Accused Craigslist Killer Richard James Beasley indicted for kidnapping, murder
Richard James Beasley, 52, is the latest to be called the Craigslist killer. On Friday, he was charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder and kidnapping around the slaying of three men in Ohio who were allegedly lured to their death when they answered a fake Craigslist ad.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Beasley.
Beasley and his suspected accomplice, Brogan Rafferty, then 16, are accused of enticing four men to Noble County in Ohio with the promise of a job as a ranch-hand on a 688-acre property. The job supposedly paid $300 a week.
Rafferty will be tried as an adult and was charged in Noble County with murder and attempted murder.
Three of the four men were killed, with their bodies found last November. Two of them, David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Virginia and Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron, Ohio were found buried in Noble County, while Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio was found in a shallow grave behind a mostly-deserted shopping mall in Akron, Ohio.
The fourth man, Scott Davis, 48, of South Carolina narrowly survived after meeting Beasley and Rafferty on Nov. 6, 2011. After accompanying the pair to a heavily wooded area and exiting the car the trio had used, Davis heard the click of a gun's action, took off and ran. He was shot in the arm, but hid in the woods and then walked two miles to a home from whence he called the police.
The next hearing in the case has not yet been scheduled.
It's the latest version of a "Craigslist Killer" case. Many will remember the case of Philip Markoff, the "first" so-called "Craiglist Killer," who was accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist. Markoff was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide in August of 2010.
Meanwhile, in September of 2011, another "Craigslist Killer" case was brought to a close, when the fourth of a quartet involved in the brutal slaying of James Sanders on April 28, 2010 in Edgewood, Washington, near Tacoma, was sentenced.
Clabon Berniard was sentenced to 123 years in prison, joining his accomplices Kiyoshi Higashi, Joshua Reese, and Amanda Knight who are serving what are essentially life sentences in the case.
Sanders and his wife, Charlene, had posted an ad for a diamond ring for sale on Craigslist, which the killers responded to. They invaded the Sanders' home, intending to rob and assault the family. When Sanders attempted to protect his wife and sons, one of whom was pistol-whipped, the assailants shot and killed him.
CraigsCrimeList.org was created to spotlight crimes on CraigsList. As the site owner said in his About section, "My goal here is not only act as a type of consumer advocate but to also bring attention to the crimes that are being perpetrated on an unsuspecting public facilitated by the bad business practices of some of these classifieds sites."
Classifieds on Craigslist have been used for anything from attracting people for murderous purposes to rape against an ex-girlfriend.
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