DNA from Beasley co-defendant found on murder weapon

Jurors heard testimony Tuesday that DNA from Stow teenager Brogan Rafferty was found on the handle and magazine of a pistol identified previously as the gun used in the slaying of a Massillon man who had answered an ad for a bogus farm job in southern Ohio.

Timothy Kern, 47, was the fourth and final victim of the so-called Craigslist killings. He was shot Nov. 13, 2011. Authorities found his body 12 days later in a shallow, hand-dug pit behind Rolling Acres Mall in southwest Akron.

The testimony about the pistol, a .22-caliber Iver Johnson weapon identified last week by a firearms expert from the state crime lab, came on the seventh day of the evidentiary phase of the capital murder trial of Richard James Beasley of Akron.

Lynda Eveleth, a DNA analyst from the state crime lab, told the jury the DNA on the pistol was consistent with Raffertys genetic profile. She went on to say, under questioning by defense counsel Larry Whitney, that Beasleys DNA profile was excluded from the pistol handle and magazine.

There were no assertions Monday that Rafferty, Beasleys young co-defendant in the case, was the person who had shot Kern. Autopsy results showed the cause of death was multiple gunshots to the head.

In Raffertys trial last year, prosecutors showed that police found the pistol used to kill Kern and a shotgun that belonged to the second victim, David Pauley, inside Raffertys bedroom at his familys residence in Stow.

Hiding the weapons there prosecutors called it a sign of deception showed that Rafferty was not a frightened child under Beasleys influence, but rather was protecting Beasley, prosecutors have said. Beasley was considered the teens mentor and longtime spiritual advisor from their church days together at the Chapel in Akron.

Beasley, 53, is charged with three counts of aggravated murder and the attempted slaying of a fourth man, Scott William Davis, who escaped after he was shot.

Davis, during his recovery at Akron General Medical Center from a gunshot wound to the right elbow, gave authorities much of the information that led them to both defendants.

If Beasley is convicted of any of the aggravated murder counts, he could face the death penalty.

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DNA from Beasley co-defendant found on murder weapon