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Update: Craigslist Murder Suspect Appears In Court
By: Associated Press
Posted on:
Update 2:40 p.m.
Texas authorities allowed a man now linked to a deadly Craigslist robbery scheme to be temporarily released from an Ohio jail earlier this year.
The Texas Parole Authority initially requested that Richard Beasley be held for violating his burglary conviction parole after he was arrested in Ohio on drug-dealing charges.
But records show Texas was only interested in bringing Beasley back if he were convicted in the drug case.
Bill Holland, a spokesman for the Summit County Sheriff's Office, told The Associated Press on today that Texas agreed to lift its hold on Beasley until the drug case was resolved.
Beasley is now a suspect in the deaths of two men and the nonfatal shooting of a third man who answered a phony Craigslist ad for a cattle farm job.
A man linked to a deadly Ohio Craigslist robbery scheme has appeared before a judge in an unrelated matter – in a wheelchair and with his head rocking rhythmically.
His attorney said 52-year-old Richard Beasley felt weak today and deputies in Akron provided the wheelchair. Lawyer Rhonda Kotnik says Beasley's mother fears he suffered a stroke.
Beasley mentored a 16-year-old boy charged in what authorities say was a scheme that used a bogus Craigslist job ad to lure victims. A complaint against the teen says he participated in the crimes with Beasley. Authorities have linked two deaths to the
scheme.
Beasley did not speak in court today and did not respond outside to a shouted question of whether there were more bodies.
He was indicted Wednesday in a prostitution case.