An Ohio man is found guilty of aggravated murder on Mar. 12, in a news report released by USA Today. Richard Beasley, 53, placed ads on the popular website Craigslist, claiming that he had a job opportunity. In the process Beasley murdered three men who responded to his phony ad.
During the interview process Beasley determined key information from the three victims related to their background. Beasley reportedly targeted victims who were financially destitute and with minimal family ties in hopes that the three men's disappearances would be less noticeable or go undetected.
The Prosecutor said Beasley lured the men to a remote farm 60 miles outside of Columbus. Two men from Ohio, Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, and a third man David Pauley, 51, Norfolk, VA., were killed. A fourth man was shot but survived, testified about "running for his life and hiding in the woods, scared he would bleed to death."
Beasley was found guilty of 27 counts of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and having illegal weapons. He may be facing the death penalty at his forthcoming sentencing.
Beasley had a 16-year-old accomplice at the time of the murders in 2011, Brogan Rafferty . Rafferty was tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
USA Today reports, "The survivor, Scott Davis, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in an arm, knocked the weapon aside. "I spun around," said Davis, who told a harrowing story of running through the woods and hiding for seven hours. "I was worried about bleeding to death."
Prosecutors said it was a miracle that Davis, also the star witness at Rafferty's trial, survived the encounter with Beasley.
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