Dateline: The Client – Who was Arron Lewis and what do we know about his crimes? Details of the 2014 homicide, explored

The Dateline episode, The Client brought attention to a shocking case. Aired on 17th April 2016, it explored the kidnapping and murder of Beverly Carter, a real estate agent from Arkansas, which took place in 2014. The man behind her disappearance and death was Arron Lewis, a convicted felon with a disturbing motive.

As seen on Dateline, at the time of the crime, Lewis was 33 years old and living in Jacksonville, Arkansas. He and his wife, Crystal Lowery, carried out a plan that began with the intention of making money through ransom. Instead, it ended with the brutal death of an innocent woman who was simply doing her job.

Dateline: The Client - Details of the case and crimes of Aaron Lewis

What was supposed to be a kidnapping soon turned into murder. Here's everything on the case and Aaron Lewis's crimes:

About Dateline: The Client:

The Dateline episode tells us the horrific fate Beverly Carter faced in 2014. In the afternoon of 25th September 2014, Beverly Carter had just had a small win at work when she received $50 in a company contest. Later that evening, she scheduled one last home showing for the day for a couple interested in a property on Old River Drive in Scott, Arkansas. That was the last time anyone saw her alive.

Her husband, Carl Carter Sr., became alarmed when she did not come home. Around 9:00 PM, he went to the home she was supposed to be showing. As seen on Dateline, at the said house, he found her car in the driveway with her purse inside, and the front door of the house wide open. Beverly had vanished without a trace.

As soon as police got involved, a full-scale search effort began. Friends, family, and fellow real estate agents joined forces with law enforcement to try and find her. As ABC News reported, on 28th September, investigators named Arron Lewis as a suspect. They quickly arrested him and charged him with capital murder, kidnapping, and robbery.

Dateline: The Client - Crimes committed by Aaron Lewis:

A few days later, using location data from Lewis's cell phone, authorities found Beverly’s body. She had been buried near a concrete factory where Lewis used to work. The Associated Press reported that Lewis had admitted soon after his arrest to reporters that he had targeted her,

“because she was just a woman that worked alone — a rich broker,”

This was a chilling confession by the suspect because it meant almost any successful real estate agent who worked alone could be a target of such a heinous crime.

Not long after Lewis’s arrest, police also took his wife, Crystal Lowery, into custody. She faced the same charges as her husband. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Lowery later pleaded guilty to the murder and kidnapping charges, hoping to get her charges reduced.

As reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, in a later court testimony by Lowery, the couple had intended to hold Beverly for ransom in a deserted office near the plant. But when they realized there had been changes made in the plant, their plan was no longer usable; they had no backup plan.

Lewis had brought Beverly to his house and tied her up in the bathroom. Lowery stayed behind to keep watch over her with a stun gun while Lewis went back to the crime scene to retrieve Beverly’s phone and other belongings. However, by then, the area was crawling with police, and he fled the scene.

The couple acquired a short recording of twelve seconds of Beverly forcefully asking her husband to comply with their demands. Unfortunately, the recording was never heard on time, and Beverly’s fate was sealed. Fearing she might identify them later, they decided to kill her. Beverly died by suffocation. Her hands were bound behind her back, and her head was wrapped tightly with duct tape.

Arron Lewis tried to defend himself in court by claiming that Beverly had willingly left with him and that the events were consensual. His lawyer even suggested she was struggling personally, pointing to issues in her marriage and her profession. Beverly’s husband admitted they had past troubles but insisted their relationship had recovered.

The jury didn’t buy Lewis’s story. After less than an hour of consideration, they found him guilty of capital murder and kidnapping. He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Crystal Lowery testified against Lewis in exchange for a reduced sentence. She pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2020, she asked for early release, claiming she had changed in prison, but as KARK reported, her request was denied.

Beverly Carter’s story, as told in Dateline: The Client, is a heartbreaking reminder of the risks real estate professionals can face. Her tragic death sparked a national conversation about safety in the industry and left a legacy that continues to protect others today. The Dateline special revisiting the case highlighted the emotional impact it had on everyone involved.

The episode is available for streaming on Peacock. New episodes of Dateline come out on NBC on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET.

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