Cold Case Files - I SURVIVED: I Ran For Everything I Had
Episode Date: December 23, 2023In November 2011, 48-year-old Scott Davis thinks he is on his way to a gig as a farm caretaker, a job he has secured on Craigslist. Unbeknownst to him, it’s actually a murderous trap laid by a psych...opathic serial killer named Richard Beasley. Sponsors: Prose: Custom, made-to-order haircare from Prose has your name all over it. Take your FREE in-depth hair consultation and get 50% off your first subscription order today PLUS 15% off and free shipping every subscription order after that! Go to Prose.com/survive. Huggies: Get your baby’s butt into Huggies best fitting diaper! Huggies Little Movers. We got you, baby.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This episode is brought to you by Huggies Little Movers.
Get your baby's butt into Huggies' best-fitting diaper.
Huggies Little Movers. We got you, baby.
An A&E original podcast.
This episode contains descriptions of violence.
Listener discretion is advised.
Because he had mud on his shoes.
Well, they must have been because, you know,
because they just came from, you know, digging my grave.
Evidently, that's probably why.
Well, later I find out.
Scott Davis grew up in rural Ohio and enjoyed being and working outside from an early age.
I'm originally from Massillon, Ohio.
When I was 16 years old, as soon as I could, I moved to the state of Florida.
I was there for 30 years.
Pretty much all my life, I'm a country boy at heart.
And when I was younger, we lived on a farm country.
In 2011, Scott was living with his fiancée in South Carolina,
where he had a successful landscaping company.
He was very independent, but also very devoted to his family.
Well, my mom wasn't doing that well,
and she said she needed some help up in Ohio.
And I talked to her with my fiancee,
and she says, well, it's winter time,
why don't you go up there,
be with your mom for a couple of months,
get some of the stuff that she wants done,
and then come back down when the season starts.
She says, we'll meet in the middle,
or you drive the Ohio, I'll drive, back and forth, whatever. Because we were really in love, you know, come back down when the season starts. She says, we'll meet in the middle or you drive the Ohio out drives, well, back and forth, whatever. Because, you know, we were really
in love, you know. Well, first of all, I didn't really want to go stay with my mom, you know,
being 49 years old at the time. I wanted to be out on my own. So I said, well, let me find a job
or see what's going on, you know. Scott came across an ad on Craigslist for a job that was
right up his alley. The ad said 688 acres, $300 a week, rent was paid, utilities were paid.
Then I was like, well, let me go ahead and apply for that job, you know, see what happens.
Eventually, he heard back from a man named Jack.
He said I was down to about four or five people, and then he wanted me to send my driver's
license to make sure that I wasn't wanted for anything,
to make sure my driver's license was good,
to drive the farm stuff and all that, et cetera, et cetera.
So I sent him my driver's license
so he could check me out to make sure I was clean.
I didn't expect anything but that, you know.
So I guess, I don't know, a week or two went by
and I heard from him again.
He said that I had gotten got the job i sounded like the
perfect candidate you know what i mean etc you know okay sounds good he said well can you be
up here next sunday yeah that was possible i could you know be up there in a week but if i shut
everything down get packed up and make sure everything was called my that all my hands were
covered scott also did his own checks on jack and i had my sister do some some uh checking on him
also my sister kim like i want him also, my sister Kim.
Like I wanted to know where the internet was coming from, you know what I mean, where the
phone number was coming from.
We wanted to make sure that it was from the area that he said all this was coming from,
which was Akron.
And everything came back to Akron.
So we did, we checked as far as we could.
I mean, my sister Kim's like me, she's got a radar and she just for some reason, I don't
think she felt something was right. She was, she was really, you know Kim's like me. She's got a radar. And she just, for some reason, I don't think she felt something was right.
She was really, you know, she was hesitant.
That's why she kept checking and digging and seeing what she could find out, you know, as much as I could.
She would send me things, you know, to check on.
And she would keep her eyes open.
Somehow, Kim knew this wasn't what it seemed.
This is I Survived, the podcast where we talk to people who've lived through the worst things imaginable
in all the tragic, messy, and wonderful things that happen after survival.
I'm Caitlin VanMol.
Just before he was about to leave for Ohio, Scott got sick.
I came up with the flu or something, and I called him on a Saturday.
I said, look, man, we may have to push this, Jack, for next week or next weekend,
because I don't really think I can even drive.
I finished up my business, I'm loading my trailer, I'm getting sick,
and I'm getting weaker by the minute.
He says, well, if you don't show up here tomorrow at 10 o'clock in the morning,
he says the job won't be there.
I said, let me get back to you, Jack.
So I sit there and I kicked it around with my fiance again.
And I hee-hawed, I thought about it.
I'm like, you know, I didn't like the attitude.
Scott put his annoyance aside and ultimately decided to go anyway.
Jack told me, he says, it's already furnished.
He says, bring any electronics you may need. He says, there's a TV there, but it's an old TV. He said,
so anything you may need as far as your electronics or your guns or whatever, you know,
things you need for hunting, whatever, he says, bring that there. He said, as far as furniture,
you won't need to bring any of that. So I brought my motorcycle, which I went, you know, I kept it
in the trailer anyway, so I wasn't going to leave it. Jack said that when we got up to Ohio, he said
he had a motorcycle. He said that we could go up to Ohio, he said he had a motorcycle.
He said that we could go riding and stuff, you know.
I stocked up on Pepsi and beer and, you know, some food.
I brought some stuff that we had there, so I wouldn't get out to run to town right away.
He drove to the restaurant where they were supposed to meet.
He called his mom, his two sisters, and his fiancée to let them know he had made it.
Jack had a teen boy with him that he introduced as his nephew.
When I pulled up, I checked them out, you know what I mean?
I'm thinking, okay, look like farm people.
I mean, that's what you'd wear, a pair of blue jeans, jacket, hat, you know, etc., etc.
And the kid that was with him looked like a country boy to me.
You know, he's going to help me unload my stuff.
That's what Jack said.
And I said, okay, you know, so's going to help me unload my stuff. That's what Jack said. And I said, okay. So they wanted to go in and eat breakfast.
He says, man, get whatever you want.
Steak, eggs, whatever, whatever, you know, fill yourself up.
So anyway, I wasn't feeling well.
So I just got a couple sausages and ate about a half of one and got the rest to go.
Me and this Jack person, we just sat there and kept talking and still feeling him out,
seeing what he's about, you know, what's going on. After they finished their meal, Jack told Scott the road to the
property was washed out, so he would need to leave his truck and trailer in a parking lot nearby,
and they would drive him in their car. Because there was a lot of rain, I know, prior to
before I came up. So, you know, he's telling about the weather, and I already knew that. I've been
watching the weather. And so I got out, parked my truck and trailer, put on my Levi jacket,
grabbed a few things that I needed, put them in my pocket and got into the car with Jack and his
nephew. Jack told his nephew, he says, stop over at the dollar store. He said, we got to get them
garbage bags for your aunt. I'm thinking, oh, okay, there's people already out there, you know.
They got the bags and started driving out to the property.
Scott spent the ride trying to get an understanding of his surroundings.
I'm watching everything as we go.
Got my phone in my hand.
I'm, you know, watching to see what's going on with it
because I was told through the emails
that there was no cell phone service out there.
So I'm paying attention to that.
But I'm going to lose myself because I told my mom I'd call her at five o'clock. Five, five thirty. I said no later than five thirty.
I will call you no matter what's going on. Next thing you know the roads keep getting from two
lane to a little bit smaller two lane. Is that what I expected? I know country roads. And then
next thing you know it's down to where one car can get on the road. And I'm paying attention.
I'm watching everything as we go. And then we get to Don Warner's Road.
It was washed out.
I mean, the road was gone.
I could have never got my truck or trailer down there.
There was a couple of big bulldozers right at the very entrance of Don Warner's Road.
So the heavy equipment was there, so I'm thinking, okay, you know, we do got to rebuild roads.
And as we're driving down the road, he his nephew he said just pull over there where we
got that deer last week he says we're going to go up here and get the equipment that we you know to
fix the road still nothing's going off in my head i'm just thinking okay if i had two bobcats i
would be sitting them up in the woods also so nobody could you know steal them so we started
walking back in the woods and the woods are getting a little bit more dense and a little
bit more dense and i'm looking around and I'm trying to figure out where he could possibly
have these you know bobcats or whatever we're supposed to be using and as soon as we got
back in there quite a bit he said this must not be the spot and I told him I said this said
evidently not and he said well let's go back up the to the road. He says, it must be up the road a piece. And no sooner than I turned around to go back out, I heard click.
This episode is brought to you by Huggies Little Movers.
Huggies knows that babies come in all shapes and sizes, and their tushies do too.
And Huggies' best-fitting diaper is is their little movers with its curved and stretchy fit. Moms know that there is nothing worse than an ill-fitting diaper.
I also know that there is nothing worse than an ill-fitting diaper because I love to babysit my
best friend's little girl. And she is a very active baby. I love Huggies because I can rely on them to keep little girl covered while
she's crawling all over my sofa and my rug and my kitchen and my backyard. So Huggies little movers
are absolute genius. They are curved so babies feel comfy no matter how much they're moving around
and they also offer up to 12 hour protection against leaks. Keep your baby clean,
keep her comfy, and keep her moving around. Get your baby's butt into Huggy's best-fitting diaper.
Huggy's Little Movers. We got you, baby. You've probably heard me sing the praises of pros,
and they're truly custom-made-to-order hair care. Switching to a custom routine from pros was one
of the best things I've done for my hair, and the results I'm seeing just keep getting better. My
hair tends to be pretty dry but Proz is so nourishing and moisturizing and it
smells absolutely amazing. Because Proz knows that there's more to you than just
your hair type. They've given over 1 million consultations with their
in-depth hair quiz which is how I got started. It's quick and it's easy, and they analyze over 85 personal factors.
Proz handpicks clean, sustainably sourced ingredients
that get you closer to your hair goals with every wash.
Custom made-to-order hair care from Proz has your name all over it.
Take your free in-depth hair consultation
and get 50% off your first subscription order today,
plus 15% off and free shipping every subscription order after that.
Go to pros.com slash survive.
That's P-R-O-S-E dot com slash survive
for your free in-depth hair consultation
and 50% off your first subscription order.
When Scott briefly turned away to go look for the construction equipment,
Jack had pulled out a gun and prepared it to shoot.
I spun around. As soon as I spun around, the gun was already back up to what would have been the back of my head.
If it wouldn't have been for me throwing up my elbow to knock the gun, hit the gun, get shot in the elbow,
it would have been the back of my head. So it was like a split second decision
at that point. So thank God I knew the sound of click and I turned around when I did or I never
would have walked out of there. Never. His reflexes had saved his life, but he had been shot in the
elbow. After that click, time did not stand still. As soon as I spun around, I heard the first click.
I spun around. I was shot.
I looked in Jack's eyes. I seen nothing.
I mean, there was no expression on his face.
There was no expression in his eyes.
His eyes were just as black as coal.
I mean, there was nothing there, period.
And I looked at him and I said, what the is wrong with you?
Another shell went off again. I'm like, I got to get out of here.
So I ran for everything that I had.
I kept falling.
And I would get up and I would fall.
I would get up, I would fall.
And to this day, I believe that that was my grave that I was falling into
because it was just every time I'd get up, I'd fall back down again.
I'd get up, I'd fall back down again.
Which may have saved my life because that could have been the bullets that if I'd'd get up, I'd fall back down again. I'd get up, I'd fall back down again. Which may have saved my life,
because that could have been the bullets
that if I'd have stayed up, I might have got it.
He was firing them at me.
Or it was one heck of a hole.
I was just, I was stuck in it and I couldn't get out of it.
But once I got out of it, I just,
I started running for everything that I had.
He just keeps firing.
I'm hearing pop, I'm trying to count these shots.
I just keep hearing pop, pop, pop. I mean, he just keeps firing rapidly at me.
Scott managed to run up a hill to safety without being shot again.
When I got to the top of the hill, which was a pretty good distance away,
I would say a good maybe 100 feet, and then I turned around and I looked.
Something happened. I either passed out or I don't know what happened.
All I know is I woke up on the ground.
I don't know if I fainted, but I ran out of breath.
I don't know what it was, I have asthma.
When I woke up and looked down, this Jack guy, he was out in the street.
And he was just a fiddling with that, trying to do something with the gun.
I know he's trying to reload it.
I don't know if the gun jammed on him again.
So at this point, I yelled at him.
I said, does this still mean I got the job?
Because I know that I am very in safe distance.
He's not going to be able to shoot me from where I am.
He said, oh, yeah.
He says, when you get tired, he said, just go up there to the end of the road.
Make a left.
He said, I got a buddy up there that lives up the road there.
He said, they'll take you in.
I'll take it, yeah.
Okay.
Scott kept running, but the brush was so thick, he didn't see a drop-off.
I fell over a cliff.
It was all briars and brush, and I didn't know.
I mean, briars are, you know, they look level, but it wasn't.
I went off the road, and down I went.
So once I got back up, I kept running and running and running.
I just ran for everything I had. Now I have my second wind. And now things start going through my head. I'm like
okay this guy told me he's got some new rifles. He told me that they do a lot of hunting out here.
That's stuff we discussed on the phone. He said he was going to do uh we're going to do some target
shooting out here today. I'm thinking how much guns did he have? Now I don't know what's going on,
because the kid still hadn't come back yet, his nephew.
So all I could think of was just run, run, run,
and I kept running.
And when I got to a stream, I'm like,
now I'm thinking, okay, they're hunters,
what if they have dogs?
So the next best thing for me to do is I found a stream,
and I started running upstream.
I ran upstream just as long as far as I could. I mean, the water's cold because it's November. I'm soaking
wet, I'm tired, I'm sick. I finally said, I gotta find a place to hide. I've gotta get
hit. And as I'm running along the creek bed, I look up and there's this big tree. I'm sure
people know how creek beds wash out. And where the creek bed was washed out, there
was a big pot of a tree. And when the roots had come over down into the creek, I went
up underneath that tree and hid up underneath there so I could catch my breath, catch my
thoughts, and figure out what my next move was at that point.
Scott didn't know where Jack or his nephew were.
He needed to stay quiet and keep hidden.
It's definitely quiet.
It's real quiet out there.
I don't hear nothing.
Here comes this little squirrel across this tree,
and he's going,
he just, he's cussing at me.
He's because I'm on his territory.
I mean, it's so quiet out there,
you hear a pin drop,
and here's this little squirrel.
Now, anybody knows,
if that squirrel's making noise,
that's where the person, she's going to where you're at. He's going I'm like
go away. Let's go away you know and me and him went at it for about two or three minutes and
then he went away. I'm like okay that was one less problem I had on my mind. I keep mentioning that
squirrel because the squirrel could have got me a lot of trouble. Now that the squirrel was gone
Scott needed to figure out what to do. So I'm sitting down there, and I'm trying to figure out what my next move is,
and it's about 10 minutes later.
Now I hear them driving because the car had a loud muffler, but I could hear the gravel.
I could hear the car driving up the road, and I'm listening to see where it is,
which way the noise is coming from because in the woods, again, sound echoes everywhere.
So you really got to pay attention to where the sound was coming from. I was trying to figure out exactly after all the running is coming from. Because in the woods, again, sound echoes everywhere. So you really gotta pay attention
to where the sound was coming from.
I was trying to figure out exactly,
after all the running, where I was.
So I hear the going up and down the road,
the car, I heard it go once,
then I heard it cross a bridge, and then it got quiet.
I'm sitting down in there, I'm listening,
and then I heard the car go back down the other way,
back down towards where I was shot,
and kind of close to where I was, the car stopped.
I could hear it where it was.
It stopped right across from where I was.
And then I heard the car go on and drive.
I just sat there and kept being quiet.
I'm sitting there.
I heard the car come back through probably about 10, 15 minutes later.
While I'm sitting down in there, I hear this gator.
It's a John Deere gator.
You can think of Pacific Sound,
four-wheeler or whatever, what you want to call it.
It was up above me,
because there was a big hill where I was.
I was down in a gully.
I heard it come, and then it stopped.
It was going real, real slow.
I heard it move a little bit more,
and then it just stopped.
And it was real quiet. I'm like,
man, wherever this is, it's right up above me.
So now I'm listening to hear sticks or
woods, you know, something rumbling in the thing
in the woods.
One little snap of a twig out there,
it echoes everywhere out there.
So about ten minutes of that being quiet,
then it fired back up and it took off
and I could hear it get up on
another road.
Scott was relieved to have escaped the close call, but he was not in good shape.
He was sick, exhausted, and had lost a lot of blood.
It was also November in Ohio and very cold.
Then he heard someone coming on foot and he was right back in the thick of
danger. 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. It's over. Because there was, there was at this point
after being down there for six hours, there's nothing left of me. I'm done. I'm just, I'm done.
I mean, I figured someone was going to come over that hill left of me. I'm done. I'm just, I'm done. I mean,
I figured someone was going to come over that hill and shoot me. Couldn't have got out of that hole.
I was too weak. I couldn't have, I just couldn't have done anything anymore. There was nothing left. Whatever it was, it walked away. And I heard it walk out the same way it came in. I heard it
scuffle down the road. And the Lord answered my prayers on that one, I'll tell you, big time.
So I stayed down there for about another hour, listening for every movement, thinking of
everything, where I am, what am I going to do, which way am I going to do it, and I remember
the hill that I was going to have to climb.
I was like, okay, I got to get out of here.
If I stay here any longer, I'm going to die.
Scott had fallen quite a distance.
He climbed out of the embankment with his shattered arm,
but as an experienced hunter, he knew what dangers might be waiting.
So what if they're sitting up at a tree stand somewhere?
Now it's like the moon's coming up, the sun's gone, but it's a full moon.
And I'm like, what if I pop my head up and they nail me?
I just can't imagine these people giving up on me.
So I climbed up over that embankment, which was probably about six, seven feet deep to get up out of.
And as soon as I popped my head up over top of that thing, there was a tree stand.
Two trees back.
I'm thinking, oh, my God.
I was like, I can't believe it.
And right there was that track seed in the moon.
You could see shadows of what was going on out there. So I scanned it two or three times. I can't believe it. And right there, I could see it in the moon. You could see shadows of what was going on out there.
So I scanned it two or three times.
I didn't see anything.
So I'm like, okay, this is my attempt.
I gotta get out of here.
And you can imagine these woods,
no one's touched these trees.
They're fell over on top of each other.
It's the biggest mess you'd ever wanna see.
And I'm trying to climb over these trees with one arm.
It was pretty rough terrain to get out of there.
I didn't think I was going to get, I didn't think I was going to make it past that point,
let alone anything else.
But I just kept going at it, doing the best I could.
Eventually, Scott came to a break in the woods.
It was an open hayfield.
He didn't want to expose himself in the field, so he stuck to the tree
line until he saw the road. Once I seen where the road was, I seen a bush that was kind of
maybe 20 feet into the field. I got to the bush, so at this point I had to lay down. Again, I'm so
weak. I can't move. Those woods about tore me up just getting out of there alone. I mean, I was
all cut up and it was a mess. And as I'm laying there, I feel myself. I know, I know, now I know exactly how weak I am. I didn't think there was another step in me. I said, that's,
this is it. I said, Lord, this is it. I'm done. I just can't go anymore. And all of a sudden
warmth came over my body. I mean, I was freezing cold. Warmth just came over my body and said,
you're not done. Get up. And I'm laying there. I'm like, I don't want to get up. I'm too weak.
I can't do it.
I can't do it.
I'm saying to myself, I don't know if I'm hallucinating
at this point, because it's really, at this point,
it's really that bad.
And my body got warm, and it just said, get up.
You're not done, get up.
And I got up, and the warmth stayed over me.
I did not get cold after that.
The rest of the night, I wasn't cold.
Scott got up and walked down the road until he came to a house.
But he didn't know who in the area he could trust.
Jack had mentioned an uncle and an aunt in the area,
but Scott had no idea where they lived.
Yeah, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, like, don't go there.
Now, I'm thinking in the back of my head, Jack told me, you need help, go to the left,
they'll help you there. I didn't go to the left, I went to the right. But these are all country
people, there's everybody hanging together, what's going on, you know, do I want to take a chance?
But the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I said, I'm not going to that one.
I said, maybe there's another one down the road.
So I kept walking and walking and walking, and finally I ran into another farmhouse.
Scott just could not walk anymore.
This house would be his savior or his demise.
So I walk up the driveway.
So as I walk up the driveway,
there's three bows sitting there for hunting.
I looked at those, I'm like, oh geez.
Got up to the, finally got up the door,
knocked on the door.
I said, hello, is your dad home?
He said, no he isn't.
He says, well, my grandma is.
Young man, he was a young boy,
probably seven or eight years old.
She comes to the door.
I explained to her what was going on, that I had been shot, probably seven or eight years old. She comes to the door. I explained
to her what was going on, that I had been shot, that I was here for a job interview, and if she
could call the sheriff or call the police, call whoever needed to be, and I was going to need an
ambulance. And she says, I sure will. So she went back in and she called him. And I'll tell you,
and I got to always bring this point up, that for nobody's dad being home and only a grandma,
well, the next thing you know, I mean, these country boys,
they're brothers, I guess, or whatever, they're coming out of the woodwork.
Okay?
I mean, they're coming from here, here, four-wheelers.
I'm like, now we've got a community.
Fortunately for Scott, they were all there to help.
They gave him water, called the police, and let him call his fiancée so his family would know what happened to him.
One police officer shows up. He automatically, I tell him what's going on.
He's telling the sheriff what's going on, on his walkie-talkie.
I guess the sheriff probably couldn't find his way there.
And he's taking pictures of my elbow and seeing me, you know, because, you know, nobody's believing my story.
But I came here for a job, 866 acres of land, and I got shot for a job interview. I mean, ain't nobody believe me. The
squirrel didn't believe me, okay? The squirrel, I was telling him, man, I'm telling you, I was here for a job,
but he's like, the squirrel didn't believe me, all right? Well, the sheriff, he's checking me for once
of warrants. He said I was involved with a dope dealer. I was involved in drugs, and I'm looking at it,
and I said, I'm telling you, this is what happened.
I am not involved with anybody.
I came here for a job. I got shot.
He's running me through everything he can
trying to find a traffic ticket on me.
And everything came back good.
The ambulance lady finally looked at him and said,
this man has got to get to the hospital.
And she shut the door, and down the road we went. the ambulance lady finally looked at him and said, this man has got to get to the hospital.
And she shut the door and down the road we went.
Scott was taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries.
While he was recovering, he gave the sheriff all the evidence he had.
My sister printed out every email that me and this Jack guy had.
She printed out every email. I had them all with me.
I said, all you got to do is go down, get in my briefcase in my truck.
It's unlocked. The truck's locked. My briefcase is unlocked.
Open up the briefcase. Everything that I've said with this man is documented, okay?
I said, go down there and look. Everything that was said right down to the address is there.
And as far as I know, they didn't even start doing that, looking into that for a couple days.
When Scott got home from the hospital, his mother deliberately kept him in the dark about what was going on.
I was in the hospital for five or six days, and I finally got to go home.
And I kept wondering why my mom, she would say, she would have a list of shows for me to watch
and I'm like why is she doing this she's like I need you to watch this show and this show and oh
this is really something you got to see I'm thinking all I want to watch is my westerns you
know I'm you know and uh she's what so I did what my mom said I'd watch these shows or can you watch
this because I don't want to miss this and I'd watch it for her and come home and tell her what
happened here she's just a you know she's just a, you know, she's an undercover herself, evidently, because she's trying to
keep me away from the news.
While Scott was distracted by his mother's soap operas, a woman named Deborah Bruce was
following the story closely.
Her twin brother, David Pauley, had been missing for three weeks after finding the same job
on Craigslist.
When she saw the news about Scott's shooting,
Deborah called the Noble County Sheriff's Department.
What she described to police
was exactly what had happened to Scott.
The only difference, no one had heard from David.
They needed to find the crime scene,
but Scott could only provide one clue.
I had told them the night that I got shot, I told the sheriff, I said, if you go down there
to Downwaters Road, and I said, I knew exactly where I lost my hat. I knew exactly where I lost
it. My hat is laying right there. That's where this happened. That hat meant a lot to me. That
was something my dad left me. And I cherish that hat a lot. I still haven't gotten it back from the courts.
Finding the hat in the large area of Woods was like finding a needle in a haystack.
But after an exhaustive search, police did find it.
But that's not all they found.
They also found the bodies of David Pauley and another victim, Ralph Geiger.
Noble County police were now working with the FBI to track down the killer.
The IP address of the Craigslist ad led to the arrest of a man named Richard Beasley, who at the time was going by the name of his victim, Ralph Geiger. But Scott Davis and Richard
Beasley weren't the only people there when Scott was attacked. 16-year-old Brogan Rafferty was the young man posing
as Beasley's nephew and was arrested at school.
Rafferty cooperated with police and told them
about the murders of David Pauley, Ralph Geiger,
and the murder of Timothy Kern,
who was killed after Scott was attacked.
They lured Tim the same way as the others.
Rafferty was tried first, and with his confession,
was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
Rafferty would not testify in Beasley's trial,
but Scott would.
It didn't matter to me what I had to do.
If they had to get me in there on a gurney,
I was testifying against them.
There was no one or two ways about it. Whatever I had to do. If they had to get me in there on a gurney, I was testifying against them. There was no one or
two ways about it. Whatever I had to do, I was going to make sure I was there. I had never been
through anything like that before they called my name. I went in. I answered the questions that had
to be asked. I kept eye contact with the jury, Beasley, the judge, the attorneys. I kept eye
contact with everybody. I wasn't nervous. I mean, if you tell the truth, youasley, the judge, the attorneys. I kept eye contact with everybody.
I wasn't nervous.
I mean, if you tell the truth, you've got nothing to be nervous about.
I wasn't on trial.
Beasley was on trial for murdering three people,
and I had no respect for him, so what do I, you know?
The court system's there to protect me.
He needs to be in prison.
I feel good about everything.
Richard Beasley was found guilty of aggravated murder and attempted murder.
At the sentencing, Scott was able to read an impact statement.
I wrote it out just from my heart, not from my anger, not from what happened to me, but what I felt in my heart.
And that was a really hard thing to do for someone that what has done and what has happened.
And to sit down and just, I said, Lord, help me with this because I can't be angry with this.
I can't put this anger out like this.
It's got to come from my heart.
And it did.
And it was, you would thought he was Jesus himself, this guy, the way he acted.
And so I wanted to make sure that he got the right thing in his mind.
My advocate that was there, I couldn could see everybody. They were behind me.
Nobody was in front of me except for Beasley, the lawyers and the judge.
Everybody else was behind me.
At one point, I almost lost it, and I mostly came to the point, whatever, about my mom.
And my advocate came up and touched me on my shoulder, you know,
and brought me back to where I needed to be.
Other than that, I looked straight at Beasley.
I let him know that it was directed straightly to him because this is between me and him.
This is the one time I got to say what I wanted to say to him,
and this was my piece, what I wanted to say.
On April 4, 2013, Richard Beasley was sentenced to death.
He remains on death row to this day.
I told him, hell or high water, I will be there the day that you get the needle.
Same way you killed these three people, I'm going to sit there and watch them take you off the surf.
I did that in my impact statement. I meant it.
You don't go around taking people's lives like that.
I've never said this on one of these before.
My life's been ruined.
I'm half crippled and everything over this.
I've never said it before. But let me tell you, you ruined my life. I'm going to make sure I'm there whenled and everything over this. I mean, I've never said it before.
But let me tell you, he ruined my life.
I want to make sure I'm there when they take his.
Scott is proud to have been such a huge part of putting a serial killer behind bars.
I have received so many hugs, so many God bless you's. If it wouldn't have been for you,
how many people would he have killed? I just feel, I just feel so blessed that the Lord put me in a path to get that monster off the street. I mean, to shoot somebody in the back of the head, that's,
you know, can't get it more better than that. Turn around, shoot him in the head. That's a coward, first of all. Second of all, who expects that?
Over a decade later, Scott is still living with the impact of the attack.
The PTSD, that's probably never going to go away. I have nightmares every night.
Every morning when I wake up, my body reminds me of the falls and the shot that I have.
Some days I can't move my arm. Some days I can't walk. I'm reminded every day.
There's just, you know, one or two ways about it.
Do I hope that it all gets better? I do. I hope that someday I'll be able to put this behind me 100%.
I try every day. I wake up every morning and I say, Lord, I hope this day is good.
And then I take two steps. It's like, not going to be that good.
I Survived is hosted and produced by Caitlin VanMal and Law & Crime Network. Audio editing by Brad Mabee.
For A&E, our senior producer is John Thrasher and our supervising producer is McKamey Lin.
Our executive producers are Jesse Katz,
Sean Gottlieb, and Shelley Tatro.
This podcast is based on A&E's Emmy-winning TV series,
I Survived.
For more I Survived, visit AETV.com. Bill Murray or Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. Plus, dive into festive channels like Holiday Movie Favorites by Lifetime
or Hallmark Movies and more.
Download the Pluto TV app on all your favorite devices
and start streaming Holiday Favorites on live channels and on demand.
With thousands of free movies and TV shows,
Pluto TV is your home for the holidays.
Pluto TV.
Stream now.
Pay never.
I'm Brett.
And I'm Alice.
And together we host a weekly true crime podcast called
The Prosecutors. In every
episode, we bring our unique perspective
as full-time prosecutors
to the most famous and debated true
crime mysteries. Whether it's
Maura Murray, Scott Peterson, or the
Delphi murders, Brett and I dig
deep to bring you details you
won't hear anywhere else. Our podcast is about more than just a story. We will walk you through
the legal problems lurking behind every case, breaking down the complexities of the criminal
justice system with humor and a personal touch. And it's not just true crime. We bring the same
training and approach we've learned as prosecutors to classic mysteries like the Dyatlov Pass incident and the ghost ship Mary Celeste.
So if you're looking for a true crime podcast with a different point of view, The Prosecutors is the one for you.
Find us wherever you get your podcasts.