Ex-locals charged in slayings of Augusta pair

Posted in Related Deaths

12-16-2010 California:

Two former central Maine men jailed on drug charges in California now are facing charges of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of an Augusta couple who reportedly moved there to help with a marijuana operation.

Robby Alan Beasley, 30, formerly of Augusta, and Elijah Bae McKay, 28, a former state champion wrestler from Gardiner Area High School, are charged with murdering Frank Maddox, 32, and his wife, Yvette Colon Maddox, 40, according to information from Capt. James Bauman of California's Lake County Sheriff's Department.

A conviction on first-degree murder in California carries a sentence of 25 years to life.

The partially decomposed bodies of the Maddoxes were found March 4 at the bottom of an embankment in a rural area of northern California. The medical examiner ruled the deaths homicides, saying that the two suffered gunshots wounds before dying.

The couple had been staying in Clearlake, Calif., for several months.

One of Yvette Maddox's Maine relatives reported her missing on Jan. 28, and Frank Maddox was reported missing on Feb. 11.

Early in the investigation, Bauman said detectives learned that Beasley had hired the two and brought them to Lake County to work in a marijuana operation.

Beasley, who had moved to Clearlake, Calif., and lists his occupation as a painter, was arraigned on the murder charges Wednesday morning in Lake County; and McKay is to be arraigned today.

Beasley is scheduled to appear in court again Dec. 20.

Bauman indicated additional arrests are anticipated and that police are continuing the nine-month investigation.

Beasley was arrested March 6 in California on a Maine warrant charging him with violating probation by leaving the state without permission. He had been convicted of criminal threatening and felony assault in Kennebec County in June 2007 and remained on probation for those offenses.

He was questioned in connection with the Maddoxes' deaths, according to Bauman, and later charged with marijuana cultivation.

Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle later said that a second warrant was issued from Kennebec County, charging Beasley with violating probation by committing new criminal conduct.

A statement from Bauman on Wednesday says McKay became a person of interest about a week into the Maddox murder investigation.

McKay was arrested March 11 in Lake County, Calif., on marijuana cultivation, possession for sales and weapons charges and released the same day on $10,000 bail. He allegedly fled to Georgia and was brought back to the Lake County, Calif., jail where his bail was increased to $2 million.

The Lake County jail records show McKay was born in Santa Rosa, Calif., but he graduated from Gardiner Area High School in 2001.

In his senior year there, his 116 wins were the most ever by a Gardiner Area High School wrestler, and he was named wrestler of the year by Kennebec Journal sports writers.

In Bauman's statement about the murder charges, he gave no indication whether authorities had located Frank Maddox's 1982 pickup truck. They said earlier the vehicle was important to the investigation and had published two photographs of the truck taken by a local code enforcement officer on Feb. 2, when it was reported as an abandoned vehicle. The rusted, beige truck was to be towed, but it disappeared before the wrecker arrived.

The Maddoxes and Beasley have criminal records in central Maine dating back several years.

Published records show members of the Maine State Police tactical team arrested Beasley at his Pittston home in December 2002 after he allegedly fired several shots out of his home and at a guest's vehicle. A 17-year-old girl was injured in the incident.

He also was arrested in October 2005 after a standoff with police in Augusta.

Beasley was indicted in January 2007 on charges of threatening a woman with an AK-47 assault rifle in Vassalboro. He pleaded guilty to criminal threatening and assault and was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 10 months suspended and two years' probation.

Beasley also was accused of trafficking in marijuana in 1999 in Gardiner.

Frank Maddox has convictions for unlawful sexual contact in 2001, possession of scheduled drugs and failing to comply with notification requirements of the Maine Sex Offender Registry, according to Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle. Maddox and Beasley were both sent to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham in 2007, and Kennebec County Sheriff Randall Liberty indicated the men were in the prison at the same time.

Yvette Maddox served time in Kennebec County jail after pleading guilty to unlawful drug possession, Fowle said. She was sentenced in September 2005 to three years in jail, with all but 90 days suspended and two years' probation.

Published records show only one criminal conviction for McKay, for operating under the influence May 21, 2004, in Gardiner. McKay was fined $400 for the offense. ..Source.. by Betty Adams

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No death penalty for former Mainers

4-28-2011:

CLEARLAKE, Calif. -- A district attorney will not seek the death penalty against two former Mainers charged with killing a couple who moved from Augusta to California to work in a marijuana operation.

Lake County Deputy District Attorney Art Grothe confirmed that the death penalty will not be sought in the prosecutions of Robby Alan Beasley, 30, formerly of Augusta; and Elijah Bae McKay, 28, formerly of Gardiner.

They are charged with the January 2010 slayings of Frank and Yvette Maddox, formerly of Augusta. Beasley is alleged to have shot them both at the side of a remote county road because he suspected the couple was stealing marijuana from him.

Beasley and McKay are facing separate trials. Each faces two counts of murder and special allegations of committing multiple murders in the first or second degree, committing the offenses with the intent to inflict great bodily injury on the victims and using a 9 millimeter firearm. Beasley also is charged with having a previous felony conviction in Maine for criminal threatening with a firearm.

Grothe said that, instead of the death penalty, he will seek life without the possibility of parole for both men.

Beasley and McKay appeared separately in brief hearings Tuesday in Judge Stephen Hedstrom's Lake County courtroom.

Beasley appeared for a trial readiness conference, as his trial had been scheduled to start next month. However, his attorney, Stephen Carter, entered a motion that morning to continue the hearing to later this year. Grothe did not oppose the request.

Hedstrom approved the motion, ordering Beasley to appear in Lakeport on Aug. 22 for a trial-readiness and settlement conference.

The judge also rescheduled Beasley's trial, which now is set to start Oct. 3.

McKay appeared for entry of plea and the setting of his preliminary hearing. However, his case, too, was continued.

Attorney Justin Petersen appeared on behalf of McKay's attorney, Richard Petersen of Ukiah, who is reportedly suffering from health problems that will prevent him from continuing with the case.

Hedstrom continued McKay's hearing to May 24, at which time there also will be a possible substitution of McKay's counsel. ..Source.. by ELIZABETH LARSON