James Lamar Watson Jr. will

go on trial for the 1997 murder of his wife, Beverley, beginning June

3 in Fulton County Superior Court.

One of Fayette County's most

celebrated cases, Beverley Watson was the focus of an intense search following

her sudden disappearance from her east Fayette home in the middle of the

night five years ago. Her husband, Jim Watson, 38, was considered an unofficial

suspect in his wife's disappearance even before her remains were discovered

in a wooded area of south Fulton County two years later, authorities reported

at the time.

Watson was indicted for murder

in January by a Fulton County grand jury, almost five years to the day

of his wife's disappearance. Watson is currently out on bond, with strict

orders from Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. not to have any

contact with potential witnesses in the case.

Watson had told police his

wife left their home Jan. 18, 1997, without a coat, leaving behind family

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

The case has taken a number

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

of his wife's remains and had them cremated before they could be preserved

as evidence.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner's

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

cause of her death was undetermined.

The case has also resulted

in several federal lawsuits. In one, months after his wife's disappearance,

Jim Watson sued the Fayette County Sheriff's Department over a traffic

stop that was ordered by Maj. Bruce Jordan, the lead investigator for

the department. Jordan countersued for slander, but both suits were dismissed

The traffic stop was for having

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

that was later returned to Jim Watson.

The department was also 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 she had given him in case she were ever found dead. The attorney,

Jim Bischoff, represented Mrs. Watson in a divorce proceeding she brought

several years prior to her disappearance that was never consummated.

Mrs. Watson's father, Fred

Callaway, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jim Watson, 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.

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