Almost five years to the day

after his wife's disappearance, Jim Watson has been indicted for the murder

of Beverley Watson.

Watson, long suspected in the

murder/disappearance of his wife, Beverley, back on Jan. 18, 1997, was

arrested Tuesday afternoon at his home. Just minutes before, a Fulton

County Grand Jury indicted him on one count of malice murder relating

to Beverley Watson's death.

Watson was apprehended by members

of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's metro fugitive squad, said Maj.

Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Watson's home

was staked out Tuesday while officials awaited word on whether the Fulton

County Grand Jury would indict him.

According to the indictment,

James Lamar Watson, 38, did "cause the death of Beverley Watson ...

Four witnesses were scheduled

to testify to the grand jury, including Jordan.

Mrs. Watson, whose body was

found over two years after her disappearance in a wooded area in south

Fulton County, was originally reported as a missing person. Jim Watson

claimed she walked away from their residence at 295 Stoneridge Way in

the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 1997, without even a coat, leaving

behind family vehicles, a purse, her car keys and two children.

Jim Watson had told police

his wife left after they argued over their pending separation.

Mrs. Watson's remains were

found in March 1999 by a surveyor working in a rural area of south Fulton

County near Fairburn. That may prove to be a key break in the case, allowing

the case to be prosecuted in Fulton County.

The case has taken a number

of twists and turns before Watson's arrest. In July 1999, Jim Watson took

custody of his wife's remains and had them cremated before officials in

Fayette County were notified. Investigators wanted to keep the remains

as possible evidence.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner's

Office, which examined the remains, eventually concluded that the cause

of her death was undetermined.

The case has also resulted

in several federal lawsuits, as Jim Watson sued the Sheriff's Department

over a traffic stop months after his wife's disappearance that was ordered

countersued for slander libel, but both suits were dismissed by a federal

judge.

The traffic stop was for having

illegally tinted windows, and deputies discovered a gun in the vehicle,

which was later returned to Watson.

The department also was sued

in another case relating to the traffic stop as a former lieutenant at

the Sheriff's Department claimed he was wrongfully fired for speaking

to Watson's attorney about the traffic stop after department officials

told him not to.

Watson was first publicly identified

as the prime suspect in a hearing on that case in May of 2000 by Jordan

and several other deputies.

After learning Mrs. Watson's

remains were found, a local attorney turned over documents to authorities

that he claimed she had told him to give to police were she to be found

dead. The attorney, Jim Bischoff, represented Mrs. Watson in a divorce

proceeding she brought, then reconsidered, several years prior to her

disappearance.

Mrs. Watson's father, Fred

Callaway, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her former husband, which

was ultimately settled in August 2000. Callaway lodged the suit on behalf

of the Watsons' two children, but the details of the settlement were not

released.

An order relating to the settlement

revealed that a trust will be created for both children and the trust

will hold proceeds of the settlement agreement.

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