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The Craigslist Killer - Richard Beasley Baited Victims with Job Ad · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In the autumn of two thousand eleven, Scott Davis, aged
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  forty eight, relocated from South Carolina back to Ohio, anticipating
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  a new position as a live in caretaker. On November sixth,
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  two thousand eleven, Davis visited a restaurant in Noble County
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  to meet his employer, who identified himself as Jack. Accompanying
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  Jack was a teenager whom he referred to as his nephew. Subsequently,
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  Davis traveled with the two individuals to a forested area.
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  Upon arrival, he exited the vehicle with Jack to examine
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  the surroundings. However, as Davis walked ahead of his new employer,
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  he heard a clicking sound, possibly indicative of a gun misfiring.
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  Turning around, he was shot by Jack through the elbow.
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  Five days after the shooting, incident garnered attention, police received
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  a call from Deborah Bruce. She reported that her twin brother,
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  David Pauley, fifty one, from Norfolk, Virginia, had responded to
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  an advertisement strikingly similar to the one that had deceived Davis.
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  Authorities noted the similarity in age between Davis and Pauli,
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  leading them to theorize the emergence of a potential pattern.
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  They contemplated the possibility that the assailant was targeting a
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  specific demographic, middle aged men with limited familial connections. Subsequently,
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  it was revealed that a woman in her twenties who
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  had responded to the advertisement in October reported that she
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  had not received any follow up, As reported by CBS News,
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  in twenty eleven, investigators began searching for clues in the
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  vicinity where Davis had been shot. He informed officials that
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  he had lost his baseball cap during his escape, suggesting
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  that its recovery might yield valuable evidence. According to Detective
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  Sergeant Jason Mackeye, it took two days to locate the cap. However,
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  they also made a disturbing fine nearby a freshly excavated
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  grave that appeared to have been intended for Davis's remains.
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  While the search did not yield any evidence of Pauley,
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  authorities speculated that he might have been interred in the
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  surrounding area. Consequently, a team of reinforcements and cadaver dogs
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  was deployed to assist in the investigation. The investigation revealed
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  the body of a man who had been shot in
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  the back of the head, Paully's sister identified the victim
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  as her brother by means of a bracelet. The number
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  of victims continued to rise. Investigators discovered the remains of
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  a third individual whose identity was not immediately established. Mackie
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  contacted the FBI to assist in tracing the individual who
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  had posted the Craigslist advertisement. Efforts by the cyber team
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  led them to the residence of Joe Base in Akron, Ohio. Duringtioning,
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  Basse denied having placed the Craigslist ad. He mentioned that
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  a tenant known to him as Dutch had rented his
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  basement and utilized his computer and Internet service. This tenant
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  was later identified as Richard Beasley, aged fifty two. A
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  search of Bass's residents where Beesley had been staying uncovered
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  prescription pill bottles bearing the name Ralph Geiger. The unidentified
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  body discovered in the woods where Davis was shot was
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  confirmed to be Geiger's. Investigators discovered that, in an effort
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  to evade imprisonment in Texas, Beesley opted to go into
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  hiding and alter his identity. He adopted Geiger's name among
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  several aliases. Davis verified that Beasley was indeed the individual
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  who shot him. The teenager whom Beasley claimed was his nephew,
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  was actually Brandon Rafferty, a sixteen year old from Akron
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  whom Beesley had taken under his wing during interviews. The
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  young man soon declined to speak without legal representation. Despite
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  Rafferty's silence, law enforcement executed a search warrant at his residence,
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  uncovering a briefcase that Mackie described as a kill filled
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  with various weapons. Additionally, investigators found a troubling poem on
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  Rafferty's computer, dated August sixteenth, twenty eleven. The poem read,
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  WE took him out to the woods on a humid
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  summer's night. The loud crack echoed, and I didn't hear
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  the thud, which detailed the murder of Geiger. Authorities speculated
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  that Rafferty's difficult home environment and absence of parental guidance
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  rendered him susceptible to Beasley's influence. Beesley was notorious for
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  his ability to manipulate others to achieve his objectives. Beesley
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  is and has always been a snake oil salesman, remarked
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  assistant prosecut to John baumol to producers. Over time, Beasley
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  cultivated a relationship with Rafferty, leading them to engage in
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  criminal activities together. As a manhunt commenced for Beesley, now
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  dubbed the Craigslist Killer, law enforcement received a significant lead.
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  Unbeknownst to Biz, who had been in contact with the authorities,
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  Beesley left a message along with a phone number for him.
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  Police utilized the provided number to trace Beasley through phone
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  tower signals, leading to his arrest on November sixteenth. Rafferty
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  was found guilty of three counts of aggravated murder in
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  twenty thirteen. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the
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  possibility of parole. Beasley was sentenced to death in twenty thirteen.
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  The murders made national news because Beasley used Craigslist