cells for each inmate. On Tuesday, March 9^th he chatted with the other inmates until after 1a.m. and they did not notice anything unusual. He apparently waited until the other four inmates were asleep, then wrapped a bed sheet around his neck and put it over a metal bar in the cell and hanged himself. There was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were used prior to the suicide. Shifflett’s body was discovered at 6 a.m. when Jailor Glenn O. Buzzard was waking the prisoners for breakfast. None of the other prisoners reported seeing or hearing anything. 

 

There was no reason to suspect that Shifflett would attempt suicide, the sheriff said.

Part Three

The Weird Stuff

Because Shifflett killed himself, no trial was held. No trial means no testimony as to what happen and why. No trial means no court records. The student that was in the house was interviewed by the police but her statement was never released. So there are no answers as to why.

They were buried by the same funeral home in Harrisonburg. And they were both buried in East Lawn Memorial Garden on Route 33 East in Rockingham County. They are both buried in the same section only two rows apart. You can stand at one and see the other. 

 

William Lloyd Shifflett’s last name is not on Beth Ann Quatse’s gravemaker but on his is the following:

For him, his great conquest and motivation for life was unwillingly destroyed. His death, only served to protect I and all those he loved. Father in Heaven grant him eternal peace.

Research:

FindaGrave.com

The Breeze, Madison College, Harrisonburg, Virginia Friday, March 17, 1961

The Daily News Record, Harrisonburg Virginia

The Staunton Leader, Staunton, Virginia


The Anchor of Alpha Sigma Tau