Beth Gibson (Melinda Page Hamilton) is the main villainess from "Good Faith," episode 4.11 of The Closer (airdate January 26, 2009). She was introduced as a cancer survivor and the girlfriend of Jeff Crawford.
Jeff and Beth were members of a church led by pastor Paul Hicks, and in the episode, Jeff was found shot in what was originally a suicide, though the autopsy revealed that he was murdered. Regarding Beth, her encounter with Brenda Leigh Johnson revealed that she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma a year prior, and she also stated that Jeff planned to propose to her. Beth turned down Jeff's proposal; stating that she wanted to wait until she was recovered before she would marry him, though she added that her refusal was not why Jeff killed himself.
After Brenda's father, Clay, suffered a mild heart attack and mentioned how expensive everything is--even aspirin, she asked detective Irene Daniels to look into Beth's medical records. The episode's climax saw Brenda interview Beth at the station and asked her to sort through Jeff's things to see if anything didn't belong. Upon seeing a gun, Beth stated that the gun wasn't his due to the fact that the gun he had was borrowed from his brother, with Brenda revealing that the gun was her own. Brenda later asked Beth which of the medications she was on, with Beth stating that it was a mixture of the common drugs before being told that she spent $6,000 on a single chemotherapy treatment without naming the drugs. Brenda added that she showed a picture of Jeff to Beth's oncologist, as Jeff demanded the drugs, and while Jeff was recognized, he didn't receive the drugs due to the fact that Beth, in actuality, wasn't a patient.
Beth was revealed as a scam artist in the process, and just as she was about to be arrested, she revealed the truth. A year prior, Beth discovered a lump under her arm and had a biopsy done afterwards. She informed the church about her fears, and as a result, she received monetary donations from those around her. After Beth received a clean bill of health, she was relieved, but due to her adoration over the love and donations she received, she masked the truth from the church--including Jeff. She claimed that when she told Jeff, he cried at first, but calmed down and forgave Beth before telling her to reveal the truth to the church, after which she left to do so. She expressed sorrow over not being there for Jeff in the moments leading to his apparent suicide, but after Brenda showed Beth the blood spatter and an outline of the shooter, a more sinister truth was revealed: Beth was Jeff's killer.
As it turned out, Beth wasn't willing to tell the truth to the entire church, as she asked Jeff to give her more time to make it appear that she had recovered. When Jeff refused, the evil Beth shot him to death inside his bathroom, which is where the blood splatter came from. The villainess claimed that she was going to give back the money and that the gun was only meant to be used as a scare tactic, and lashed out at Jeff for not giving her the time she needed to continue her lie. In response, Brenda informed Beth that she would get time--a life sentence--and that the bright side is that she didn't have cancer, after which Beth was arrested for Jeff's murder.
Trivia[]
- Melinda Page Hamilton also played psychotic villainess Claire Bates on Criminal Minds, and later played evil conspirator Georgia Hartmeyer on Bones, the villainous Alexandra Schwartz on NCIS: New Orleans, and the evil Maddy Larson on iZombie.
Quotes[]
- "Listen, I was even gonna give back all of the money raised for my medical treatments and marry him. I only picked up the gun to scare him, and then it went off. All I asked from Jeff was some time to make it look like I'd gotten well, but he wouldn't even give me that." (Beth Gibson's callous confession to killing Jeff Crawford)