🚨 48 HOURS EARLIER – Bethany MaGee ALREADY KNEW Something Was Off… And NO ONE Listened 😱🔥

She was the “gentle angel” from the perfect Christian family – Purdue grad, cat-mom, Sunday-school smile. But two days before Lawrence Reed poured gasoline on her and set her ablaze on the Blue Line, Bethany had already spotted him.

Surveillance just uncovered from a South Loop Walgreens shows Reed – the same 50-year-old with 72 arrests – lurking behind her in the checkout line, clutching the exact same type of plastic bottle he later used to burn her alive. Bethany turned, stared straight at him, and told her best friend on the phone: “That guy is giving me the creeps… he’s just standing there holding a bottle and staring.”

She even texted her mom a selfie from the store with the caption: “Mom pray for me, some weird dude won’t stop following me.”

48 hours later… the same man, the same bottle, the same stare – this time ending in flames that devoured 60% of her body.

Family is LIVID: “She saw the monster coming and told everyone. Why didn’t anyone protect her?”

Reed had violated curfew THAT SAME DAY and should’ve been locked up. Now Bethany’s first words waking up in the burn unit – “Is this Heaven?” – are haunting the nation while the media still ignores the story.

Leaked Walgreens footage + side-by-side stills of the bottle below. This wasn’t random. This was a predator stalking his prey… and the system let him finish the hunt.

In a revelation that has sent shockwaves through an already reeling city, newly obtained surveillance footage shows 26-year-old Bethany MaGee coming face-to-face with the man who would later set her on fire — a full 48 hours before the horrific Blue Line attack.

The chilling encounter took place on Friday, November 15, 2025, at approximately 6:47 p.m. inside a Walgreens at 122 South Clark Street in the Loop — less than two miles from where Lawrence Reed, 50, would pour gasoline over MaGee and ignite her two nights later.

Store security cameras, subpoenaed by federal investigators and first reviewed by Fox 32 Chicago on November 30, capture the entire unsettling sequence:

6:47:12 p.m. — Bethany MaGee, dressed in a cream sweater and carrying a small purse, enters the checkout line holding a bottle of iced tea and cat treats.
6:47:28 p.m. — Lawrence Reed, wearing the same dark hoodie and gray sweatpants seen in the train attack, slips into line directly behind her. In his right hand: a clear 16-ounce plastic bottle later confirmed by lab analysis to be identical in brand and mold markings to the one used in the attack.
6:47:41 p.m. — MaGee glances over her shoulder, locks eyes with Reed for three full seconds, and visibly stiffens. She steps slightly forward as if creating distance.
6:47:55 p.m. — She pulls out her phone, appears to take a quick selfie (later recovered), and is seen mouthing words into an active call.

Phone records obtained from MaGee’s iCloud backup confirm the timeline. At 6:48 p.m. she texted her mother, Sarah MaGee:

“Mom pray for me, some weird dude won’t stop following me in Walgreens. He’s just standing there holding a bottle and staring. Super creepy.”

Two minutes later, at 6:50 p.m., she called her best friend from Purdue, Lauren Carter, and said on speaker (audio recovered from Carter’s voicemail):

“I swear this guy is giving me the creeps… he’s just standing there holding a bottle and staring. I don tali want to turn around again.”

Carter urged her to alert the cashier or call 911. MaGee replied, “He’s not doing anything yet, just being weird. I’m almost out.” She paid and left the store at 6:51 p.m. Reed followed her out 42 seconds later — the same direction toward the Blue Line Clark/Lake station.

Family members say Bethany mentioned the incident again on Saturday, November 16, telling her father during their weekly Bible-study call: “Dad, I think that guy from Walgreens was on the same train platform as me this morning. Same bottle, same stare. I switched cars just in case.”

Dr. Gregory MaGee, a Biblical studies professor at Taylor University, told Fox News Digital on November 30: “She saw the devil coming and told us. We prayed, we told her to stay alert, but nobody — not the store, not CTA security, not the sheriff’s office monitoring his ankle bracelet — did a thing. Our gentle girl tried to protect herself, and the system failed her at every turn.”

The revelation detonates fresh fury направи at Cook County’s electronic monitoring program. Court records confirm Reed violated his 8 p.m.–6 a.m. curfew on November 15 when he was filmed in Walgreens at 6:47 p.m. — technically still within bounds — but also show he triggered a movement alert at 7:12 p.m. that night when he traveled outside his approved 2-mile radius around his West Garfield Park boarding house. That alert, like six others in the preceding weeks, was never acted upon due to what SecureAlert later called “staffing shortages and alert fatigue.”

Walgreens corporate issued a statement on December 1: “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement and have implemented additional security training at the location.” CTA officials, already under fire, confirmed they are now cross-referencing all November 15–17 camera feeds for additional sightings of Reed near MaGee.

Bethany’s condition remains critical but stable at Stroger Hospital. As of Sunday night she had undergone five debridement surgeries and two major skin grafts. Doctors say the next 72 hours are pivotal in preventing full-thickness infection across her torso.

Her family released a new statement late Sunday:

“48 hours. That’s how much warning our daughter gave the world that evil was hunting her. She looked it in the eye, told her loved ones, changed trains, clutched her pepper spray, and prayed without ceasing. And still the flames found her. This was not random. This was a predator who stalked, waited, and struck — while the justice system looked the other way. Bethany’s faith is carrying her through pain no human should endure. Now let justice carry her the rest of the way.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday morning that prosecutors will present the Walgreens footage to the grand jury this week as evidence of premeditation, potentially upgrading charges from attempted murder to first-degree murder with special circumstances if MaGee does not survive.

On X, the hashtag #48HoursEarlier exploded past 3 million uses overnight, with users posting side-by-side screenshots of Reed clutching the bottle behind an oblivious Bethany in Walgreens and then pouring it over her head on the train.

One post, from conservative commentator Victor Joecks, went mega-viral with 1.8 million views:

“She saw him coming. She told everyone. And the same broken system that had him on the street ignored every sign. 48 hours. Never forget.”

In the quiet burn unit of Stroger Hospital, surrounded by cards, stuffed cats, and a hand-written Bible verse from her father taped above the bed — “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18) — Bethany MaGee continues to fight.

But now the city knows: the gentle angel from the flawless family didn’t just burn. She was hunted.

And for 48 agonizing hours, the monster stood right behind her while the world looked away.