Donald Beardslee

{{Infobox Criminal

| subject_name = Donald Beardslee

| image = Donald Jay Beardslee (criminal).png

| birth_name = Donald Jay Beardslee

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1943|5|13}}

| birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|1|19|1943|5|13}}

| death_place = San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, U.S.

| conviction = Missouri
Second degree murder
California
First degree murder with special circumstances (2 counts)

| spouse = Karen Beardslee (Hansen) (1966–1967)

| module = {{infobox military person |serviceyears= 1962–1966 |branch= {{flag|United States Air Force}}|rank= Airman|branch_label=Branch}}

| death_cause = Execution by lethal injection

| criminal_penalty = Missouri
19 years imprisonment
California
Death

| states = {{hlist|Missouri|California}}

| victims = 3

| beginyear = 1969

| endyear = 1981

| country = United States

}}

Donald Jay Beardslee (May 13, 1943 – January 19, 2005) was an American serial killer who murdered three women. While on parole for killing a woman in Missouri in 1969, Beardslee murdered two more women in California. He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in San Quentin State Prison in 2005.

Early life

Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1943, Beardslee was the oldest of three children. His father died when he was 11. He was sent to Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, a military school, at age 15 and later attended Southwest High School in Saint Louis, where he graduated from in June 1962."Petition for Executive Clemency: Donald Jay Beardslee", Habeas Corpus Resource Center, San Francisco, California, December 30, 2004, pages 15-17. In August 1962, he then joined the U.S. Air Force at 19, where he served for four years as an aircraft mechanic. He and another airman were caught trying to steal a vehicle in 1965. He was sentenced to a work farm in Minnesota where he was hit by a falling tree and suffered a head fracture and a days-long coma.{{cite news |last1=Egelko |first1=Bob |title=Enigmatic killer down to final days / Unless the governor grants clemency, a troubling saga will end in San Quentin |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Enigmatic-killer-down-to-final-days-Unless-the-2738431.php#photo-2183961 |accessdate=9 July 2018 |work=SFGate |publisher=Hearst Communications Inc. |date=16 January 2005}}

Beardslee attended the College of San Mateo while on parole.

Criminal career

In 1969 in Missouri, he choked, stabbed and drowned Laura Griffin, whom he had just met. The two met in a bar, and, after drinking and dancing with her, Beardslee went home with her. He turned himself in and confessed to the killing. Beardslee pleaded guilty to second degree murder, received a 19-year sentence, and served seven years before being released on parole in 1977.{{Cite news|date=1981-04-29|title=Ex-St. Louis Man Charged In Killings Near San Francisco.|pages=16|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29370524/ex-st-louis-man-charged-in-killings/|access-date=2022-01-04}} No motive was established nor did he offer any explanation.{{Cite web|last1=Egelko|first1=Bob|last2=Fimrite|first2=Peter|last3=Fagan|first3=Kevin|date=2005-01-19|title=Murderer Beardslee executed / Lethal injection at San Quentin after governor, high court deny final appeals|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Murderer-Beardslee-executed-Lethal-injection-at-2704322.php|access-date=2022-01-16|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}

Four years after leaving prison, while he was still on parole, Beardslee was arrested in California for the April 5, 1981, drug-related homicides of 19-year-old Patty Geddling and 23-year-old Stacie Benjamin in Redwood City, California. Prosecutors claim a drug deal between the friends of Beardslee's roommate had gone wrong, and a $185 drug debt had gone unpaid.{{Cite web|last1=Egelko|first1=Bob|last2=Fimrite|first2=Peter|last3=Fagan|first3=Kevin|date=2005-01-19|title=Murderer Beardslee executed / Lethal injection at San Quentin after governor, high court deny final appeals|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Murderer-Beardslee-executed-Lethal-injection-at-2704322.php|access-date=2022-01-17|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}} In a scheme devised by Frank Rutherford, a drug dealer, Beardslee's roommate, Ricarda Sue (Rickie) Soria, lured the two to their apartment. The prosecutors noted that Beardslee sent Soria out to get duct tape to bind the victims before they arrived. Beardslee and, according to the prosecution, Bill Forrester, both shot Geddling, and later Beardslee slashed Benjamin's throat.{{cite news |last1=Woudenberg |first1=Carina |title=Coastside murderer granted parole |url=https://www.hmbreview.com/news/coastside-murderer-granted-parole/article_5dc06f56-7880-11e5-96bb-1bcabbd802e1.html |accessdate=9 July 2018 |work=Staff |publisher=Half Moon Bay Review |date=21 October 2015 |language=en}}

Beardslee's phone number was found near Geddling's body and when police called he confessed and led them to Benjamin's body. At the time of this offense, he was still on parole for the 1969 Missouri killing which made him eligible for a death sentence as a repeat offender. Rutherford was sentenced to life without parole and died there in 2003. Soria pleaded no contest to second degree murder in exchange for testimony against Rutherford and Beardslee, and was sentenced to 15 years to life.{{Cite web|date=2005-10-28|title=No parole in double-murder|url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2005/10/28/no-parole-in-double-murder/|access-date=2022-01-17|website=East Bay Times|language=en-US}} She was paroled in 2015.{{Cite web|last=Woudenberg|first=Carina [|title=Coastside murderer granted parole|url=https://www.hmbreview.com/news/coastside-murderer-granted-parole/article_5dc06f56-7880-11e5-96bb-1bcabbd802e1.html|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Half Moon Bay Review|date=21 October 2015 |language=en}} Bill Forrester was acquitted and charges against a fifth person were dropped before trial. Beardslee was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.{{Cite web|title=People v. Beardslee - 53 Cal.3d 68 S004609 - Mon, 03/25/1991 {{!}} California Supreme Court Resources|url=https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-beardslee-30949|access-date=2022-01-16|website=scocal.stanford.edu}}

The defense tried to appeal on the grounds of inadequate defense since the original lawyer quit the case, and on grounds of mental defect due to a head injury from a falling tree in the Minnesota work farm accident when he was 21. Prosecutors noted that he was of above average intelligence although family members testified he had lifelong trouble expressing emotion and prison records indicate diagnoses of schizophrenia.

Execution

Beardslee was executed on January 19, 2005. He was the first prisoner to be executed in California since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took office.{{cite news |last1=Tempest |first1=Rone |title=California Executes Confessed Murderer |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-19-me-execute19-story.html |access-date=10 July 2018 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=19 January 2005 |location=SAN QUENTIN}} Beardslee had no final words.{{Cite web|title=Executed Inmate Summary - Donald Beardslee|url=https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/inmates-executed-1978-to-present/d-beardslee/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Capital Punishment|language=en-US}} Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Beardslee, stating that "we are not dealing here with a man who is so generally affected by his impairment that he cannot tell the difference between right and wrong."{{Cite web |date=2005-01-18 |title=California executes first person in three years |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6840553 |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=NBC News |language=en}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20080208075147/http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Donald_Beardslee.html Donald Beardslee]. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
[http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2759&category_id=13 Beardslee Killed By State of California]
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/01/16/MNGVQARAF41.DTL Detailed description of his life and crimes]

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Category:1943 births

Category:2005 deaths

Category:20th-century American criminals

Category:21st-century executions by California

Category:21st-century executions of American people

Category:College of San Mateo alumni

Category:Executed American serial killers