TOBY BEAUGH
COLD OPEN
Late February, 2006. New Orleans has just survived the unthinkable. Hurricane Katrina has torn through the city, displacing families and flooding entire neighborhoods, and life hasn’t returned to normal – how could it? No one is sure if any version of life will resemble what came before. But Mardi Gras is here, and for many people, it carries weight that’s hard to explain.
But there’s a sense that maybe the city is breathing again. The streets are crowded. Music spills out of houses and bars. Beads hang from balconies. People fill the sidewalks, celebrating, reconnecting, and holding onto something that almost disappeared. The city feels busy. It feels loud. It feels alive in a way it hasn’t since before the storm.
When a city survives something like Katrina, celebrations take on a different meaning. They’re not just about fun – they’re about reassurance. Proof that joy can still exist. Proof that life didn’t end with the storm. That’s what Mardi Gras was in February of 2006. Not just a party, but a signal that New Orleans was still standing.
Somewhere in the middle of all of the noise and celebration, a couple is walking home, enjoying their time together. They live nearby, and they’ve made this walk before – so many times. It’s familiar. Ordinary. The kind of walk you don’t think about when the night is winding down. This is supposed to be the easy part – the moment after the celebration, when you head home still talking, still laughing, still carrying the night with you.
But safety is an illusion… because what they don’t know is that a driver in a black pickup truck has already noticed them. When he turns around, he won’t just pass them by – he will stop, he will wait, and make a deadly decision.
That decision will leave a family searching for answers nearly 20 years later about who killed Toby Beaugh.
I’m Madison McGhee and this is Frozen Files.
CHAPTER 1: An Ordinary Night
It was a Friday night – February 24, 2006.
That evening, Toby Beaugh and his wife, Melissa, were out together in New Orleans for Mardi Gras weekend. They attended a house party along St. Charles Avenue, watching the parades from a balcony. Mardi Gras was Toby’s favorite holiday, second only to his birthday, and he was excited to celebrate. By the end of the night, he had his signature smile on his face and layers of beads around his neck.
From the house party, the night continued at the Rendezvous Bar on Magazine Street. Melissa rode there with friends, and Toby walked over later to meet her. Inside, they had a couple of beers, and spent time with friends. By all accounts, it was the perfect Friday night.
One thing that stands out to me about this night is how unremarkable it was. No conflict. No tension. No warning signs. In investigations, that kind of normalcy isn’t inconsequential – it’s evidence. Because it tells us this tragedy didn’t come from something brewing all night… it came out of nowhere.
Later, Melissa would confirm to police that Toby did not have any kind of confrontation that night – not at the house party, not at the bar, not with anyone on the street. There were no problems at work, no ongoing disputes, and no clear reason that would explain what happened next.
At around 2:00 am, Toby and Melissa decided to walk home. They lived a few miles away, also on Magazine Street. This may seem like a long walk to some, but Toby and Melissa loved being outside, strolling through the city they called home. I’ve been to New Orleans, and still at 2:00am, the city is bustling especially during Mardi Gras.
At approximately 2:20 a.m., they were at Magazine and Jena Street. Just as they were walking across Jena, a black pickup truck turned onto the street, almost hitting them. Everything happened quickly and they were definitely shaken up. It was a situation that could have easily turned hostile. Despite that, Melissa later told police that neither she nor Toby was aggressive. No words were exchanged. No threats were made.
The truck drove away. Toby and Melissa continued walking home, with Melissa a few steps ahead. After shaking off what just happened, the mood remained light, and Toby joked that Melissa was doing her “exercise walk” – keeping the pace, and their heart rates quicker than casual.
CHAPTER 2: A Deadly Decision
One block later, the couple reached the intersection of Magazine and Cadiz Street. It’s a mixed residential and business area, and at that hour, it’s quiet. As they approached the intersection, Toby and Melissa saw the same black pickup truck – the truck that nearly hit them a few minutes earlier. It had circled back and came to a stop on Cadiz. It was as if the truck was waiting for them.
Melissa crossed the street first. Toby paused in the roadway, facing the truck, with his arms outstretched. The truck pulled forward and stopped about a yard from where Toby was standing. Then the driver laid on the gas and gunned the truck.
Melissa screamed as the truck lunged forward and struck Toby, rolling him beneath the vehicle and dragging him several feet as it continued forward. The driver never slowed down. They never stopped. What happened wasn’t accidental, and that language matters. This wasn’t a tragic accident. It wasn’t a mistake. The truck stopped. The driver waited. And then they accelerated. It was a decision. It was deliberate.
After Toby came free from under the truck, the driver continued on Cadiz, and then disappeared. Melissa immediately went to Toby and called 9-1-1. While she was in the street, multiple people came running toward her. They had been in a nearby car, heard her screams, and stopped to help.
Emergency responders arrived and transported Toby to the hospital. Tragically, he was pronounced dead on arrival. He suffered multiple injuries, including a broken neck.
Toby Beaugh was only 29-years-old. He had so much life to live – so much more to do. And in a matter of seconds, a stranger’s decision – fueled by rage – took all of that away.
CHAPTER 3: The Kind of Person You Never Forget
Toby John Beaugh was someone who stood out, someone you remembered, someone you were drawn to.
Born on June 9, 1976 to parents Terry and Cindy Beaugh, Toby grew up just outside of New Orleans in the town of Broussard, alongside his older sister, Claire, who we had the honor of working with on this episode and is an incredible advocate for her brother. They were three and a half years apart and very close.
When Claire talks about her brother, you can immediately feel the love they had for each other. She describes Toby as “extremely thoughtful.” She said, “He was just such a super kind kid. He was super inquisitive. He loved to be outside…he was basically my childhood.” Even now, she says she can still hear his laugh and picture his grin.
Broussard, where they grew up, was the kind of place that shaped people. Claire described it as a small, close-knit community where families gathered on weekends and everyone knew each other. She said, “At the time we were growing up, it was more like a little community. It was a little town. It was a really special place to grow up. It's the heart of Cajun country. My family would get together on weekends for crawfish boils and crab boils and just food. We would all gather around food and everyone was there. It was awesome.”
That sense of togetherness had a significant impact on Toby. He loved where he came from. He took pride in it. He called it “God’s country.” He was active and athletic, playing soccer and tennis as a kid, and he was especially good at soccer. But sports weren’t what people remembered most about him. What stood out was how good of a guy he was. Toby was the type of person you could count on in any situation – no matter how big or small. He was the kind of person who always showed up when you needed him, and made things lighter just by being there.
He also had a way of bringing laughter into everyday moments. His family even had a name for it. They affectionately referred to his off-the-cuff remarks as “Tobyisms” – things he would blurt out unexpectedly that caught people off guard and made them laugh. He didn’t have to try to be funny. It was simply who he was.
After high school, Toby attended the University of Louisiana–Lafayette, where he studied Psychology and rushed the Kappa Sigma fraternity. He and Claire stayed close. They traveled together when they could. Claire shared a memory from a work trip to Italy when Toby came to visit her. She said that even though he didn’t speak Italian, no one cared – everyone was naturally drawn to him… because that’s the kind of magnetic energy he had.
When you hear people describe Toby, it probably feels familiar. Because we all know someone like this.
The person who makes you feel at ease the moment they walk into a room. The one who remembers the little things. The one whose laugh cuts through the noise and pulls everyone a little closer together.
The kind of person you always assume will be there – because they always have been. Maybe they’ve become a constant in your life without you even realizing it. I think that’s why stories like this hit so hard. It feels impossible to understand how the world keeps moving without them. Melissa, Claire, and all of Toby’s loved ones are feeling a void from the space he used to take up with his enchanting presence.
CHAPTER 4: Building a Life in New Orleans
When he wasn’t traveling, Toby spent his time doing what he loved. He really enjoyed seeing live music – especially outdoor concerts and going to festivals. He was learning how to play the guitar. He ate crawfish and watched Duke basketball any chance he could. He liked being around people, and spending time outside.
After graduating from college, Toby moved to New Orleans. PHOTO: TOBY + MELISSA In the city, he met Melissa Vanderbrook, a law student. They were both out with friends at a bar when their paths crossed. They began dating, not long after that their lives became intertwined, and the rest is history.
Toby and Melissa got married in April 2005 and started building their life together in New Orleans. Their days revolved around community – being with people they cared about – and a lot of time outside. Melissa later told the media, “We rode our bikes everywhere, and we walked everywhere. He was that guy who everybody loved. He's got a lot of friends.”
As the couple settled into married life, Toby decided to return to school and enrolled at the University of New Orleans to pursue a degree in accounting. He and Melissa started talking about having children. They were young and everything was ahead of them.
Then, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed everything. Toby and Melissa had to evacuate the city. For a time, they were displaced and separated, staying with family while trying to help care for others who had been forced from their homes. When they were finally able to return months later, they resumed their life together as newlyweds in a city still struggling to recover.
Claire said they returned as soon as they could. They loved New Orleans deeply – the food, the music, the walkability, the sense of community. It was home and there was nowhere else they would rather be.
On February 24, 2006, Mardi Gras celebrations were underway in New Orleans. Toby could not have been more excited. Mardis Gras was his favorite holiday, and as the first celebration since the hurricane, this was a particularly meaningful one. Toby was ready to have a good time.
He spent the night surrounded by people, music, and the city he loved – unaware of what would happen next.
CHAPTER 5: A Vanishing Vehicle
Police arrived at the intersection of Magazine and Cadiz Streets around 2:30 a.m., just minutes after Toby was struck. The area was secured, and homicide detectives responded alongside members of the Scientific Criminal Investigation Section.
Vehicle-based crimes are some of the hardest cases to solve – especially when they happen quickly and without witnesses who can identify a plate or a face. Once the vehicle disappears, the clock starts ticking. Every hour that passes without a lead makes the trail colder.
Immediately, investigators were at a disadvantage. There was little physical evidence to work with. There was no weapon to recover. The vehicle itself – the instrument of the crime – was gone. And the driver had vanished. All investigators had was a road rage, hit-and-run homicide that unfolded in seconds and left behind very little to pursue.
Detectives needed more information, so they began interviewing witnesses that same morning. Melissa walked them through the entire night – the house party, the bar, the walk home, and both encounters with the same black pickup truck.
She told investigators that she thought the driver was a white male, though she emphasized she could not be certain. The windows were tinted. The interaction was fast. Everything happened in the dark. Everything made it difficult to be sure of those details.
But still, Melissa was able to describe the truck. She said it was black, possibly a Toyota, with an extended cab and dark tinted windows. It appeared to be newer, with chrome accents over both wheels. There were no bumper stickers, no visible damage, and she couldn’t recall the license plate. Other than that, there were no distinguishing marks.
CHAPTER 6: Critical Moments, Captured Nowhere
Detectives also spoke to the people who had been in the nearby vehicle and ran to help Melissa. They told police the black pickup truck came to a complete stop at the intersection before suddenly accelerating forward and running Toby over. The truck never slowed down. It never stopped. It fled the scene immediately.
These witnesses described the truck in the same way as Melissa. But, they were also unable to get a clear look at the driver, and no one saw the license plate.
Police began searching for the black pickup truck, while detectives canvassed the surrounding area as daylight returned. They went door-to-door – speaking with residents, business owners, and employees – hoping someone had witnessed the incident, seen the truck, or heard something that night.
The timing worked against them. The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m., when all nearby businesses were closed and the residential streets were mostly empty.
Investigators also searched for surveillance footage. They found multiple cameras, but none of them were helpful. A camera near the intersection where Toby was struck was not recording at the time. Another camera near the earlier encounter at Jena Street was also inoperable. These critical moments weren’t captured.
This is one of those moments that’s hard to sit with. Sometimes, the most important parts of an investigation can come down to luck – a camera that happens to be working, a business that happens to be open, someone who happens to be looking in the right direction at the right time. And when none of that lines up – not because anyone chose it, but because of timing – the consequences can last forever.
Toby didn’t lose his life because a camera failed, but the truth about what happened to him may have been lost because of it.
Detectives expanded their search beyond the immediate area. Local body shops were contacted in case someone brought in a truck with front-end damage shortly after the incident. One tip reported a truck that had been brought in for repairs, but when detectives followed up, they found the damage was to the back of the vehicle, not the front, and that lead was ruled out.
CHAPTER 7: When Hope Becomes a Dead End
As the days after Toby’s death turned into weeks, investigators were unable to identify the driver responsible for the hit-and-run. No suspect had been named, and the black pickup truck described by witnesses had not been located.
With few answers coming from law enforcement, Toby’s family and friends worked to keep the case visible. Flyers were distributed throughout New Orleans. Melissa appeared on national television, asking for information and hoping someone might recognize the vehicle or come forward. A billboard with details about the hit-and-run was erected. A $20,000 Crime Stoppers reward was announced.
Tips were reported to police. Detectives documented all the calls and leads. Each one was reviewed, but none pointed to a viable suspect.
There was one man who contacted authorities claiming he had witnessed the incident. After investigating his account, detectives determined the information was false and that he was likely attempting to collect the reward.
This is the part of investigations people don’t talk about very often. False tips don’t just waste time – they take a toll mentally and emotionally.
Every call has to be taken seriously. Every lead has to be logged, followed up on, and either confirmed or ruled out. That takes time. It takes manpower. And in cases where resources are already limited, it means something else gets pushed aside.
For families waiting for answers, each tip carries a flicker of hope – the possibility that this could finally be the call that changes everything. You start to believe that someone saw something, that someone remembers a detail, that the silence might finally break. When a tip turns out to be false, that hope collapses all over again.
And it doesn’t just disappear – it compounds. Each dead end makes the next call harder to believe in, harder to trust, harder to hold onto.
In cases like this, where so little evidence exists to begin with, even a single bad lead can pull attention and resources away from the truth. And sometimes, the cost isn’t just time. It halts the momentum.
Behind the scenes, detectives explained to Toby’s family that the department was still operating under significant strain in the months following Hurricane Katrina. Staffing levels were reduced. Budgets were limited. And much of the city’s infrastructure – including basic systems investigators relied on – was still recovering.
Those challenges were apparent. Toby’s family was understanding of the roadblocks. They knew the city was overwhelmed and resources were stretched thin. At the same time, it seemed like there was more the police could’ve done. For example, detectives never conducted a basic DMV search for black pickup trucks that matched the descriptions provided by multiple witnesses. A tool that, even in 2006, was commonly used in vehicle-related investigations.
So Toby’s loved ones were left with an impossible question:
Was the lack of movement in the case the result of a city still reeling from a catastrophic hurricane? Or was it the result of investigative steps that were never taken? That uncertainty – about what could have happened versus what did happen – would linger long after the case stopped making headlines.
CHAPTER 8: Out of Focus
As time passed, the investigation made little visible progress. Within a few months, there were no new developments. Detectives had not identified the driver, and the case had not moved closer to resolution. Toby’s case was cold.
Months turned into years. Communication between Toby’s family and law enforcement became infrequent. At times, the family didn’t know who was assigned to the case. Calls were not always returned. Updates became harder and harder to obtain.
For the family, it felt as though the case had completely slipped out of focus – like no one was looking for the person who ran Toby over in front of his wife, the person who murdered him. There was a killer on the street, yet there was no motivation to find them.
This is the part that’s hardest to explain unless you’ve lived it. When a case goes this cold, it doesn’t feel like you have the ability to move forward. It feels like you were abandoned. You start to wonder if your loved one mattered enough to the world, and the system. You can’t help but think if their life was significant enough, people would keep looking. Every unanswered call, every missed update, every year sends the same message, whether intentional or not, that the world has moved on… even though you can’t.
And even if you’ve never been in that situation, imagine it was your life that was taken away, and within a 24-hour news cycle, your headline became old news and was something brought up almost like a mysterious tale. No one’s murder should be treated that way.
This is where systems fail families the most – not with bad intentions, but with silence. Because when there’s no update, no explanation, no clear plan forward, families are left to fill in the gaps themselves. And that’s not the family’s job.
By 2023, more than 17 years had passed since Toby Beaugh was killed. That year, his sister Claire learned that a former high school classmate of Toby’s had been posting about him on Facebook. Claire looked into the posts, and recognized the man from Toby’s past, though they had never been close.
She was deeply concerned by what she saw. Some of the man’s posts expressed intense affection toward Toby. Others referenced violence – including statements about hitting Toby with a car. Claire also noticed that the man had traveled to Broussard and visited places connected to Toby’s life. He posted photos from Toby’s elementary school and from Toby’s grave.
For Claire, the posts stood out. They left her feeling deeply unsettled and concerned. They raised questions she hadn’t been able to let go of.
So she contacted the New Orleans Police Department and was put in touch with Detective Wayne Rumore, who was assigned to Toby’s case. Claire shared the posts with him and explained why they made her feel uneasy. Detective Rumore told her he would review the information. Later, he contacted her again. He told Claire he had spoken with the man by phone. He said he believed the individual was mentally unstable, but did not consider him a viable suspect and did not believe the lead warranted further investigation.
Claire couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The man had publicly stated that he hit Toby with a car. That seemed worthy of an in-person interview, at the very least.
CHAPTER 9: The File That Stopped
With little movement in the investigation, Claire eventually requested a copy of Toby’s case file. When she received it, she learned that the file contained no investigative records beyond June 2006 – just four months after Toby was killed. There were no notes documenting follow-up work in the years that followed. No records of additional interviews. And no indication that new leads had been formally logged or pursued.
If tips had come in over the years, there was no documentation showing how they were handled – including the information Claire herself had recently provided.
As Claire reviewed the file more closely, other gaps became apparent. For example, there was no record that detectives had interviewed people who attended the house party or spent time at the bar that night – even though not everyone there was personally known to Toby or Melissa. That seemed like another easy step that could have been, but wasn’t.
To Claire, the file reflected an investigation that had not continued beyond its earliest months.
Despite that, Claire and her family remain committed to finding answers for Toby. They know it’s not too late to conduct a thorough investigation. And they continue to hope that the person responsible for taking their beloved Toby away can still be identified – and held accountable.
CHAPTER 10: Twenty Years Without Answers
February 24, 2026 marks 20 years since Toby Beaugh was killed. As of today, his murder remains unsolved. Twenty years of his families and friends forced to live without answers or closure or justice.
The driver of the black pickup truck has never been identified. No one has been arrested. And no one has been held accountable for what happened on Magazine Street in the early morning hours of February 24, 2006.
For two decades, Toby’s family has lived with unanswered questions – not because there aren’t questions to ask, but because the answers were never fully pursued. But before the paperwork, before the timelines, before the missed opportunities and the silence – there was a person.
Toby Beaugh was 29-years-old. He was a son, a brother, a husband, a friend, a human being.
He loved music and sports. He loved New Orleans and crawfish. He loved walking through his neighborhood, riding his bike, and being part of the city around him. He had big plans for the future – plans that ended in a matter of seconds because of one person’s choices.
Someone knows who was behind the wheel that night. It’s time for that person to come forward and provide Toby’s loved ones with the answers they so deserve.
If you have any information about the hit-and-run death of Toby Beaugh, you’re asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111, or submit a tip anonymously at crimestoppersgno.org. There is a reward available for information leading to an arrest.
Toby Beaugh’s story deserves an ending rooted in truth, and his family deserves more than silence.
CREDITS:
To help this show reach a wider audience and help these victims and their families gain more attention on their cases, please follow, subscribe, rate, and review wherever you are listening. Your curiosity could crack the case.
Thanks for listening to Frozen Files a Yes! Podcast
Recorded in Los Angeles at KeyFrame Studios
This episode was produced, written, hosted, and edited by Madison McGhee
Produced, written and researched by Haley Gray
Additional producing and editing by Skyler Wright and Nick Baudille
Production design by Stephen Hauser
Creative direction by AJ Christianson
All additional sources are linked in the show notes.
SOURCES:
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/pzn/date/2006-03-14/segment/01?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://docs.google.com/document/d/139a5gD9iCHoNteGJOS63GUpOV64_uxhSgEySO99jcKE/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dPz7Iff7B90CTlc8rTDNO2Lyl8e4lv5F/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B1NMg2ZPRgMP2PCvGqGR-j1uvY7vJV1J/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oyH63VMtKOjWrHfBpjQL0wn2cEuHqtwO/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dPz7Iff7B90CTlc8rTDNO2Lyl8e4lv5F/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v1PT-IeKNCrhozXMxOx9wNDtd3utw8yy/view?usp=sharing
