Ohio Duo Used Craigslist Job Ad to Hunt and Kill Unemployed Men
The job ad on Craigslist offered $300 a week, a free trailer and unlimited fishing to “watch over a 688 acre patch of hilly farmland and feed a few cows.” To the unemployed and disenfranchised, the offer must have seemed like a dream come true. Unfortunately, it was anything but.
If Eli Roth is looking for the plot of his next horror movie, he needn’t look any further than the heartbreaking and disturbing story of the two murderous guys, one a teenager and the other a man in his fifties, from Ohio who posted the Craigslist job ad as a means of luring people to a remote farm to be hunted for sport.
Three people have been confirmed as killed by the duo, a fourth was able to escape and alert local law enforcement. The New York Times digs into the macabre story:
More bodies may still be found, as the bogus advertisement, which was picked up by online job aggregators, drew more than 100 responses from Ohio and other states.In Ohio, hit hard by the recession, the abundance of eager applicants pulled in by the advertisement has surprised no one, stirring talk about the lengths that people will go these days to find employment. “People here are desperate for work,” said a clerk at a motel in Akron, whose employer did not want him to give his name.
The police have suggested robbery as a motive, but other theories have also circulated, including identity theft and, perhaps more chilling, simply a desire to kill. The perpetrators appeared to be looking for loners who would not be missed.
Police arrested Richard J. Beasley, 52, of Akron and Brogan Rafferty, 16, still a high school student.
Beasley is a friend of Rafferty’s family and he has a long rap sheet. As of this writing, he has not been charged in connection with the killings. He is, however, being held on other charges, including 15 counts of promoting prostitution and also selling OxyContin. The federal government has even stepped in by filing kidnapping and wire fraud charges in connection with the case.
Rafferty has been charged with the attempted murder of Scott Davis, 48, of South Carolina, the aggravated murder of David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., and two counts of complicity in those crimes. He will, in all likelihood, be tried as an adult.
If you can stomach it, the entire story is worth reading, but just know that it’ll make you weep for society.
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