Richard Beasley, 52, left and
Brogan Rafferty, 16, right.
Brogan Rafferty, 16, right.
Three men were killed and another wounded after responding to a phony advertisement on Craigslist.
The ad was for a job in Akron, Ohio, offering $300 a week, a free trailer, and unlimited fishing in return for watching over 688 acres of farmland and feeding some cows.
The ad turned out to be a trap meant to lure in victims, who were then murdered and buried in shallow graves. Three bodies were found by authorities, one from Virginia, one from Ohio, and one that remains unidentified. A fourth victim, from South Carolina, was shot in the arm but managed to escape alive and alert authorities. The farmland was owned by a coal company.
Two suspects have been arrested for this crime: 52-year-old Richard Beasley and 16-year-old Brogan Rafferty, a local high school student. Beasley has not been charged in connection with the killings, but is being held on charges of promoting prostitution and selling prescription drugs illegally.
Rafferty has been charged with the attempted murder of Scott Davis, the South Carolina man, and the murder of David Pauley of Virginia. Neither suspect has been charged with the murder of the Ohio man or the unidentified victim. Prosecutors want the teenager Rafferty to be tried as an adult, which is a routine practice in Ohio when dealing with serious crimes like this.
Yvette Rafferty, Brogan Rafferty's mother, insists that Rafferty did not commit the crime willingly, and must have been coerced by Beasley.
"All I know is that he would not hurt anyone in the world unless he was threatened," she said.
The ad was for a job in Akron, Ohio, offering $300 a week, a free trailer, and unlimited fishing in return for watching over 688 acres of farmland and feeding some cows.
The ad turned out to be a trap meant to lure in victims, who were then murdered and buried in shallow graves. Three bodies were found by authorities, one from Virginia, one from Ohio, and one that remains unidentified. A fourth victim, from South Carolina, was shot in the arm but managed to escape alive and alert authorities. The farmland was owned by a coal company.
Two suspects have been arrested for this crime: 52-year-old Richard Beasley and 16-year-old Brogan Rafferty, a local high school student. Beasley has not been charged in connection with the killings, but is being held on charges of promoting prostitution and selling prescription drugs illegally.
Rafferty has been charged with the attempted murder of Scott Davis, the South Carolina man, and the murder of David Pauley of Virginia. Neither suspect has been charged with the murder of the Ohio man or the unidentified victim. Prosecutors want the teenager Rafferty to be tried as an adult, which is a routine practice in Ohio when dealing with serious crimes like this.
Yvette Rafferty, Brogan Rafferty's mother, insists that Rafferty did not commit the crime willingly, and must have been coerced by Beasley.
"All I know is that he would not hurt anyone in the world unless he was threatened," she said.
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