Craigslist Murders, Akron, OH Man and teenager in custody, Serial Killer?

[MuffyBee]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Jury-being-picked-in-teen-Craigslist-killings-case-3930685.php
Jury being picked in teen Craigslist killings case
October 9, 2012

KRON, Ohio (AP) — A teenager charged in a deadly scheme to lure victims with phony Craigslist job offers went on trial on murder charges Tuesday, waving to prospective jurors when he was introduced in court and taking notes and conferring with his attorneys during jury selection.

Brogan Rafferty, 17, of Stow, is being tried as an adult. He and his co-defendant, Richard Beasley, 53, of Akron, have pleaded not guilty. Beasley will be tried separately.

Three men were killed last year — two in Noble County in southeast Ohio and one found slain in Summit County near an Akron shopping mall — after responding to what authorities said were bogus online job postings.

Rafferty, who was then 16, is suspected of helping Beasley lure victims with bogus job offers.

Rafferty cannot face execution because he was a juvenile at the time of the crimes. Instead, he could face life in prison.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Beasley.
 ::snipping2::
Despite the case's high profile, the judge said she wasn't looking for jurors who hadn't heard anything about it, but jurors who could put any preconceptions aside and listed to the evidence.

The body of David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., was found on Noble County property owned by a coal company and often leased to hunters.

Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, was found in a shallow grave near an Akron-area shopping mall. He had been shot in the head.

The body of Ralph Geiger, 55, of Akron, was found in Noble County, dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

A South Carolina man, Scott Davis, escaped after being shot in the arm by hiding in woods until it got dark. He has been subpoenaed to testify at Rafferty's trial.

Beasley was a Texas parolee who returned to Ohio in 2004 after serving time on a burglary conviction. He was awaiting trial on prostitution and drug charges when authorities took him into custody.

Police have said a halfway house he ran in Akron was a front for prostitution. Authorities said he was a mentor for Rafferty and had befriended him.

[MuffyBee]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-12/news/sns-rt-us-usa-crime-craigslistbre89b1do-20121012_1_ohio-craigslist-murder-brogan-rafferty-ralph-geiger
Wounded survivor testifies as Ohio Craigslist murder trial opens
October 12, 2012

AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - A man lured to Ohio by a phony Craigslist job ad testified on Friday that a teenager charged with trying to kill him waited in a car while an accomplice walked into a heavily wooded area with the victim and shot him last November.

"I heard a curse word. I heard a gun cock. I knew I was in trouble," Scott Davis, 49, testified as the first witness called by prosecutors in the trial of Brogan Rafferty.
 ::snipping2::
Davis told jurors he sold a landscaping business in South Carolina to move closer to his parents in Ohio and met Rafferty and Beasley when he responded to an ad for a farm hand.

He spun around when he heard the cocking sound, saw a gun pointed at his face and was shot in the right elbow as he tried to push the gun away, Davis said.

"I ran as fast as I could but I kept falling down," Davis said. "He continued to fire at me as I ran out of the woods and out into the road."

Davis said he hid in a partially dried up creek bed listening for Rafferty's car and walked for help hours later, still badly bleeding, as it got dark. The bullet was surgically removed and he spent five days in the hospital.

When asked if Rafferty seemed to be under duress when he met him, Davis said: "He didn't look nervous or scared."
 ::snipping2:
The Ohio trial before Judge Lynne Callahan is set to resume on Monday and could last six weeks.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/national/174926301.html
Official: Ohio teen in Craigslist case seemed calm
October 19, 2012

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A school official says an Ohio teen charged in a deadly scheme to lure victims with phony Craigslist job offers seemed calm and nonchalant after authorities interviewed him about the deaths.
The (Canton) Repository reports that suspect Brogan Rafferty's former high school assistant principal testified Friday that Rafferty described himself after last year's interview at his high school as "cold blooded."
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/25/case-ohio-teen-defendant-in-craigslist-slayings-trial-goes-to-jury-after/
Case of Ohio teen defendant in Craigslist slayings trial goes to jury after closing arguments
October 25, 2012

AKRON, OHIO –  A jury is deciding the case of an Ohio teenager accused in the slayings of three men lured by phony Craigslist job offers.

Prosecutors in Akron concluded their case Thursday by portraying defendant Brogan Rafferty as a full accomplice who knew what he was doing and ignored opportunities to contact police.

Summit County prosecutor John Baumoel (bow-MEL') says Rafferty was a partner with adult suspect Richard Beasley in executing people in the woods.
 ::snipping2::
The now 17-year-old Rafferty could receive a life prison sentence without chance of parole if convicted of aggravated murder.

Beasley pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/Ohio-teen-sentenced-to-life-over-Craigslist-plot-178168831.html
Ohio teen sentenced to life over Craigslist plot
November 9, 2012
AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio teenager has been sentenced to life in prison in a deadly plot to lure men desperate for work with phony Craigslist job offers.

The judge sentenced 17-year-old Brogan Rafferty on Friday in Akron on his conviction for aggravated murder and attempted murder. Three men were killed and a fourth victim was shot but survived.

The sentencing was delayed from Monday amid talks on a deal for leniency in return for Rafferty's testimony against the alleged triggerman.

The jury rejected the defense claim that Rafferty feared for his life if he didn't cooperate with co-defendant Richard Beasley.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21872757
Jury: Death for 'Craigslist killer' Richard Beasley
March 20, 2013

A jury has recommended the death penalty for a man found guilty of luring men to their deaths with bogus jobs ads on the Craigslist website.

A judge will decide the fate of killer Richard Beasley, 53, on Tuesday.

He was convicted of murdering three men in Ohio. His teenage accomplice, Brogan Rafferty, was sentenced to life in prison without parole last November.

A man who survived being shot gave harrowing testimony in both trials of fleeing for his life.

As well as aggravated murder - "aggravated" in this case because the murder was planned in advance - Beasley was convicted of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jury-weigh-death-sentence-ohio-killer-18769272
Death Penalty Recommended in Ohio Craigslist Case
March 20, 2013

A jury on Wednesday recommended the death penalty for a self-styled street preacher convicted of killing three down-and-out men lured by bogus Craigslist job offers.

The same jury that convicted Richard Beasley made its recommendation after hearing from his mother and other witnesses who testified on his behalf in the penalty phase of his trial. The judge set his sentencing for Tuesday.

Victims' relatives hugged as the recommendation was announced. Beasley hung his head without moving, and his mother sobbed.

Beasley, 53, was convicted of teaming up with a teenager in 2011 to lure men with offers of farmhand jobs in southeast Ohio and to rob them. Three men were killed, and a fourth who was wounded testified at Beasley's trial.
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