She had nearly 150,000 people following her online. And if you have ever seen her skating videos, you already know why—she was genuinely having the time of her life out there in every single video. Her name is Beauty Couch. And before we go any further, you need to know who she actually was.

“They hurt my baby so bad,” her mother wept. “My baby didn’t deserve this. My baby was a good baby. She was a sweet girl. She never bothered nobody. She was a friend to everybody.”

That is Kimberly Couch, Beauty’s mother. And everything she just said is exactly what this story is about.

On August 23rd, 2023, a fire was reported near Joe Jerkins Boulevard in Austell, Georgia. When first responders arrived, they found a car burning in a ditch. And not far from that car, in the trees near the woodline, they found Beauty. She had been there for nearly twenty-four hours.

The man arrested in connection with her death was someone she trusted—her boyfriend, the same person who had been sending her flowers to her job just months before. But to understand how we got there, we have to go back to the beginning. Because Beauty Couch had a whole life before August 23rd, and it deserves to be told properly.

Who was she really? And how does someone who was loved by that many people end up in those woods?

Before we get too deep, please remember to like, comment, and subscribe if you find value in these discussions.

April 23rd, 2001. Beauty Couch came into this world. Born to her biological mother, Kimberly Couch, in the Austell, Georgia area. Austell is about twenty-two miles outside of Atlanta—small enough that everybody knows everybody. That is where Beauty grew up.

Early in her life, due to circumstances in her family, Beauty was placed for adoption. By the time she was seven months old, she was adopted by a woman named Deanna Thurman. Beauty did not lose her biological family when that happened. She maintained a relationship with Kimberly and was raised alongside her biological family as well. Three brothers and two sisters, and beyond that, a whole extended family that was deeply connected to her life.

Family was everything in that circle.

Growing up, Beauty attended Cobb County Public Schools. When graduation came, she enrolled at Clayton State University. Her co-workers, her classmates, people who skated with her—they all said the same thing. She was genuinely that person.

She had real plans for her future. Beauty was studying with the goal of going into child psychology. She wanted to help children, and she was already doing just that, serving as the art director of dance at the Youth Life Centers. On weekends, she waitressed at the BlazeOn restaurant and lounge. And she also started her own pop-up store. She called it Beauty K Essentials.

At twenty-two years old, she was in school, working two jobs, and running her own business. And on top of all of that, she still made time for the thing she loved most: roller skating.

Skating was not new for Beauty. It was something she had loved as a child. Around 2021, she picked it back up—seriously. She joined a skate team. She started competing. And she won multiple competitions. Her Instagram page started filling up with videos of her on the rink, dancing on skates, doing moves that had people in the comments losing their minds. The splits on skates. The moonwalk. Full choreographed routines.

Nearly 150,000 people followed her across TikTok and Instagram. Her comment sections were full of people saying she changed how they saw themselves.

Now, that tells you everything about who she was. She was open about her journey. In an interview published just twelve days before her passing, she spoke about overcoming anxiety and bullying to get to where she was.

She told the publication, “My generosity comes from my past. Often in elementary, I was bullied for my size. At home, I was taught that everyone is their own person and are beautiful in their own way. Being kind was always the environment I grew up in.”

She also said this about skating: “I fell in love with music and never stopped since then. Skating gives me a peace I never thought I could experience.”

You could see it on her face every time she got on those skates. That was genuine joy. Every single time.

She started offering paid skating lessons. People signed up. Her community kept growing. And she was just getting started.

But here’s where the story takes a turn. Because the person closest to her during this time was someone her own family barely knew.

His name was Eugene Louis Jacques.

When it came to her personal life, Beauty was private. She kept that separate from what she shared online. The people closest to her confirmed that the relationship with Eugene was new. It had not been going on long, and barely anyone in her family had even met him. Her sister met him just once.

In the beginning, he treated her well. He was the guy who showed up with flowers. He took her out. Her sister described it this way: “That guy that was buying her flowers and taking her out and making her smile at one point—how did he get here? I just can’t believe this.”

Her family has been asking that question since August 2023. And honestly, there is no clean answer to it.

Her sister met him once and said she knew immediately. In her own words, she looked at him and thought that was not the right person for her baby sister.

“I met him one time, and when I met him, I was like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ That was it. And I looked at my baby, and I said that person is not going to be the right person for my baby.”

To the rest of the family, there was nothing obvious to be concerned about. He was around, and things seemed okay. Around two months before August 2023, Beauty posted something on her Facebook page. She kept it vague. No names, no tags. The post read: “If he wanted to, he would. Got these delivered to my job unexpectedly.”

The first hinge of this tragedy landed softly at first—flowers delivered to her job. A boyfriend who showed up. A sister who felt something was wrong. And a young woman who never got the chance to explain what she was really feeling.

August 23rd, 2023. At around 12:18 in the afternoon, the Austell Fire Department received a call about a brush fire near the intersection of Joe Jerkins Boulevard and Landers Street. The firefighters got there and found a vehicle burning in a ditch, completely engulfed.

They put out the fire, and the car was towed to a wrecker yard for examination. Whoever set that car on fire thought it would be the end of the trail. It was actually the beginning of one.

Authorities traced the vehicle using the VIN number and were led to a home in the area. The car was registered in the name of Beauty’s adoptive father. When officers spoke with her parents, Beauty had not been seen since the morning before. Her family had been trying to reach her with no response, and now her car was on fire in a ditch.

She was officially considered missing.

Cobb County police went back to the area where the car had been found. They searched the surrounding woods carefully, and near the woodline, they found a body. The description matched Beauty Couch.

Detectives processed the scene, and foul play was suspected almost immediately. Her mother found out that day, and she did not hold back. She was not just talking about losing her daughter. She talked about someone who knew and stayed quiet for over twenty-four hours and said nothing.

Police were direct about one thing. If that car had not been set on fire, it could have been years before anyone found her. For Kimberly, that is an almost impossible thing to sit with. Her daughter was out there, and the only reason she was found was because someone slipped up.

The second hinge: burning a car to hide a crime doesn’t work when the fire itself is what brings the police. Desperation always leaves a trail.

Police want to find out who killed a twenty-two-year-old woman and set her car on fire. The family of Beauty Couch is just devastated. Cobb Police say it was the Austell Fire Department that was dispatched to this field for what they thought was a brush fire but quickly found out was a car that was on fire. Upon further investigation, they made a gruesome discovery. The body of twenty-two-year-old Beauty Couch.

“She was a sweet girl. She never bothered nobody. She was a friend to everybody.”

Mom Kimberly Couch says she never imagined this type of pain. Someone murdered her twenty-two-year-old daughter, Beauty Couch, who had so much promise. Cobb Police say it was the Austell Fire Department who thought they had a brush fire Wednesday. Closer examination revealed a car was on fire in this field. And police later discovered Beauty’s body in a woodline nearby.

“They burn my baby car. They treated her like she was a dog. I don’t like that.”

The family says Beauty lived in Austell with her adopted mother. Loved ones say she was last seen Tuesday and had not been heard from for twenty-four hours.

“She should have called me and let me know that she had seen my baby. She should have let me know. We both would have went to try to find my baby.”

Cobb Police canvassed the neighborhood nearby. They were looking for answers as to why. The family says Beauty was an Instagram influencer who was attending Clayton State College and had her whole life ahead of her.

“They hurt my baby so bad. My baby didn’t deserve this. My baby was a good baby. She didn’t deserve what she got.”

Cobb Police actively worked this murder investigation. They said if you have any information, give them a call.

The community did not wait. Family and friends gathered near the scene on Joe Jerkins Boulevard and placed balloons and flowers where Beauty had been found. A candlelight vigil was held at BlazeOn Restaurant and Lounge in Austell. People came together. That community showed up for her the same way she had always shown up for them.

Beauty’s brother was there. He had recently reconciled with his sister before she passed. And when he spoke to reporters, this is what he said.

“I felt blame. I felt like I could have been there for her a little bit more. And through it all, I felt like that she was trying to give me answers or trying to give me a sign that something was happening to her. I listened, but I didn’t partially listen all the way. And unfortunately, my baby lost her life behind it. It’s my baby sister.”

He has been living with that since August of 2023.

While the family was grieving, the investigation was already moving. The life of a twenty-two-year-old influencer found dead last week is being honored as we learn new information about her killing. The body of Beauty Couch was discovered in a wooded area next to her torched car. For those who knew this young woman, the hope is that today’s event can help in the healing process, particularly after the arrest of a suspect linked to her death.

The family met near George Beaver’s Park in Austell. Everyone is still emotional after finding out that Beauty’s body was found next to her burnt car just days ago. Twenty-one-year-old Eugene Louis Jacques has been arrested in Louisiana. The family describes him as Beauty’s boyfriend.

Beauty’s brother says he recently reconciled with his sister and is glad he did, but feeling like her protector, he wishes that he could have done more. “I felt that I felt blame. I felt like I could have been there for her a little bit more. And through it all, I felt like that she was trying to give me answers or trying to give me a sign that something was happening to her. I listened, but I didn’t partially listen all the way. And unfortunately, my baby lost her life behind it.”

Though Beauty’s brother said he wants Eugene to rot in a jail cell, her sister says that she wants the death penalty.

In those first hours, all they had was a burned car and a body. No witnesses were coming forward immediately. They turned to local media and asked the community for help. Beauty’s family did the same. Within twenty-four hours, they had a name.

Eugene Jacques. He was twenty-one years old. He was Beauty’s boyfriend. And he was no longer in Georgia.

Eugene Jacques had left Georgia. Authorities were already on his trail. Authorities had a warrant out for his arrest. The US Marshals Service had gotten involved. A task force officer connected to the marshals reached out to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. St. Tammany Parish sits about twenty minutes outside of New Orleans, and that is exactly where Eugene had gone.

Investigators passed along everything they had to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Proactive Enforcement Unit. His name. His photo. The vehicle he was driving—a white Nissan Altima. And the license plate number.

Detective Chance Cloud was on the case by August 24th, 2023. He ran the license plate through a system called Flock, an automatic license plate reader that tracks vehicles through cameras set up throughout the area. The Flock data showed Eugene’s white Nissan Altima moving through the Oak Harbor area of St. Tammany Parish on a consistent schedule, mostly in the afternoons.

On August 25th, 2023, Detective Cloud positioned his team near Oak Harbor and Landmark Drive around 4:00 p.m. The white Nissan Altima came through that afternoon. Detective Cloud confirmed the license plate and pulled the vehicle over after observing a traffic violation.

When Detective Cloud approached that vehicle and asked the driver for his name, the man behind the wheel did not give his real one.

“Right hand behind your back. Palms together on the crew. Stay right here. Don’t move.”

“No.”

“Okay. 1431. We’re code forty. Lift the net. We’re going to be at Oak Harbor and Landmark Waters.”

“No. No.”

“All units. So the initial reason why I stopped—”

“The tag is going to be Florida tag Juliet Tango Romeo.”

“You say your name once, sir.”

“Guy male.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m not concerned about your money. Just got anything that may hurt me or somebody else. Look, I’m going to set your money right. Okay.”

“Do you have a driver’s license, sir?”

“Not with me.”

“Where’s your house at?”

“Um—”

“All right.”

“My knees are kind of on the grass.”

“Yeah. As soon as you’re not searching, man, I’m going help you out.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“You’re good, man. You’re good.”

He told Detective Cloud his name was Michael Waters and said he was from Florida, that he was twenty-one years old, and that his license was at home. Detective Cloud ran the name. Michael Waters did not exist in the system. But the date of birth he provided matched Eugene Louis Jacques exactly.

Detective Cloud came back to the vehicle and read him his Miranda rights.

“Okay. Is anybody else around the corner beside you?”

“Oh, I’m seeing what happened.”

“Trying to figure it all out, man. That’s all. I’m just trying to sort it out.”

“You know your social?”

“No, sir. Did I do something wrong?”

“We’ll explain to you in a second.”

“Does anybody know that car besides you?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Get his information. I’ll run and pull a picture up.”

“That’s fine. I’m going to send a picture to Marshall. All right. Well, the problem is right now you don’t have any form of ID, right? Nothing with a name in the picture. So, we’re taking your word for who you are.”

“I mean, if I didn’t do anything wrong—”

“What? That’s what we’re trying to sort out. You understand?”

“All right.”

“How do you spell your first name, man? M Y K—”

“M Y K—”

“A L—”

“A E L—”

“Waters is your last name.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s your date of birth?”

“04/08/2002.”

“Okay. Spell your first name for me.”

“Um—M K A E L.”

“Okay. Do you know the last four of your social?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay. Where’s your driver’s license out of? Which state?”

“Florida.”

“Do you know the number?”

“How old are you, man?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Where were you born at?”

After that, Eugene dropped the fake name and confirmed who he was. Detective Cloud got word back to Cobb County. They had him.

Eugene Louis Jacques was taken into custody on August 25th, 2023—two days after Beauty’s body was found. He was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail and held there awaiting extradition back to Cobb County, Georgia.

“I represent you. You can choose at any time not to answer any questions or make any statements. Do you understand those rights?”

“Can you make a phone call?”

“Sure. As long as you keep being cool, man. I’ll do what I can to accommodate you. Why’d you lie about your name? There’s a reason. Tell me the truth.”

“Try to avoid getting—”

“Getting called for what? What are you trying to avoid getting called for?”

“He knows he’s got a warrant out of Georgia already.”

“Oh, he knows.”

“I didn’t know I had a warrant. I was going to avoid getting in trouble for making that illegal turn. He said I was making an illegal turn. I was turning into—”

“Why would you give a fake name to avoid getting out of a ticket?”

“I thought y’all was making—”

“No, that don’t make no sense, man. You mind real quick?”

“All right, man. I got some questions for you.”

He was initially charged with murder, arson, and aggravated assault. By the time this went to trial, that list had grown to six counts, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, arson, concealing a death, and tampering with evidence.

The third hinge: a fake name, a traffic ticket, and a license plate reader. Technology doesn’t lie, and neither does panic.

Developing closer to home, a man is in custody for the murder of a twenty-two-year-old woman in Cobb County. Police say twenty-one-year-old Eugene Louis Jacques is suspected of killing Beauty Couch Wednesday morning, then setting her car on fire. Loved ones say Couch had so much promise. She was attending college and was an Instagram influencer.

“They hurt my baby so bad. My baby didn’t deserve this. My baby was a good baby. She was a sweet girl. She never bothered nobody. She was a friend to everybody.”

Mother’s pain right there. We’re working to get Eugene Louis Jacques’s mugshot. Police say he was arrested in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. He’s charged with murder, arson, and aggravated assault. He’s waiting extradition to Cobb County.

Eugene was in custody. For the family, that was at least something, but it did not answer the one question they actually needed answered. Kimberly spoke publicly after the arrest. Beauty’s sister spoke, too. They needed more than an arrest.

Nearly three years after Beauty was found in that woodline off Joe Jerkins Boulevard, the case finally made it to the Cobb County Courthouse in Marietta, Georgia. Jury selection started with fifty-four potential jurors in the pool. They worked through all fifty-four until a jury was selected. And once opening statements began, the two sides laid out very different versions of what happened.

Prosecutors told the jury that electronic evidence placed Eugene Louis Jacques at the scene. License plate readers tracked his movements through Austell on the day of the crime. Cell phone pings placed him in the same area where Beauty’s body was found. And approximately 191 feet from where the vehicle was discovered, investigators found a traffic ticket with Eugene’s name and driver’s license number on it.

The defense had a different argument. Their position was that there was no DNA evidence tying Eugene to the crime, that the state had not looked for any other suspects, and that the traffic ticket was planted. Eugene was only being prosecuted because he happened to be Beauty’s boyfriend.

The medical examiner took the stand early in the trial. Dr. Zia Ashraf had conducted Beauty’s autopsy on August 24th, 2023—the day after she was found. She was a forensic pathologist with over seven years of experience and more than a thousand autopsies on record. Dr. Ashraf also testified about the likely order of the injuries. In her professional opinion, the injuries to the front of Beauty’s body came first. The clustered injuries to her back came later.

Dr. Ashraf’s findings were certified on Beauty’s death certificate. Cause of death: sharp force injuries. Manner of death: homicide.

By the time both sides rested their cases, the jury had heard everything—the electronic evidence, the medical examiner’s findings, the testimony from the detective who tracked Eugene down in Louisiana, and the full picture of what Eugene did in the hours and days after Beauty was found. Beauty’s family had sat through all of it. Every piece of testimony, every argument from both sides. Nearly three years of waiting had come down to this, and now it was in the hands of the jury.

By May 22nd, 2026, almost three years had passed since Beauty was found in those woods off Joe Jerkins Boulevard. The jury had finally reached a decision. The verdict form was handed and read. Every count read out came back the same way.

Guilty.

That same day, the judge sentenced Eugene Louis Jacques to life without parole plus twenty years. The verdict and the sentencing on the same day. That does not happen often. He will not be leaving prison. The family had been waiting for that moment for nearly three years.

Kimberly also talked about what comes next for her. Her plan is to start a program that gives young people a space to speak up when something in their life does not feel right.

The man convicted of stabbing and killing his girlfriend is preparing to spend the rest of his life behind bars. “Count one of the indictment, malice murder—we the jury find the defendant guilty.” A judge sentenced Eugene Jacques to life without parole plus twenty years.

A jury has found Eugene guilty on all charges in connection to the death of his girlfriend, the influencer named Beauty Couch.

“It’s at least a little bit of relief for the family that had been seeking justice for nearly three years now. Here’s Beauty’s biological mother, Kimberly. Thankful, but still devastated. ‘I just wanted my justice for my baby and I got it. And she got it, so she can rest. And I can rest, too.’”

Eugene Jacques was facing multiple charges including first-degree murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death, tampering with evidence, and arson. Back in August of 2023, the twenty-two-year-old influencer was found dead inside of a burning car. Evidence indicated that she had been stabbed prior to the fire even happening.

“I know now what happened and I know who did it. And I thank God that God got him.”

One key piece of evidence tying Jacques to the crime was a traffic ticket at the scene belonging to the defendant containing his name and driver’s license number. While his attorney suggested the ticket was planted there, Flock cameras also tracked his moves as he drove that day, placing him right there near the scene. It was an open-and-shut case for jurors to find him guilty on all charges.

Beauty’s mother, however, is hoping that her story can be used as a cautionary tale for others in her situation.

“I want to open up this program to help other young people that going through struggles like that with somebody. I just want to get something going for her in her name to carry on, so I can let young other girls know that if you getting abused, just say something.”

And now that justice has been carried out on this side, Beauty’s mother says that she’s waiting on God to do the rest.

The fourth hinge: a traffic ticket with his name on it, found 191 feet from her body. He ran. He lied. He burned everything. But paper doesn’t burn that easily—and neither does the truth.

The one thing this case never gave the family was a reason. The motive was never publicly confirmed by prosecutors or by Eugene Jacques himself. And that is something the family has had to accept, too. Whatever happened between that post and August 23rd, 2023, only Eugene Louis Jacques knows. And he never said why.

Nearly 150,000 people followed her online. People who had never met her said she changed how they saw themselves. People who knew her personally said she was exactly who she appeared to be. Her co-workers, her classmates, and the people she skated with. Everyone said the same thing. She was twenty-two years old, and she was just getting started.

What happened to Beauty is part of a conversation about Black women, about relationships, and about the people who were supposed to protect them. That conversation never really goes away. And Beauty is a part of it now.

Kimberly said what she said for a reason. There are people out there right now who are in situations they have not told anyone about. That is what she wants to build from all of this. Something that keeps Beauty’s name alive in a way that actually helps people.

Beauty was born on April 23rd, 2001. She was twenty-two years old when she passed on August 23rd, 2023. Born and gone on the same date. She had her whole life ahead of her.

Our deepest condolences to her family and everyone who knew and loved her.

The final hinge: Beauty Couch was not a cautionary tale. She was a person. She was loved. She was seen. And the only thing that matters now is that her name is spoken, her story is told, and her mother’s warning reaches someone before it’s too late.

Rest easy, Beauty Carter Couch. I hope these stories help you recognize warning signs and encourage you to seek help or offer support before it’s too late.

I’ll see you in the next episode of Crime of Passion. Thank you for watching.