Ralph Geiger, Timothy Kern and David Pauley
Craigslist serial murder suspect faces death-penalty trial in Summit County
The man accused of luring three men to their deaths with a phony job offer on Craigslist will be tried in Summit County.
Richard Beasley will face the death penalty, Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said today in a news release.
Beasley is accused of killing the men in Noble and Summit counties after advertising a cattle ranch caretaker job. The Noble County ranch doesn't exist.
Walsh, Noble County Prosecutor Cliff Sickler, the Ohio Attorney General's Office and U.S. attorneys agreed that the case will be handled in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
"In trying the case in Summit County," Walsh said, "we will ensure the surviving victim and the families of the other victims do not suffer through multiple lengthy trials and will provide a more convenient location for at least some of the families and the surviving victim."
All of the criminal activity began in Summit County, she said, and most of the victims' families have ties to Summit and neighboring Stark County.
Scott Davis, 48, of Canton, was shot and escaped in rural Noble County.
David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, and Ralph Geiger, of Akron, were shot in the head not far from where Davis was shot. Pauley and Geiger's bodies were found in shallow graves in Noble County. Kern's body was found Nov. 25 near the vacant Rolling Acres Mall in Akron.
Beasley currently faces drug and prostitution charges and is due back in court Dec. 22.
A 16-year-old Stow boy is charged in the homicides in juvenile court in Noble County.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011...der_suspe.html
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