Donald Jay Beardslee: The Parolee Killer
Overview
Donald Jay Beardslee was a three-time murderer whose crimes spanned more than a decade, beginning in Missouri and ending on California's death row. In 1969, he killed a woman he had just met in St. Louis. After serving only seven years of a 19-year sentence, he was paroled and moved to California. There, in 1981, while still on parole, he participated in the brutal murders of two young women, Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin, in a scheme of revenge over a small drug debt. Beardslee confessed to all three murders. His defense attorneys later argued that a severe brain injury had made him a suggestible follower, unable to resist the influence of his more domineering accomplices. Despite numerous appeals, he was executed by the state of California in 2005.
Early Life and Background
Donald Jay Beardslee was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 13, 1943, the eldest of three children. His youth was marked by what his family described as social awkwardness and an inability to express emotion. His father died when he was 11, an event that deeply affected him. At 15, his mother sent him to a military academy, where relatives said he was relentlessly hazed.
After graduating high school in 1962, Beardslee joined the U.S. Air Force and served for four years as an aircraft mechanic. His first significant brush with the law came in 1965 when he and another airman were caught trying to steal a vehicle. He was sentenced to a work farm in Minnesota, where he suffered a life-altering injury. A falling tree fractured his skull and left him in a coma for days. Defense experts would later argue this incident caused significant brain damage that impaired his judgment and made him susceptible to manipulation.
The Murder of Laura Griffin
In December 1969, Beardslee, then 26, met 52-year-old Laura Griffin at a bar in the St. Louis area. After drinking and dancing, they went to her apartment. Two days later, her body was discovered in her bathtub; she had been choked, stabbed, and drowned. In a pattern that would repeat later in his life, Beardslee turned himself in to the police, through his attorney, and confessed to the murder. He offered no motive or explanation for the killing. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 19-year prison sentence. After serving just seven years, he was released on parole in 1977 and moved to Redwood City, California, to be near his mother. He enrolled at the College of San Mateo and found work as a machinist at Hewlett-Packard.
The Murders of Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin
In April 1981, while still on parole, Beardslee became entangled with a group of people involved in the local drug scene. He had offered a place to stay to a young hitchhiker named Ricarda "Rickie" Soria. Through Soria, he met Frank Rutherford, described as a drug dealer with a violent reputation, and an associate named Bill Forrester.
The chain of events leading to two more murders began with a dispute over an unpaid $185 drug debt. Forrester claimed that 19-year-old Stacy Benjamin and her friend, 23-year-old Paula "Patty" Geddling, had cheated him. Rutherford orchestrated a plan for revenge. On April 24, 1981, Soria lured Benjamin and Geddling to Beardslee's Redwood City apartment under the pretense of a drug deal. Beardslee had sent Soria to buy duct tape beforehand to bind the women.
Inside the apartment, Rutherford confronted the women and accidentally shot Patty Geddling in the shoulder with a sawed-off shotgun. The group told the injured and bound Geddling they were taking her to a hospital. Instead, Beardslee, Soria, and Forrester drove her to a remote coastal area in San Mateo County. There, she was shot to death. According to testimony, Forrester shot her first, then handed the shotgun to Beardslee, who reloaded and shot her twice more. They left her body in a ditch.
Stacy Benjamin was kept captive, first at Beardslee's apartment and then at the home of Rutherford's girlfriend. The next day, April 25, Beardslee, Rutherford, and Soria drove Benjamin more than 100 miles north to a secluded spot in Lake County. Rutherford first attempted to strangle her with a wire. When that failed, Beardslee slit her throat with a knife. To mislead investigators, they pulled down her pants to make the murder appear to be a sexual assault.
The Victims
- Laura Griffin, 52 — A resident of St. Louis, Missouri, she was killed in her apartment in December 1969 after meeting her killer at a local bar. Little is known about her life beyond the tragic circumstances of her death.
- Paula "Patty" Geddling, 23 — Killed on April 24, 1981, she was a young mother of two who was separated from her husband. Her daughter, who was only four at the time of the murder, later said that growing up without a mother meant there could never be true closure.
- Stacy Benjamin, 19 — Murdered on April 25, 1981, she was a close friend of Patty Geddling. Her stepbrother, Tom Amundson, became a vocal advocate for the execution of his sister's killer, waiting 24 years for what he considered justice and attending the execution to fulfill a promise to his late mother.
Investigation and Capture
The investigation into the murders of Geddling and Benjamin moved swiftly. On the morning of April 25, joggers discovered Patty Geddling's body. In her clothing, police found a shoe repair claim ticket with a phone number written on it. The number belonged to Donald Beardslee. When a sheriff's sergeant called and asked him about it, Beardslee immediately implicated himself, admitting he had shot her twice. He then led detectives to Stacy Benjamin's body in Lake County.
Just as he had done after the murder in Missouri 12 years earlier, Beardslee confessed in detail to his role in the killings. He also named his accomplices: Frank Rutherford, Rickie Soria, and Bill Forrester. His confession and subsequent testimony were pivotal in the prosecution of the others involved.
Trial and Sentence
The legal proceedings against the four suspects resulted in varied outcomes. Bill Forrester was acquitted of murder. Rickie Soria, who cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Beardslee and Rutherford, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison and was paroled in 2015. Frank Rutherford, the ringleader, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole; he died in prison in 2003.
Donald Beardslee was the last to be tried. He was convicted in October 1983 of two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including multiple murder and killing a witness. The fact that he was on parole for a prior murder was a key factor for the prosecution. In January 1984, a separate penalty jury delivered a split verdict: life in prison without parole for the murder of Stacy Benjamin, and death for the murder of Patty Geddling. He was formally sentenced in March 1984 and sent to California's death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Appeals and Execution
For two decades, Beardslee's case went through numerous state and federal appeals. His defense team's primary argument was that he was mentally impaired and had acted as a follower, incapable of resisting the commands of the more culpable Frank Rutherford. They presented evidence of the severe head injury he sustained in 1965 and argued that subsequent psychiatric evaluations revealed significant brain damage that was not presented to the jury at his trial. His lawyers contended that his IQ, while above average, masked his inability to make rational judgments under pressure.
His appeals were consistently denied. In January 2005, his case came before California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a clemency hearing. Beardslee's family testified about his lifelong social ineptitude, portraying him as a "patsy" who was easily manipulated. However, prosecutors argued he was a "ruthless and cunning" killer who actively participated in the murders, pointing out that he had sent Soria to buy duct tape before the victims arrived.
Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency, stating, "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." He noted that Beardslee's status as a parolee for a previous murder was a significant factor. After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals, the execution proceeded.
On January 19, 2005, Donald Beardslee was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison. He was 61 years old. He had no final words. Family members of Patty Geddling and Stacy Benjamin were present to witness the execution.
