AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A self-styled chaplain suspected in a
deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad has been
charged with multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and
robbery and could face the death penalty if convicted, according to an
indictment announced Friday.
The charges against Richard Beasley accuse him of killing three men and wounding a fourth in August,
October and November.
Beasley,
52, of Akron, who has been jailed in Akron on unrelated prostitution
and drug charges, has denied involvement in the Craigslist slayings. He
was arrested in November after authorities linked him to the alleged
plot.
Prosecutors would not speculate on a motive but Attorney
General Mike DeWine, who joined in announcing the charges, said
investigators are looking at "serial killings."
"Are there more
bodies? We frankly do not know," DeWine said, appealing to people with
any information about missing persons to come forward.
Also
Friday, a judge determined that the case of a juvenile suspect mentored
by Beasley will be moved out of the county where two slaying victims
were found and another was shot but survived.
The decision to
transfer the case of Brogan Rafferty to Summit County came after a
hearing Friday afternoon, said Tonda Brown, Noble County Court
Assignment Commissioner. She said the gag order in the case has also
been lifted.
Messages were left with the Noble County prosecutor
and Rafferty’s attorney in Noble County. The Summit County Prosecutor’s
Office could not immediately comment, said spokeswoman April Wiesner.
Summit
County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said the case of Beasley, with the
nature of the crimes and the multitude of charges, was made for the
death penalty.
"This case we view as to be one of the worst of the worst when it comes to horrible murder
cases," Walsh said.
The
28-count indictment against Beasley also included theft, weapons and
identity theft charges. Beasley received the indictment Friday, and a
decision will be made next week about his representation, said Rhonda
Kotnik, an attorney who has been representing Beasley on the
non-Craigslist charges.
An acquaintance of Beasley, 16-year-old
Brogan Rafferty, of nearby of Stow, could face similar charges after
being transferred to adult court late last year. His case is pending in
Noble County where two of the slayings happened.
Authorities say
the scheme targeted older and single out-of-work men with backgrounds
that made it unlikely their disappearances would be noted right away.
The
first victim, Ralph Geiger, 55, of Akron, was killed Aug. 9, the day
after he left a homeless shelter saying he was taking a farm job. His
body wasn’t found until Nov. 25.
Geiger’s brother, Mark Geiger,
said Friday he’s happy with the way prosecutors are handling the case.
He said he’s long wondered about other victims. He said he’s not a death
penalty advocate but wouldn’t oppose it, although life in prison for
Beasley would also satisfy him.
"As long as Beasley never has the
opportunity to interact with the outside world again, that’s what I feel
would be appropriate," said Geiger, a telecommunications executive in
Atlanta.
The plot’s second victim, David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk,
Va., came to Ohio in mid-October after answering the Craigslist ad. A
friend has said Pauley was desperate for work and eager to return to
Ohio.
Police say he was killed Oct. 23, and his body was found
Nov. 15. Family members had contacted police concerned they hadn’t heard
from him.
The third victim, Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, whose
body was buried near an Akron shopping mall, answered the ad and was
last seen Nov. 13, authorities said. His body was also found Nov. 25.
Kern told his family he was taking the job to help support his three
sons.
A surviving victim, Scott Davis, 48, of South Carolina, also answered the ad and was shot Nov. 6 before
escaping, police say.
Beasley
was a Texas parolee when he returned to Ohio in 2004 after serving
several years in prison on a burglary conviction. He was released from
an Akron jail July 12 after a judge mistakenly allowed him to post bond
on a drug-trafficking charge.
He was arrested two days later
following a traffic stop but again mistakenly released. An investigation
by Ohio’s prisons system found that Beasley should not have been
released on bond but said confusion over interstate prisoner-transfer
rules and "ambiguity" in messages from Texas to Akron jail officials
contributed to the error.
In a four-page handwritten letter to the
Akron Beacon Journal, Beasley has said he has been miscast as a con man
when he really helped feed, house and counsel scores of needy families,
alcoholics, drug addicts, the mentally ill and crime suspects for
years.
"To call me a con man when I sacrificed for others is
wrong," wrote Beasley, who didn’t mention the Craigslist investigation
or Rafferty. "To turn their back on me is not following Christ’s
example. I gave three full years of my life to that ministry and what I
got out of it was the satisfaction of doing the right thing. There was
no ‘con’ to it."
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Andrew Welsh-Huggins, who contributed to this report from Columbus, can be reached at
http://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.