Accused murderer appears in court

WASILLA — Court officials arraigned a Wasilla man Monday (Aug. 17) on charges stemming from a pair of violent encounters in June that left one man injured and another dead.

Joshua J. Beebe, 30, first gained notoriety in the Valley when he cut an electronic monitoring bracelet July 25 and jumped bail for a January theft charge. Authorities now say he is responsible for shooting two people in the span of a week.

His attorney, public defender Jeffrey Bradley, pleaded not guilty on his behalf. Bradley was already representing Beebe for the January theft charge precipitating Beebe’s flight from justice.

Beebe faces charges of first-degree murder, three different counts of second-degree murder, two counts of first degree robbery, one count of first-degree assault, and two counts of third-degree weapons misconduct. Beebe was well known to law enforcement even before his most recent alleged crime spree: his court records stretch back to 2001. He avoided his first felony charge in 2004 via plea deal, when felony theft charges were reduced to misdemeanors. His last previous felony charge was in 2010.

An indictment in the case provided slightly more details than were immediately available Aug. 14, when news of Beebe’s murder indictment first broke. For example, authorities now say Beebe was one of two people present during the June 17 shooting of Joshua Jenson. The other, Robert Casello, was arrested on June 22 with a gunshot wound of his own, and remains in custody. Casello is listed as a co-defendant in the case Jenson shooting.

Authorities also say that Beebe killed Christopher Seaman, 23, whose mother said was an aspiring rap MC and recovering heroin addict at the time of his death. Troopers found Seaman’s body the morning of June 23. Officials say the murder likely took place near where Seaman’s body was found, in Houston.

The second weapons misconduct charge also points to additional details about Seaman’s death that have not been publicly disclosed: it appears likely Seaman’s killing was also a shooting, based on the second weapons misconduct charge.

Terria Walters, Seaman’s mother, pledged to attend each court date until justice was done. Walters said authorities told her months ago who they suspected in her son’s death. Investigators found some of her son’s property among Beebe’s possessions.

“I’ve known for a month who did it, I just couldn’t talk about it until he was charged and indicted,” she said.

She saw Beebe for the first time in court on Monday. She was surrounded by friends of her son and other supporters, wearing a white t-shirt advertising her Damascus House ministry. Beebe didn’t look in her direction.

“I’m going to be at every court hearing that he has,” she said.

She said she was thankful for the support she’s gotten since her son was killed.

“If I had to do this alone, I’d be a complete mess,” she said.

Monday would have been her son’s 24^th birthday.

Walters plans a celebration of life tomorrow (Aug. 19) at Wasilla Lake Park at 2 p.m. It’s open to the public, she said, to allow her to make inroads among people potentially still addicted to drugs.

Murder is an unclassified felony carrying a potential maximum sentence of 99 years on conviction. First-degree assault and first-degree robbery are Class A felonies, punishable by a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Weapons misconduct is a Class C felony.

Beebe’s next court appearance will be Sept. 11 for a pre-trial conference. A trial call is scheduled for Sept. 15.

Contact Reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.