Thursday, September 25, 2014, was a day I won't forget. Beverly Carter, a real estate agent in Arkansas, went missing. Chills run down my spine when I think about what happened to her, and how it could have been anyone of us. She was a successful realtor, knew the ropes and yet one day let her guard down that proved to be a fatal error.

The murderers admit they targeted her because she worked alone. She drove a nice car, she marketed herself with millions of dollars in sales and her advertising photo showed a little bling. I am not conveying that this was her fault at all, she truly was the victim. Polls I have seen suggest that male counterparts don't have the same fears; they feel they won't be in the same danger a woman realtor faces. This isn't true and gives them a false sense of security.

Back to Beverly. She was supposed to be meeting a couple at a vacant house. When she arrived, only the male was present; he said his female counterpart was held up at work. Beverly proceeded to show the house. She went in the first room and was hit with a stun gun and tied up. He then backed his car up to the door and dumped her in the trunk. The plan was to hold her for ransom. But he also wanted her pocketbook, which she had left in her car. Angrily, he tried to return to the house but by this time the place was crawling with police.

Beverly had called her husband and told him where her last appointment was and said she would pick up dinner on her way home. So he was aware something was wrong rather quickly. The rest of the story is from court testimony about wanting her to be silenced and be gone, which led them to killing her. Yes, his girlfriend was part of the scheme and participated in the final acts that took Beverly's life. Beverly's body was found the following Tuesday in a shallow grave 25 miles from where she went missing.

Beverly's son has created the Beverly Carter foundation, and works with the National Association of Realtors to get the message out to all realtors that we need to be more careful. Our job is listed as a dangerous one per the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Would you have thought that before reading this? Most of us never really did much thinking on the subject, although I do remember in my licensing class long before this happened, to follow some safety rules. The numbers decreased for the years 2020 and 2021, but because of the pandemic we did things a bit differently.

No longer do we have customer or clients ride in our vehicles; we generally have a worksheet with information about each person we meet. Some require ID, proof of qualifying for a mortgage, so the mortgage company has actually vetted them, meeting at the office, so others will see them, write down their license plate number, look them up on Google before meeting them, even Facebook, then you will know what they look like, if you arrive and they aren't the same looking, it’s time to rethink getting out of your car. Keep your doors locked, have apps on your smart phone so others know where you are at all times; there are devices to carry to sound alarms, automatically call 911, alert a family member etc. There are so many things we can do, as long as we remember to have our phone fully charged or carry a charging device. There are other safety protocols that we, or at least I, follow. And always trust you gut. No amount of commission is worth your life.

Dress to be able to run. Know where you are. Tell others where you will be and for how long, and do what you have to, to protect yourself.

Each day we face danger. There are also cyber attacks and scams that are becoming more frequent, and we must protect ourselves from those types of attacks as well. The more knowledgeable you are with electronics and data protection, the better off you will be.