Charges filed against man in Northern Nevada killing spree

By Michelle Rindels, Associated Press

Published Friday, May 17, 2013 | 9:51 a.m.

Updated Friday, May 17, 2013 | 1:05 p.m.

Charging documents filed in a violent northern Nevada crime spree accuse a 25-year-old man of killing an elderly couple in their home ahead of Mother's Day then slaying a newspaper deliveryman and another couple nearby days later.

Jeremiah Bean was arraigned Thursday on 19 counts, including first-degree murder, arson and burglary. He was assigned a public defender and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Tuesday.

The victims were discovered Monday in and around the rural town of Fernley. The timeline laid out in court documents depicts a killer whose first two attacks came May 10 and went undetected, giving him the opportunity to slay three others.

Prosecutors say Bean entered the home of Robert and Dorothy Pape on Friday and shot them dead. He also took hundreds of dollars in jewelry from the 84-year-olds, the charges state.

Three days later, authorities say, Bean took the Papes' pickup truck to an exit along Interstate 80, toward the Mustang Ranch brothel.

The pickup became disabled, either broken down or stuck, and Bean shot and killed a passer-by, stole his truck and left his body in a roadside ditch, according to the Lyon County Sheriff.

The victim, Eliazar Graham, was a 52-year-old newspaper deliveryman from Sparks, officials said.

Bean also broke into the home of Angie Duff, 67, where he fatally attacked her and her boyfriend Lester Leiber, 69, with a gun and a knife, charging documents say.

Duff's home is around the corner from the Papes, and two houses down from where Bean had been staying.

The killing spree was discovered when neighbors reported smoke coming from the Papes' home early Monday.

Bean had poured gasoline in the house, according to court documents, and had somehow used Graham's stolen truck to commit arson.

Bean was found and arrested in the neighborhood where the two couples were killed.

Officials from the Lyon County Sheriff were not available to comment on the crimes Friday. No motive has been offered, and it's not clear whether neighbors noticed suspicious activity.

Sheriff Allen Veil has said that the attacks were on a scale he hasn't seen in his three decades in Lyon County, historically a small farming community that has grown significantly in the last decade as a bedroom community for people who work in Reno.

"I think there probably should be a sense of relief that we believe we have the person responsible for this in custody," Veil said at a Wednesday news conference.

Bean has a previous felony conviction related to burglary and attempted grand larceny. He finished his parole in December. Authorities say he has also acknowledged gang ties.