Doug Benton of Georgia was last seen alive on June 4, 2000. His neighbors reported him missing nearly two weeks later when they noticed his collection of exotic birds appeared to be neglected.
When police checked his home on June 17, they declared him a missing person. Two days later, he was found encased in concrete in an animal feeding trough in a remote part of a local farm. His body had been wrapped in two shower curtains.
Investigators honed in on the victim’s girlfriend, Tracy Fortson, who just happened to be a sheriff’s deputy. Despite maintaining her innocence, there is a large body of evidence against the former law enforcer.
Fortson and Benton were known to have a rocky relationship, and they were spotted arguing on the day Benton was last seen.
Fortson was known to have purchased a shower curtain on June 4. On the same day, she had also purchased a horse feeding trough and ten 80-pound bags of concrete mix.
The trough Benton was found in had been painted in camouflage color, and samples of paint from spray cans discovered at Fortson’s home were found to be a match.
The evidence against Tracy Fortson mounted up
Further clues included scar marks on trees at the site where the trough was found that matched marks on Fortson’s pickup truck, and concrete found in her truck appeared to be the same type that Benton had been encased in.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelBenton’s own pickup truck had been left at a friend’s residence with a note attached. The friend had not had contact from Benton regarding leaving his vehicle with them.
The attached note was supposedly signed by Benton and claimed that he was going out of town and shouldn’t be contacted. A witness would later testify that the handwriting matched Fortsons. The note had been attached to the truck with a particular type of latex tape that Fortson had been issued with through her work.
In 2004, Fortson was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. An attempt to get the conviction reversed in 2017 was doomed to failure. Since then, the team at Reasonable Doubt has taken up her case.
Fortson has continuously maintained her innocence, claiming she was framed by local law enforcement authorities.
More from Reasonable Doubt
Follow the links to read about more cases profiled on Reasonable Doubt.
Warren Horinek from Forth Worth, Texas, was jailed for murdering his wife Bonnie one night in 1995. He admits they had a troubled marriage where he was often abusive, but he claims he is innocent of this crime.
Lorie Lance Lee died of smoke inhalation in 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee; her boyfriend Claude Garrett was accused of murdering her by arson. However, many now believe it was a tragic accident.
Watch Reasonable Doubt at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.
I saw the Reasonable Doubt episode on this case. Tracy’s Mother and Cousin pleaded on Tracy’s behalf.
In the end . They felt that the Prosecution had proved it’s case
I just saw a bit of the programme but never got it clarified who helped her move the body. He was nearly twice her weight and buried in concrete! If she is guilty (and it looks that way) someone had to have helped her. She did not do that on her own. If anyone can fill me in that would be great. I am so sorry for her family though.
Hi Jean,
In the show, Chris does an experiment where he had a woman Tracey’s size drag a 250 lb mass in a shower curtain and slides it right into the trough in the back of the truck. Then, she put ropes around the trough around a tree and it plopped onto the ground where it was later found. She could have pretty easily done this unassisted.
Thanks, Jill
What they didn’t tell you is, it took 10 hours to complete the task …
I believe she is guilty. The evidence is clear. Horribly horrific act. She is a monster.
I agree, Tracy Fortson is a cold blooded monster who has no conscience and shows absolutely no remorse for taking the life of Doug Benton and it is safer for everyone if she spends the rest of her natural life in a cage.
The physical evidence and Tracy’s link to any of it doesn’t say she killed Doug, nor does it say she put him in that cement filled trough even though she was the person who purchased the cement and trough. But the splashes of cement and fresh drag marks in the bed of her truck was extremely damming to Tracy’s defense., especially the cement splashes. There is simply no way to explain that other than to say the trough thief stole her truck, placed Doug in it, cemented him in the trough, then return to the scene of the murder just a day or two later, while investigation was going on to try cleaning up or covering up blood evidence before deciding to set delayed fuse to burn down the house. All of that it way too far fetched. If you ask me, the cement splashes in Tracy’s truck point directly to her as being involved in the murder.