LV cop brings manhunt to end: Former Baptist principal arrested; 11-year-old girl is found

Keith Paul and Jace Radke

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

Metro Police Officer Mark Ruesch spotted a white Dodge Durango making a quick turn at an apartment complex Tuesday. Then he spotted the Indiana license plate, and it all clicked.

Inside the Durango was 28-year-old William "Andy" Beith, a Baptist school principal who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in connection with the abduction of an 11-year-old Gary, Ind., girl.

Ruesch first heard about Beith Tuesday morning when he was sitting in roll call and officers were given a sheet describing Beith, his truck and the missing girl.

"We occasionally get these nationwide lookouts, but you never expect to see them. They could be anywhere in the country," Ruesch said. "I saw the Durango go into an apartment complex and turn around quickly and go back out on the street. I pulled in behind him and saw the Indiana plate."

The weeklong hunt for the missing girl ended at 10:25 a.m. Tuesday in the 4600 block of Boulder Highway near Indios Avenue, when Ruesch found her sitting in the front passenger seat of the Durango, hugging a big Winnie the Pooh toy.

Beith was to appear in front of U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen this afternoon on federal charges of coercing and enticing a minor, and transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes. Beith also faces local charges of kidnapping, sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 and lewdness with a minor under the age of 14.

Beith was booked into the Clark County jail, and the girl was taken to Sunrise Hospital for observation. The Sun does not identify sexual assault victims.

The girl didn't appear to be injured. She just sat quietly in the truck hugging the stuffed toy, Ruesch said.

When Ruesch verified the license plates on the Durango, he turned on his police lights and pulled it over. Beith got out and walked toward the officer. Beith then handed over his Indiana driver's license and was taken into custody.

"He gave me no problems," Ruesch, a Metro officer for nine years, said. "It was almost like he knew it was over. He was real quiet."

Beith said it was his vehicle, but said there was no one else in the Durango. But Ruesch said he could clearly see the girl sitting in the passenger seat.

"Everyone was on the lookout for him and the vehicle," Ruesch said. "I was just in the right place at the right time."

The sixth grader had been missing since the evening of May 1, when she allegedly called Beith from a Wal-Mart. She was last seen by a store employee crying in the parking lot. The girl apparently went voluntarily with Beith, but because of her age she cannot legally give consent.

Beith was the girl's principal at Liberty Baptist Academy in Lake Station, Ind., about 40 miles southeast of Chicago. The school has fired Beith.

Beith may have made stops in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahoma before being arrested in Las Vegas. FBI officials said that one of Beith's credit cards was used to buy gasoline in Michigan and Ohio. The girl's parents and Beith's parents received separate letters postmarked Friday from Oklahoma City.

"We received information from the Indianapolis FBI office that they might be headed this way," said Grant Ashley, FBI special agent in charge of the Las Vegas office. "Metro Police began making checks of hotels, and they came across the vehicle this morning."

Sheriff Jerry Keller praised Ruesch's work, saying it was an example of what police do on a daily basis.

"We have to give credit to the officer for spotting the car and having the wherewithal to make the traffic stop and get the 11-year-old girl," Keller said.

Beith was arrested in 1990 and was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after being caught partially undressed with a 15-year-old girl.

He became Liberty Baptist's principal in 1998, when his father resigned after being arrested for allegedly soliciting a male undercover police officer for oral sex.

The 1990 charge against Beith and the charges against his father in the separate case were dismissed after they underwent counseling.

The girl's family told reporters they were overjoyed to hear that she had been found and was going to be all right.

"Hallelujah! Glory be to God," the girl's father shouted in his Indiana home after getting the news.

"I'm just glad my sister's OK," the girl's brother told the Gary Post Tribune. "I don't think my parents were too trusting of Andy. They couldn't have known things would turn out this way."

Authorities would not comment on how long the pair had been in Las Vegas, or if they were registered at any hotels or motels, but Metro Police Sgt. Ted Lee said that people on the run often show up in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Criminal Apprehension Team, a task force made up of several local law enforcement agencies including Metro and the FBI, arrests hundreds of fugitives a year who come to Las Vegas hoping to get lost in the fast-growing city.

"I would say the biggest factor in people coming here is the economy and the ability to find jobs," Lee, who works on the apprehension team, said. "They think it's a good place to start over. There's also the abundance of hotels, and people hear about this being a 24-hour town and they want to come here."

The Associated Press and the Gary, Ind., Post Tribune

contributed to this story.