[n
in the Midwestern heartland in Akron, Ohio.
He drifted through life until his love of motorcycles led him
to a community he could call his own.
He found a wife, became a father,
and ultimately used his persuasive social skills
to become a street preacher,
serving the down and out.
No one, including his own daughter,
suspected this self-proclaimed man of God
was also the sadistic Craigslist Killer,
who preyed on transient men
looking for a stable home.
- I never imagined
he would kill people.
And it's hard to picture my dad,
who comes off as so loving and caring,
committing something so evil.
[narrator] In 2011, Beasley and his teenage accomplice,
Brogan Rafferty,
murdered three men
and attempted to kill another.
Today, Rafferty is serving
a life sentence in an Ohio prison.
In public testimony at his trial,
he portrayed his mentor to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
- I trusted Rich.
I thought he was a great guy.
He was like the father that I never had.
[narrator] Nick Kern is the son of Timothy Kern,
one of Richard Beasley's victims.
- My dad was a kind hearted guy,
really easy to get along with.
Can't do anything without thinking, man,
I wish he was here to experience this with me.
This is my worst nightmare.
[narrator] It's been five years
since these murders rocked Ohio.
Now Tonya is hoping to express her sorrow to the son of a man
her father killed.
[Tonya] I'm nervous about meeting Nick.
The more I hear about his father,
the more anger I'm going to feel that my dad did this.
- You know, I know people don't automatically start evil,
that there's a side of them that was once good.
Tell me about your dad.
[Tonya] In 1992, my parents
met at a local bike event.
Within a few months, they were married.
And then a few months after that, I came along.
- Was he a good dad? - The memories
I have with him with him being home, he really was.
[man]
[woman]
-
[Tonya] He would take me out to the movies.
We actually had an old Nintendo 64.
And he would plug his controller in
and leave mine unplugged and make me think that
I was the one winning the games.
- How did your dad support the family?
How'd he support you and your mom?
- My mom was under the impression
that he was working for a friend's business
doing some type of machining,
but he was actually burglarizing homes,
and illegally dealing weapons.
- How did she learn about his criminal activity?
- Pretty much when he was arrested.
- In 1996, Beasley was sentenced in federal court
to a seven-year prison stint.
[narrator] The arrest is too much for Tonya's mom to take
and the couple divorce.
But Richard is still a big part of Tonya's life.
- I actually had to see him once a month,
so I still had contact with him.
It was court ordered.
- Even with your dad in prison,
it was court ordered for you to visit him?
- Correct. And then as I got older,
it became more uncomfortable for me.
Eventually it got to the point where
every time before I was supposed to go see him,
I would become physically ill.
[narrator] While Tonya finds prison painful,
Richard discovers salvation behind bars.
- He studied the Bible, he memorized verses.
He came out there with the intent of redefining,
rediscovering,
and reinventing himself.
- I was 12 years old when he got out.
He held me and cried
and hugged me for the longest time.
It was like, all these worries
about who he was or how life was going to be,
it didn't matter because he was finally home.
[narrator] Just as Richard Beasley appears to be
getting his life back together, misfortune strikes.
- Unfortunately, there was a bad accident.
He suffered some back injuries
that would afflict his life forever.
- His whole demeanor sort of changed.
He was just kind of distant.
[narrator] Tonya still tries to support her dad,
but it becomes harder when he begins self medicating.
- After the car crash, Beasley was prescribed pain meds.
- It quickly just became an addiction.
Instead of him just saying, I don't want to talk about that
or I don't agree with that,
he would go on rants and tangents.
It was a complete personality change.
[narrator] Then Richard receives an unexpected windfall.
[man] He gets a settlement from his back injury claims,
and decides to take that money and open up a halfway house,
basically, for drug addicts and prostitutes.
As a minister, he would go into the courts and he would talk
to the judges and tell them,
I'm here to help these folks, I'm going to bring them
to my halfway house, I'm going to change them.
Don't worry, Judge, I got this.
- He was so involved in it that they never suspected
anything he was doing on the side.
- He realized that he could make more money selling drugs,
and also, at the same time, feeding his own addictions.
He'll sell them at high schools,
he'll sell them to prostitutes.
He just got out of prison.
He would sell drugs to anybody who would buy them.
[narrator] To find his next mark,
Beasley turns to his daughter
with a seemingly innocent request.
[Tonya] My dad was completely baffled
by the internet and the computer.
He asked me to make him a Craigslist account
or help him set one up because he had furniture
that he needed to sell to make more money
that he needed for renovations for the house.
[narrator] But Richard has a devious plan in mind.
- The ad on Craigslist
lists a 688-acre cattle farm
that was looking for a caretaker.
It would include a mobile home to live in and $300 a week.
He advertised it as the job of a lifetime.
[man] To somebody who's desperate,
it sounds like a perfect opportunity.
[man 2] Beasley was looking for very specific victims--
In their late 40s, loners,
people he could trick into coming here,
and after they were killed, nobody would miss them.
[gun cocks, fires]
♪♪
- Hello. - Hi.
Hey, it's good to see you. - You too.
- How are you doing? - Kind of anxious.
Kind of like, just wondering what to expect.
- Well, I have Tonya inside already.
She's waiting to meet with you.
You ready to go meet her?
- Absolutely. - Okay.
Nick, this is Tonya.
- Hi. - Tonya, Nick.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to see you.
- Nick, what're your feelings about meeting with Tonya today?
- Had to think about what I'm going to say,
or how I'm going to act towards you.
I need someone to point the finger at.
And I just recently found out that you existed.
I never like, even thought he had a family.
You know what I mean? Because in my head,
if you know what it's like to have a family,
you won't perform these acts.
- I guess for the longest time,
I just felt guilty
because one of the last times that I actually spoke
with my father, he had asked me
to make him a Craigslist account.
Maybe had I not...
even had the connection that we did have,
or the desire to help him do even small things like that,
then maybe it wouldn't have happened.
And among that personal guilt
is also the fear.
I don't want anyone to blame me,
especially you or the other families.
- That's kind of why I wanted to sit down with you today.
- Nick, do you want to tell Tonya
a little bit about your dad?
- He really taught me everything that I have with me today.
Right before his passing is when our relationship was
really at its peak,
we were super, super close.
So for him to take this job in the first place
was a huge, huge step in his life.
He didn't wanna leave his children
and be far away from them and not be able to talk to them,
because that was kind of like the relationship we had.
It was kind of like if we went eight hours without talking,
it was strange...
- And that's just not right,
because then he never got to do that again.
It's just hard, like, when you're hearing these things
because, well, your dad is gone because of my dad, and then--
- That's why I'm here today. It's just to let people know
he's not just that person that was victimized.
He was, you know, a great person.
And it's really like,
the world lost such a great soul.
You know what I mean?
- And I just wanna let you know I don't see him like that.
He's not just a headline.
But I mean, I am very sorry for what my dad did,
and how his actions have affected you and your family
and the other families.
- I know that you both have walked your own personal hell.
And I want you both to know how proud I am of both of you.
Because even though you're so young
and it's only been five years,
how far along you both have come.
So I appreciate both of you being here.
Great, thank you both.
- Of course. And thank you.
- Yeah, I really appreciate it.
[Tonya] After meeting Nick,
I'm finally feeling less guilty.
But I'm still Richard Beasley's daughter.
And as much as I hate him,
part of me still just really wants a dad.
And if we can't create new memories,
I'm still constantly hung up on the old ones,
and it's really hard to get past.
[Nick] I honestly feel like
I'm walking away from this with a whole new perspective.
I'm only seeking positivity.
I'm not seeking a reason to be mad at the world anymore.
It's more of what can I take from this
to help myself and help my community.
♪♪