Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED A SERIAL KILLER: Craigslist Killer

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

In November 2011, 48-year-old Scott Davis sat in the backseat of a musty Buick–traveling on a rural highway in the Ohio Appalachia. He thought he was on his way to a gig as a farm caretaker, a job he secured on Craigslist. But it was a murderous trap, laid by a psychopathic serial killer named Richard Beasley. Beasley had already murdered three men during a four-month stretch before he encountered Scott. After the shooting, Beasley remained armed, dangerous and on the lamb. Would police be able to find him before the death count mounts?Apartments.com - To find whatever you’re searching for and more visit apartments.com the place to find a place.Progressive - Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.Shopify - Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at Shopify.com/survived and take your retail business to the next level today!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. Police have 51-year-old Richard Beasley in custody. Police believe they may have a new Craigslist killer on their hands. Stuck a gun at the back of his head, pulled the trigger and shot him in the back of the head. There's no doubt in my mind he's a psychopath.

I have killed nobody. And he's a damn devil itself. Nobody had any idea that Beasley was actually on the hunt for his next visit. They went out to the secluded area. As soon as I spun around, I heard click. He just keeps firing. Pop, pop, pop, pop. I just ran for everything I had.

I was bleeding bad. Every bone was shattered in my arm. I prayed and said, Lord, I guess this is it. I'm coming to meet you. Any idea what we want to talk to you about? Nope, start talking. Well, we'll get some major issues. Okay.

We had some business took place down south of here. We got a guy that got injured. He's alive, and that's what we're here to talk about. Real people who faced death and lived to tell how. This is I Survived a Serial Killer. My name is Scott Davis, and I survived a serial killer. In 2011, I'm living in a little town called Woodruff, South Carolina. Carolina. My mom wasn't doing the well and said she needed some help up in Ohio. I talked

to her with my fiance. She said, why don't you go up there, be with your mom for a couple months. So let me find a job or see what's going on. Someone told me, get on Craigslist. All kinds of jobs on there. And it's happened to run across the ad. It said $688 acres, $300 a week. It was just going to be me taking care of farm animals. Rent was paid. Agilities were paid. everything was paid and I'm like, it doesn't sound bad, so I went ahead and applied for it. Then I heard something from this guy named Jack. He said that I had gotten a job.

Jason Mackey is a former detective from the Noble County Sheriff's Department. This was supposed to be a 64-acre cattle farm in southeast Ohio, and it was a caretaker's job. John Bamell is an assistant Summit County prosecutor. This was an appealing job. You get to be in charge of acres of land, that you can do what you want and get paid for it. Well, it sounded all good at being out there,

taking care of animals, and being out by myself, that didn't bother me. I said, send me the address of this place so I can take a look at it, see, you know, see where it is and everything. He gave me longitudes, latitudes, latitudes, northeast, west. He gave me all that there. Plus, I had the address.

And I didn't see where there was going to be any problems. So I'm happy. So I packed up. my motorcycle, my gun cabinet, my TV, and I got on the highway. Got to the state of Ohio, first thing I did is I called this Jack guy. He told me they was down at Shoney's. I came in and I checked them out. You know what I mean?

I'm thinking, okay. Look like farm people. Kid, it was with him. He said, it was his nephew. He says, man, get whatever you want. Steak eggs. Pull yourself up. Well, not to know that was going to be my last meal.

Well, I probably should have got a steak, right? Just after that there, he says, we'll go ahead. will take off. I said, okay, sounds good to me. So I got on my trailer for a minute to make sure everything was stabilized. And he said, he said, boy, it's just a lot of nice stuff in here. I said, yep, I said, I worked hard for it. Before we leave the restaurant, he tells me that the roads washed out.

My truck and trailer wasn't going to be able to make it down the road. He said, the three of us are going to take his nephew's car. I said, okay, sounds good to me. We travel down this road, and I'm watching everything as we go. Concrete road, we're checking out the nice rolling hills. cattle. So I was told through the emails that there was no cell phone service out there. Got my phone on my hand. As I'm watching it, I asked Jack, I said, where does this cell phone exactly give out at? Because I'm not exactly sure. It turns out that Scott Davis is not

the first person getting hired for this job. Sherry Bevin Walsh is a Summit County prosecutor. Ralph Geiger was a 56-year-old Akron resident. We believe he was shot and killed sometime around August 9th, 2011. Ralph Geiger was at a facility for people who are homeless. The only thing we know is Ralph Geiger telling another individual who was living there that he had come across a great job opportunity to take care of acres of land and that this was going to turn his life around and how fortunate he felt that he was given this opportunity.

He went out the next morning to the farm, and he has never heard from him again. Everything at this point still feeling good. Next you know, the roads keep getting from two lanes down to where one car could get on the road. Then we get to Don Warner's Road. And right when you get the Don Warner's Road, that's when you lose cell service.

They absolutely picked this spot because it's not near any houses, no cell phone service. We have trouble getting radio service there on our radio sometimes. As we're driving down the road, he told his nephew, he said, just pull over there where we got that deer last week. Once they arrived there, he and Jack get out. The nephew is told to get down the road and turn around.

They went out to the secluded area, started walking. The woods are getting a little bit more dense and a little bit more dense. We got back in there quite a bit. He said, this must not be in a spot. He said, well, let's go back up to the road. He says, it must be up the road a piece. And no sooner than I turned around and go back out, I heard click. As soon as I spun around, the gun was already back up.

I mean, there was no expression on his face. His eyes were just as black as cold. I mean, there was nothing there, period. Everything that hit me all at once, he just keeps firing. Pop, pop, pop. I said, what the is wrong with you? You know? I don't know that I'm shot at this point.

I just ran for everything I had. I would get up and I would fall. I would get up. I would fall. He just keeps firing rapidly at me. Pa, paw, paw. I'm running up the hill just as fast as I can. I'm scared to death.

There was a little stream. Then I realized I was bleeding bad. I got shot. The blood's running down the stream. I'm just like I've had it. So I just put my head down and prayed and said, Lord, I guess this is it. I'm coming to meet you. Finding the one can feel impossible.

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And started running, I fell over a cliff. It was all briars and brush. And down I went. Now I don't know what's going on. I'm thinking, where's this guy at? The location where Scott gets shot, the topography is extreme. The elevation changes are dramatic. I would say most of this land has never been touched.

It's a huge valley. And it's uphill in every direction. All I could think of was just run, run, run, and I kept running. I'm thinking, okay, they're hunters. What if they have dogs? And when I hear these high-powered rifles going off, I started running upstream. The water's cold because it's November. I'm soaking wet.

I'm tired. I'm sick. I finally said, I got to find a place to hide. I mean, I would know that if I had just shot somebody and they got away, I'm hunting them down. You're not leaving. Then I heard something walk. towards the woods. I mean, it was very close.

I could feel the vibration from it. And at that point, when it got that close, I just put my head down. I've been at this place for six hours. I'm cold. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I've lost a lot of blood. I'm just like I've had it.

This isolated spot, it was the best location to commit these cries. It turned out that Ralph Geiger was not the only victim of Jack killed. Deb Bruce is David Ponce. Holly's sister. My brother, David, who was living in Northwood, Virginia. He had been out of work. October of 2011, David found the ad on Craigslist. So he was going to have to pack up everything and move to Ohio for the job. He told me that the man's name was Jack, that he was a preacher.

He said, I love you, sis. And I said, I love you, bro. And that was the last time I spoke to David. I figured someone was going to come over that hill and shoot me. I prayed to the Lord, whatever it was, it walked away, and I heard it walk out, the same way it came in. The Lord answered my prayers on that one, I'll tell you, big time. At this point, I can't use my arm. I lost a lot of blood. I'm cold. I was like, okay, if I stay here any longer, I'm going to die.

I got to get out of here. And I'm like, what if I pop my head up and they nail me? But at this point, I had to lay down. Again, I'm so weak. I can't move. I've got to lay down. There was just no more in me. I said, Lord, this is it.

I'm done. I just can't go anymore. I was freezing cold. And all of a sudden, warmth came over my body. The Lord was with me 100% and said, you're not done. Get up. It was going in my head. It was just like, get up.

I ran for everything that I had. Finally, I ran into a farmhouse. So I'm looking at the driveway. There's three bows sitting there for hunting. I looked at those, I'm like, oh, jeez. I really still don't know what's going on. This is a small town. You know, could everybody be in cahoots?

Because I'm still, I'm not right in my head. I don't know what's going on. But I knocked on the door. This lady comes to the door. I explained to her what was going on that I had been shot, and if she could call the police and I was going to need an ambulance. And she says, I sure will. One police officer shows up.

He doesn't believe in my story. When the sheriff called me, he told me. He told me that he suspected that Scott was there for some other nefarious activities and been shot and was basically trying to cover up whatever activity he was in. He's checking me for want some warrants. He said I was involved with a dope dealer. I'm looking at it and I said, I'm telling you, this is what happened. And he just keeps going on.

I had never been to anything like that before. I've been to enough. But for some reason, the sheriff did not believe my story and I'm thinking. These guys are hunters. What if they're still out there somewhere? The ambulance lady finally looked at him and said, this man has got to get to the hospital. When I was in the hospital,

they haven't even gotten the bullet out of me yet, and he's calling my room. You need to get down here right now. You need to get down here. I'm like, man, I'm in a hospital. I've been shot. I said, everything that I'm telling you, every email that me and this Jack guy had,

I had them all with me. I said, all you got to do, is go down to my truck. Everything that I've said with this man is documented. Upon investigation the next morning, within a few hours, I was able to corroborate a lot of what Scott Davidson said. At that point, it seemed to be an isolated incident. That all changed when we got a call from Deb Bruce.

I last spoke to David, October 22nd. And by the 28th of October, I knew something was not right. He was a creature of habit and he would have found a way to give me a call or text me. I was pretty much at my wits end. And then I came across the article that said, man shot, promise of job, 680 acre farm. And I thought, oh no. I searched for the Noble County Sheriff's Department and called Jason Mackie. We have one victim who shot and got away.

and now we find out we likely have another victim that nobody's heard from from two weeks. I knew we had a major problem, and we really ramped up the investigation at that point. And we planned a ground search of that whole area where Scott Davis was shot. We end up locating the body of David Pauley and Ralph Geiger, which was within about 50 feet

of where Scott Davis was shot, and within about 20 feet of where they had dug a grave to bury Scott Davis. They told me about my grave and it's not an easy thing to handle. That was a big shock to me. Look at every day differently because you can be gone in the second. I followed up at the restaurant and I was able to get surveillance video of Scott and these other two people they had met with.

And as we're investigating this shooting of Scott Davis, nobody had any idea that Jack was actually on the hunt for his next victim. hunt for his next victim. Authorities have identified the body of an Ohio man who could be the third murder victim of a bogus Craigslist scheme. Timothy Kern was a man who lived in the Akron area. It'd been down on his lock, had trouble with employment. But ultimately, he responds to this ad on Craigslist.

He takes the job. When he shows up, he has an old beat-up vehicle, which can barely drive. He has a television set probably from the 1970s, and he has $5 in his pocket. that his life was taken for absolutely no reason at all. Monetary things or identities, I think that's all secondary to his drive to kill. The motivation to kill was that he wanted to kill. One of the biggest concerns was that there were a lot more victims out there and that they would go on and do it again and again.

And that's when the FBI pick up this investigation. The FBI Cybercrimes Unit was able to do some tracking on where this ad was placed from. Using that new information, we were able to track and only arrest Jack and his assistant, Brogan Rafferty, who turns out was not his nephew. He admits to digging the graves, but Brogan claims that he was afraid of him, and he never pulled the trigger on any of these crimes. They learned that Jack is a man named Richard Beasley.

He was the one behind this killing spree. I had arrived on scene within minutes of Richard Beasley being taken. into custody there and was a detective there and it took me to a police car open the back door and said get in I was face-to-face with possibly a serial killer what are you going about he was being very meek and playing the part that he needed to play I guess any idea what we want to talk to you about no we got a guy that got injured in Neuble County he's alive and well my lawyer's name is You want to talk to me, we're going to have to do it through him.

Police have 51-year-old Richard Beasley in custody. Police believe they may have a new Craigslist killer on their hands. Federal and local authorities fear they are dealing with a serial killer. My mom, she's trying to keep me away from the news. But she just broke down crying. She's like, oh, my God. You're not going to believe this, but that guy has shot you, he's a serial killer. And he's killed three people.

And to that day, that day was one of the most hardest days of my life. The thought never crossed my mind that he had ever done this to anybody else. She always say, can't happen to me. Well, it can happen to anybody. The Lord put me in a path to get that monster off the street. I wanted to make sure that he was never going to get out of jail again. I stay here today, officially for the record. I have chilled nobody.

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Payne ever. We do have an indictment against Richard Beasley in the so-called Craigslist killings. When Beasley was arrested and taken into custody, he did the same thing. I think he's done most of his life. Stuck with his story, turned on his acting skills,

and caught his way through the trial. Stuck a gun at the back of his head, pulled the trigger and shot him in the back of the head. You're a liar. I did not do that. He said that I was out to get him due to some motorcycle gang. I shot him instead of him shooting me, which is the part of the state for the truth he could ever be, which we know. I stay here today, officially for the record, I have chilled nobody.

We met with Scott for trial. I mean, you could tell that he was still rattled by the experience. But when he testified, he was very strong and he was stoic. When he was shooting at me, I see nothing in his eyes. He has no remorse for anything he's done. He's still just as cocky as ever. He was snickering. I think it was nothing.

He's the damn devil itself. Scott Davis's presentation at trial, how he came off on the witness stand, his details, his forthrightness, helped from beginning to end. Count one, indictment for aggravated murder with prior calculation and design. Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Indictment for attempted murder of Scott Davis. guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. During the sentencing hearing when he got to make a statement, it took an amazing amount of courage for Scott Davis to look Richard Beasley in the face after what he had been through. Beasley, on November 6, 2011, he shouted me several times like I was a rabbit dog.

I laid in the woods for seven hours, not knowing if I was going to live or die. Watching Scott Davis have a chance to address Richard Beaslin. I would say it went a long ways. You're a worthless monster. You can't lie your way out of this. You tried to rob me

for one of the most important persons in my life. My mother, shame on you. I can see multiple people in the room crying, quite an emotional thing for everybody to hear. After the verdict, there was concern as to what the sentencing would be.

His court imposes the sentence of death. I was feeling a lot of relief after I knew that he was getting a death penalty. I did seem a little bit more relaxed, knowing that he was never going to get out of jail again. Coming forward, his actions of being able to assist law enforcement in every way possible truly did save lives because, but for his information, Beasley would have continued on taking lives. I'll never give up. I will crawl on my hands and knees to do whatever I got to do in life. There's just no doubt about it. He took something from me,

and every day I try to get it back. I don't stop. Finding the one can feel impossible. And in today's world, it's even harder. False profiles, inaccurate pictures, incompatibilities, ghosting on dates. Is this sounding familiar? But if you're ready to make your move to a new place,

it doesn't have to feel like dating. All it takes is a simple search on Apartments.com to find your perfect match. Whether you're looking for a three-bedroom condo downtown, a two-bedroom duplex and a quiet, neighborhood, a cozy studio in a walkable city, or even a single family home in a cul-de-sac. You can find a place that checks all the right boxes. So whichever stage of life you're in, settle down in your perfect home by using Apartments.com. No more swiping and awkward first dates.

Make it easier to get a place that gets you. Visit Apartments.com, the place to find a place. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows. You swear. If I'm lying. Free. This is the mantra. Free. This is the...

With movies like Interstellar, Dreamgirls, and Gladiator. I'm not entertained! And TV shows like Survivor, SpongeBob SquarePants, the Fairly Odd Parents and Ghosts. Pluto TV is always free. Hazzal. Pluto TV, stream now, pay never.