Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Monday, May 13, 2013

THE HOMICIDAL HITCHHIKER: WILLIAM BEUKE EXECUTED IN OHIO ON MAY 13, 2010



On this date, May 13, 2010, William Beuke was executed by lethal injection in Ohio. He was put to death for the murder of Robert Craig on June 1, 1983. Let us not forget the victim and hear from his surviving family members. 


Joan Wahoff and Susan Craig

ProDeathPenalty.Com
On May 14, 1983, Gregory Wahoff offered a ride to Michael Beuke who was walking along the side of the road. Once inside Wahoff’s car, Beuke produced a .38 caliber revolver and demanded that Wahoff drive to a rural area in Hamilton County, Ohio. When they reached a sufficiently secluded area, Beuke led Wahoff into the woods; Wahoff eventually charged towards Beuke, attempting to wrestle the gun away from him. After this effort was unsuccessful, Wahoff began to run away, but Beuke shot him in the back, lodging a bullet in his spine and paralyzing him. Beuke then placed the gun against Wahoff’s face and fired a second shot, which passed through Wahoff’s cheek and lodged in the ground. Wahoff was fully conscious at this point, but he pretended to be dead and apparently succeeded in fooling Beuke, who returned to the car and drove off.
Later that day, the police found Wahoff and took him to the hospital for emergency treatment; Wahoff survived Beuke’s brutal attack but he was permanently paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair and eventually died. A few weeks after the attempted murder of Gregory Wahoff, on June 1, 1983, the police discovered Robert Craig’s body in a ditch on the side of a rural road in Clermont County, Ohio. Craig worked as a deliveryman supplying fresh fish to local restaurants, and during these travels, he would often offer rides to hitchhikers in the area. Beuke allegedly told Michael J. Cahill, a man with whom Beuke worked, that he killed Craig after Craig picked him up along the side of the highway. An autopsy on Craig’s body revealed that he was shot twice in the head and once in the chest, and the police found his abandoned car in the parking lot of a local shopping mall.
Two days later, on June 3, 1983, Bruce Graham saw Beuke walking down the highway with a red gas can in hand. In an effort to help the apparently stranded traveler, Graham offered Beuke a ride to the nearest gas station. As he had done with Wahoff, Beuke brandished a short-barreled revolver and instructed Graham to drive to a rural area. When they arrived at the secluded destination, Beuke immediately fired at Graham. The bullet grazed Graham’s forehead, inflicting a minor but bloody wound. After an unsuccessful effort to wrestle the gun from Beuke, Graham sought refuge in a nearby farmhouse. As Graham fled, Beuke fired several shots, one of which struck Graham in the shoulder. After Beuke realized that Graham had escaped to safety, he got into the car and left the scene of the shooting. Sometime thereafter, Beuke’s co-worker, Cahill, told the police what he knew of Beuke’s involvement in the “mad hitchhiker” shootings.
The police obtained a warrant and searched the car that Beuke had been driving, which he had borrowed from Cahill. The police discovered a cup that had been removed from Wahoff’s car, a red gas can, and a blood-stained football jersey. The officers arrested Beuke who, at the time of his arrest, was in possession of a .38 caliber revolver — the same type of weapon he used to shoot Wahoff in the back.
In July 1983, an Ohio grand jury returned a ten-count indictment against Beuke, charging him with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, three counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of kidnapping, and one count of carrying a concealed weapon. The aggravated murder charge included two specifications, either of which, if proven beyond a reasonable doubt, would make Beuke eligible for the death penalty under Ohio law: (1) committing aggravated murder as part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful attempt to kill two or more persons, and (2) committing aggravated murder in the course of an aggravated robbery.
Beuke’s jury trial began on September 19, 1983. The prosecution introduced extensive evidence implicating Beuke in the “mad hitchhiker” shootings, including Wahoff’s and Graham’s testimony of their nearly fatal encounters with Beuke, evidence linking the bullets extracted from Wahoff and Craig to Beuke’s gun, Beuke’s fingerprints on Wahoff’s and Craig’s automobiles, and Cahill’s testimony about Beuke’s confession. On October 5, 1983, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all ten counts and the two specifications, making Beuke eligible for capital punishment. Defense counsel moved for a continuance of the penalty hearing, but the trial court granted only a short, one-day continuance and set the hearing for October 7, 1983. At the penalty hearing, Beuke introduced a presentence report and mitigation testimony from his parents. Unpersuaded by the defense’s evidence, the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating evidence and recommended that Beuke be sentenced to death. The trial court adopted the jury’s recommendation and imposed the death penalty. In April 2010, 27 years after imposing a sentence of death in this case, the trial court judge wrote a letter to the parole board opposing clemency for Beuke.
UPDATE: Michael Beuke, known as the "homicidal hitchhiker" was executed for a murder he committed nearly 27 years ago. Beuke also was found guilty of the attempted murders of Gregory Wahoff and Bruce Graham. Among those who witnessed Beuke's execution were Susan Craig, the widow of murder victim Robert Craig, 27, and Dawn and Paul Wahoff, the children of Greg Wahoff, 28, another of Beuke's victims. Greg Wahoff was paralyzed and wheelchair bound after he was shot in the face and back by Beuke, to whom he had given a ride. He apologized to the widows of his victims.
As Beuke said, “Mrs. Wahoff, I am sorry. Mrs. Craig, I am sorry. Mr. Graham, I am sorry," Wahoff’s daughter, Dawn, clasped hands with her brother, Paul, and Susan Craig, who sat side-by-side as witnesses. Beuke then launched into a 17-minute recitation of the Roman Catholic rosary, the Lord’s Prayer and other prayers. The 6-foot 4-inch Beuke occasionally whimpered while repeating the Hail Mary dozens of times, clasping rosary beads in his right hand. Dawn later reflected: “I was thinking, ‘You’re stalling the inevitable." But it’s his last minutes of his life. . . There’s nothing that is going to bring my dad back” Susan Craig said afterward, "June first, Bob will be dead as long as he was alive, how sad is that? It's been a really long time. I was pregnant at the time he was murdered. Now we can talk about Bob and have happy memories and not talk about Michael Beuke." Gregory Wahoff’s wife, JoAnn, of Bright, Ind., gave up her witness chair to her children. “I was content with watching the body brought out," she said afterward. “I’m just outraged," Mrs. Wahoff said of the decades of legal appeals. “It should not have gone on this long."
Beuke’s eyes remained closed throughout the prayers. He then became still, looking upwards. Once the drugs started flowing, Beuke became completely still within three minutes, and was pronounced dead seven or eight minutes later. Beuke, 48, succumbed to the lethal injection drug at 10:53 a.m. “I didn’t take it lightly that a person died today," Susan Craig said during a news conference following the execution. “This is his debt to my family and JoAnn (Wahoff’s) family and today he paid it.” Mrs. Craig called Beuke’s apology unsatisfying: “Don’t you think it’s time you man up and be honest? Don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry." Robert Craig Jr., named after his slain father, accompanied his mother to Lucasville but did not witness the execution. A grown man now, he never knew his father, killed before he was born. "It's pretty much surreal," said Bobby Craig. "It's like we went full circle, we closed the circle today," said Susan Craig.

QUOTE 1: Among those who witnessed Beuke's execution were Susan Craig, the widow of murder victim Robert Craig, 27, and Dawn and Paul Wahoff, the children of Greg Wahoff, 28, another of Beuke's victims. Greg Wahoff was paralyzed and wheelchair bound after he was shot in the face and back by Beuke, to whom he had given a ride. Susan Craig said afterward, "It's been a really long time. I was pregnant at the time he was murdered. Now we can talk about Bob and have happy memories and not talk about Michael Beuke."

QUOTE 2: “I didn’t take it lightly that a person died today," Susan Craig said during a news conference following the execution. “This is his debt to my family and Joann (Wahoff’s) family and today he paid it.”

"It's pretty much surreal," said Bobby Craig. "It's like we went full circle, we closed the circle today," said Susan Craig.


AUTHOR: Susan Craig is the widow of Robert Craig who was murdered by William Beuke on May 14, 1983. He was executed by the state of Ohio on May 13, 2010. 


William Beuke


William Beuke

 



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