7 | A Grave in the Woods

Scott Davis ran terrified through the woods, looking for somewhere to hide. Behind him, his would-be killer stumbled out of the woods, gasping for air. He walked up the gravel road, breathing hard, his face slick with sweat, the gun still in his hand. But he was eerily calm. Up the road, a white car waited. Inside, a teenager.

He was walking down the road, so he was facing me when I was coming back up, and he made for me to stop the car and I did.

Jack, aka Richard Beasley, climbed in, winded from chasing Scott and cursing because it all went so wrong.

And he got in the car and he said something, said he got away or something. He said that the guy took off in the woods or something.

Did he say if he wounded the guy?

He said that he shot him in the back.

Beasley figured Scott would bleed out in the woods. But if he somehow managed to survive, to crawl out and make it to the road, Beasley had a backup plan.

He told me to speed up the hill, and he said that if I saw the guy walking along the road that I was to hit him with my car. And I said something like, oh my God, or something like that. I was a little freaked out.

Beasley wasn't freaked out. He knew exactly what to do. As he calmly laid out Plan B, Beasley gave the next order. They had to get out of Caldwell. Drive normal, not too slow, not too fast. Then Beasley rolled down the window and started getting rid of the evidence one item at a time.

He tossed his leather jacket, his computer, and both the shovels that we had. I had an air freshener on my mirror, and I think he was thinking that if we got pulled over, if Davis was able to cite anything that he had seen in the car. So he had me take that off, and I had a rosary hang on there too. So I took that off, but I wasn't going to throw that. It was my grandmother's, so I think I put it in my console or in the glove compartment or something.

They left the woods behind and drove 100 miles north back to Akron. Brogan went back to high school, just another teenager who really liked the adventures of Huck Finn. And Beasley, still posing as a dead man, walked into a local gun shop with a busted 22 caliber pistol.

It was taken into a local gun shop for repair, and the name given was Ralph Geiger.

Here's Emily and her co-counsel, Paul Scarsella. They tried the Beasley murder case.

So Beasley took it in and used Ralph's name.

And because it was a 22, they can't match it ballistically because 22s don't have sufficient ridge detail for ballistic matches.

If you think the killing stopped because Scott Davis got away, you'd be wrong.

I mean, even after Scott, we know that there was another shooting and another homicide, even after Scott got away.

Beasley didn't stop. He just kept moving, kept hunting, kept killing.

Do you think there are more victims too?

Oh, without a doubt. Yeah. There's more people that he's killed. I'm absolutely convinced of that.

I'm Carol Costello. This is the God Hook episode seven of ten: A Grave in the Woods.

We're back in the car. All of us in one minivan. Me, Emily, and our team. Sheriff Jason Mackie at the wheel. At Emily's insistence, he's taking us to the woods.

So it does look like there would be a big farm coming up.

Oh, there's lots of big farms. None as big as they advertised.

We all watch as the bars on our cell phone shrink from five to four to three to none. We drive on, Mackie, the lead detective in the Beasley case and Emily, the prosecuting attorney. They're at ease with one another, falling into their old working relationship, reminiscing about the grizzly details of a case both of them can't shake.

They used different guns in the different killings?

They did. The one we got out of Rafferty’s room is the one that killed Kern

Because the one at the repair shop was the one that misfired.

Okay.

So is it a 22?

So that's the same gun.

Yeah. Yes.

They didn't get rid of it?

It wasn't still at the shop. They had picked it up, right?

They had picked it up,

So they'd taken to the shop, got it fixed.

Yeah. But then the slip from the gun shop when they took it in for repair was under Ralph Geiger's name. But Ralph Geiger was already dead.

The hat. The black leather baseball hat with a small Sturgis pin, a pin that commemorated the legendary motorcycle rally in South Dakota. Scott's father had given it to him. Beasley knew that because they talked about it over sausage and eggs at breakfast. Davis wore the cap the day he showed up for that new opportunity, an opportunity that both he and Ralph Geiger thought would change their lives. Instead…

They were conned into the job of a lifetime, and what they got was the exact opposite.

Detective Mackie spent days in the woods looking for that leather baseball cap. It was November of 2011. It was cold. The ground so wet, your boots disappeared in the mud. But Mackie persisted. He slogged through acres of trees and brush, determined to find it.

It was the attention to detail, and I think the fact that you had such an awareness of the community too. You pull someone out of the FBI in Cleveland, are they going to know to go down into the woods and spend a day and a half looking for a hat?

They're not going to do it.

That's not to say that they can't do it, but the fact that you are from here and you know the surroundings, you know the community, it was nothing but a huge asset to everybody on the case.

It was helpful.

Helpful, but still difficult.

Lemme tell you how difficult it's to find a baseball cap in the area of Noble County that we’re in. Two full days of looking for a baseball cap. I found it. But yeah.

Mackie found the cap on the bank of a creek on Tuesday, three days after Scott lost it. The cap was just sitting there. It hadn't been washed away by the rain. It was just there lying, partially submerged in a creek like it was waiting for someone to find it. But there was nothing else nearby to suggest the man who had lost the hat was running for his life. Just trees and brush and the distant sounds of squirrels and deer. It was also weird.

So we did a press release on it. It didn't really get much attention.

That press release eventually landed in a small local newspaper. The story about a job seeker whose would-be employer tried to kill him, eventually made its way online. And to a woman who lived in Maine who was desperately searching for her, missing twin brother, David Pauley. Deborah Bruce had been scouring the internet looking for unidentified dead people to see if she could find her twin's face.

Well, Deborah Bruce saw a newspaper article about the incident, which is really the only thing that was ever ran. It didn't gain much traction locally in the beginning, but she was searching for her brother. So she was really putting a lot of effort into searching things in this area.

On November 11th, 2011, Deborah Bruce called Noble County's 9 1 1.

My twin brother, who's 51 years old, found a job on Craigslist as a farm caretaker near Cambridge. I've been looking through newspaper articles and everything and saw the one about the man that was lured and had been shot. I was like, this is just two posts to what my brother was going there for.

But he found a job on Craigslist too?

Yes, he did.

I spoke to her, I believe that night on the phone. I believe it was a Friday evening.

Deborah explained everything to Mackie. She told him how she was a very organized person, the kind who makes lists. She had already put together a detailed chronological timeline starting from when her brother David had left Norfolk, Virginia. She knew police would need it. She also told Mackie about the article she found and how closely it mirrored David's situation, but it was the phone number that convinced Mackie the two cases were connected. It was exactly the same number that Scott Davis had dialed to get ahold of Jack.

Within two minutes of talking to her, it was very clear we had a big problem.

When you say big problem, what do you mean?

Well, Scott Davis had been shot. He had gotten away, but he came here for this advertisement for this job, and now we have Deborah Bruce who calls and says her brother David Pauley had responded to a similar ad with the same phone number associated with the prospective employer, and that she hadn't heard from him since I think late October, like 22nd, 23rd, something like that.

So in your mind, David was probably dead.

Yeah.

If you need to get saved, I'm going to ask you to stand up where you're at. Just stand up man. Don't hold back. As I'm telling you, man, this world out here, it's dark evil. It takes courage to stand. If you don't stand, you won't pay a harder cost not following him than you are following him.

It takes courage to stand. If you don't, there will be consequences. That's what Pastor Randy Baker preached. Had Richard Beasley ever believed a word of it? He hadn't stood. He hadn't fought. He just learned how to hide the rot a little better, because he hadn't just placed a Craigslist ad to lure some of his victims. He again wrapped the con in the language of salvation. “Chaplain Rich” became “Pastor Jack.” This time, he offered the job of a lifetime and the promise of an employer who understood what it meant to hunger for Jesus's love. He told his latest target, David Pauley, to call him Reverend Jack and said he wanted to give David a better life, just like any good Pastor Wood. And David Pauley believed him.

I've done many trials back in my prosecutor days and I have never stayed in touch with anyone that I've worked with. But Deb was special and Deb was different.

“Deb” is Deborah Bruce, David Pauley's twin.

I always check in if I hear something on the news about Maine or she'll comment on pictures of the kids. She's the only one I've ever stayed in touch with.

Ooh, got me going there.

I'm sorry.

Emily and Deb remain close, not just because of the case, but because of the bond they formed along the way. Emily, the special prosecutor, was focused on one thing, building a case to bring justice for David and the other victims. Deb, the grieving sister, was doing what she could to help, feeding Emily information she needed to understand what happened to her twin. Together, they worked in tandem. One, searching for the truth; the other, living a nightmare. They became partners, each driven by the need to uncover what really happened to David Pauley.

I clicked with Emily immediately. I thought the world over as soon as I met her, but the thing that really, really hit me was the first time I went into the courtroom. She walked over to me and she bent down and she whispered to tell me that she was expecting her second child, and I thought, wow. She didn't have to tell any of us that. I consider Emily family.

Didn't you give Emily a baby gift?

I did. I did. I made her daughter a crochet baby blanket, and then I made sure that I sent the older daughter one as well.

And what I haven't told you, Deb, is that the little one loves to crochet. She crochets like crazy. She actually at school has a little crochet club with her girlfriends. So I think that you set the tone very early with hand-crocheted items.

That is so wonderful. I'm glad to hear that.

Why don't we start this part of the story with David.

David was a character. We got along great. He was very kind and caring, compassionate. If he thought you needed something, he'd give you the shirt off his back.

David said hello to the world first, but Deb was the twin who took charge. She was the protector, the caregiver, the one who always looked out for him.

Deb was like a second mom to David.

He could be grouchy at times. He loved cars. NASCAR was his big thing. Jeff Gordon was his favorite. He wasn't overly into sports, but he's just a really nice guy and people liked him. I don't think I ever met anyone that didn't like David.

David always kept in touch with Deb through good times and in bad, and in the early 2000s in the midst of the Great Recession, times were definitely bad for David. After working in a warehouse for over 20 years, David was forced to walk away and struggle to find steady work. He was 51, he had a son. He had gone through a painful divorce. He had lost his home. He wound up living with his older brother in Virginia in a spare bedroom. He was not in a good place. But in October of 2011, David was trying to rebuild his life. He wasn't just seeking a job, he was searching for a fresh start, a sense of self-respect and a way to reclaim his life.

I think David was looking for redemption. Deb was David religious?

Probably not as much as I am, but he definitely was a believer and had just actually started within the past year, going back to church and being a part of a men's Bible study, and he knew that's where he needed to be.

Well, we all find our way back eventually, right?

Yes.

So when David spotted that ad on Craigslist…

He thought God had answered his prayers. The ad hit all the right notes for him.

“Wanted: caretaker for farm. Job of a lifetime.”

The words in the ad drew David in, just as they had with Scott Davis.

Caretaker, secluded, beautiful, hunting preserve, free housing, and 300 bucks a week. It sounded perfect for a man who needed to rebuild his life.

It did, and the alleged employer assured him multiple times it was real.

He was excited. He wanted to get away from the city and dealing with the life that had tanked for a bit of a better word there, and he wanted the peace and quiet. That was one of the biggest things he would mention was being out where he doesn't have to deal with people, being out where he can relax and take care of what he needs to take care of. So that was really important to him.

David was attracted to the ad for another reason too. The man who placed it said he ministered to men like David. The man called himself Pastor Jack.

What did he tell your brother about being a pastor?

He told David to call him Reverend Jack, Pastor Jack. And that he was all involved in the church and this and that and the other, and he just wanted to give David a better life. And of course, we know that isn't true. I think that's one of the reasons David trusted him, was because he thought he was a pastor.

Even David's bible group wanted to believe. I think they funded the trip.

They did. His Bible study group chipped in $300 to help him rent the U-Haul, and he set off to meet Pastor Jack deep in rural southeast Ohio. He was ready to find redemption.

David packed up everything he owned: model trains, NASCAR memorabilia, two red suitcases, a cooler, Christmas decorations, and even a shotgun. He left his brother's house in Virginia, hooked the U-Haul to his old 1985 Dodge Ram pickup and headed to Ohio. He was eager, hopeful, and convinced that a new life awaited him at Pastor Jack's farm. What David didn't know was that Pastor Jack wasn't a minister or a chaplain or a reverend at all.

Deb never believed it. Didn't you have a bad feeling about it from the start?

I was a little on edge about it. From that point, I started trying to find this preacher, all the details, trying to find out where this place was, and I was so unsure, and it moved so fast, and he was so excited.

David was so eager to take the job. Deb grudgingly agreed to help. She paid for him to stay overnight in West Virginia before he met up with his new employer, pastor Jack.

And the next morning when he went to go meet Beasley, I got this gut feeling. That night before I had talked to him, and I was like, I still don't think this is a good idea. And then that's when the gut feeling kicked in. But I didn't say anything. And the last thing I said to David that night was, I love you, bro. And he said, I love you, sis. And that's the last time I ever heard David's voice. And I blame myself because I did not follow that gut instinct.

Deb's instincts were right.

Yeah. But by the time anyone realized something was wrong, David was already gone.

We continue to drive – me, Emily, and the rest of the team deep into Noble County with Mackie behind the wheel. He pulls over to the side of the gravel road and rolls the window down.

How you doing?

In these parts, you don't just knock on a stranger's door and you don't step onto someone's land without permission. It's hunting season. You might get shot.

You mind if we poke around under in the bottom for a couple minutes? Just off the edge of the road? I don't want to bother if you're hunting.

Alright, have a good day, sir.

Eventually we climb out of the minivan and head into the woods. I can see what Emily was talking about. It's just beautiful, but kind of creepy.

Scott ran that way, correct?

He went up the hill, this direction.

Even if you were not hurt and you were not running from someone who wanted to kill you, it would be scary because who's used to being in the woods at night? It would freak me out.

But listen how quiet. There's nothing. Like, nothing.

The day Debra called the Noble County Sheriff's Office to report her brother missing, detective Mackie knew he had a crisis on his hands. A madman was out there using a Craigslist ad to lure men in and a gun to make sure they never left the woods. Oh, I forgot to mention this. That was your first murder case?

It was the first homicide I was assigned as primary detective on, in my career, yes. I'd assisted with some other ones.

Wow. Was that a daunting thought or you just didn't think about it because you were so consumed with what was happening?

It was extremely daunting, but I did get some good words of advice from a chief deputy we had at the time, and he said, I'm going to talk to you for a minute. Come my office. I go in there and he said, “Hey, just so you know, it's probably the biggest case you'll ever have, so just don't screw it up.”

Oh, that's great.

Well, it was a good pep talk.

The pressure was on. Mackie wasn't just chasing a killer. He was trying to solve the biggest case of his career before anyone else disappeared.

I found the hat on a Tuesday afternoon, and we get a call, I think Friday from Deborah Bruce about David being missing. So the only place I knew to start was where the hat was at.

How big of an area are we talking about?

It's as big as you want it to be.

Oh god.

Yeah. So we just started there and just worked our way out

This time. Mackie had a team of sorts. An FBI agent, a deputy, and a couple of search dogs. The FBI agent zeroed in on digital evidence. His goal was to figure out who placed the Craigslist ad, because whoever that was likely had something to do with David Pauley's disappearance. Mackie and the dogs combed the woods. On the first day after hours of trudging through the mud and trees, there was no sign of David Pauley. But Mackie did find something else. 100 yards from where Scott Davis had lost his hat. Mackie found a hole, a big one. It was a grave, hand dug, empty waiting.

Beasley and Rafferty had started digging the graves before they met the victims because then it sped it up. So once they had killed somebody, they could immediately hide the body.

The plan was chilling in its efficiency: lure the men in, kill them quickly, bury them faster. No witnesses and a fast escape. So the first day's over, and you kind of sort of know that you're in the right place.

Certainly know by the end of the first day that we got a real problem because now I got a grave. There's nobody in it, but it's looking worse and worse.

Mackie stood over the empty grave, the woods closing in around him. So did you think that David's body would be somewhere in the vicinity of that grave?

I was hopeful that we would be able to find it.

It was late in the day, though. Darkness was coming. So Mackie packed it in and returned to the woods the next day. He stood again near the empty grave and started walking. It had rained overnight. There were puddles of water in the muck. He studied his surroundings, the dogs at his side. At first glance, everything looked normal.

And then the more time you spent looking at it, you realized there were tree branches covered in leaves with the branches been cut off with the saw. It wasn't natural.

He spotted something shiny, lying in the mud. It was a bracelet – a man's bracelet. Mackie let the dogs loose. Nose is low to the ground, they picked up a scent and circled. Mackie crouched down, wet earth seeping through his boots.

I was very close by to it, but then the dog starts to paw at it, and then some blood bubbles up in the water.

Oh God, that's awful.

It was bad.

The rain had turned the grave into a muddy half submerged pit. When the blood bubbled up, it all became terribly real. The discovery shifted everything into high gear. Mackie called in a crime scene team and the coroner's office, the search that had started with only himself and a few dogs ballooned, because now everyone wanted to help. Not because they hadn't cared before, but because now the truth was impossible to ignore. As the sky darkened, they dug. No fancy equipment, just shovels and their own hands working through the cold rain and the mud. So how was that done if it's in the middle of the woods? How did they get his body out?

We just dug it up and picked him up out of it.

Really?

Yeah.

Mackie kept vigil over the site for weeks. On and off, he was there standing watch over the graves of the woods. He did not know at that time there was another grave nearby with another victim: Ralph Geiger. No one had reported him missing, so Mackie wasn't looking. Yet. Still, he kept watch. Hunting season, complicated things. The real danger wasn't to Mackie and his team; it was to the evidence itself. Hunters moving through the woods, tramping over the crime scene, scattering shotgun shells. One wrong step could destroy crucial clues or worse, mask signs of another grave. The weather was miserable. Only the sound of coyotes kept Mackie company, although the call he had to make to Deborah, David Pauley's twin, was worse.

So what is that moment like when you'd know you're going to have to call Deborah and you're going to have to tell her the worst possible news ever?

Oh, it's horrible. That's something we do too often. I don't like to do 'em over the phone. Frankly, we didn't know at that point is this David? Is this somebody else?

But once Mackie described the bracelet, Deb knew actually, Deb had always known David was dead. She knew the moment he'd been killed on a Sunday in October.

I personally know the very instant my brother died, but this is the first time I've said it publicly. The day that David was killed, I had a sharp pain go from the back of my head to the front of my head, and the room started spinning, and I dropped back into the chair. And I thought I was having a stroke. And I didn't realize until I got the autopsy report that the moment that I felt that shot was the exact same time that they shot David in the head.

The twin connection, is real.

Next week: Full Circle.

Mackie's murder investigation would lead to Akron and an astonished lieutenant detective Terry Pasko. Did it ever enter your mind that had Richard Beasley not made bond, those murders wouldn't have happened?

Absolutely, because that whole thing from the time he left, just smacked of desperation. I mean, I can remember getting a call from a task force officer saying, “Hey, take a look at this picture. It's a cafe down in southern Ohio. Is that Rich?”

I'm like, it doesn't look like Rich. What do you got?

He goes, “We think he did this is a homicide.”

I go, what are you talking about? I said, why?

He goes, “Well, I think it's just a robbery.”

I go, a robbery? I mean, you're basically robbing somebody for a yard sale.