A man who was acquitted two years ago of manslaughter in the death of his grandfather in Lincoln County is now charged with first degree murder, accused of helping cause the death of his father.
Thomas Joe Beeson, 22, of Shawnee, was formally charged in Pottawatomie County District Court May 12 with first degree murder or in the alternative second degree murder.
He is in the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center in Shawnee and is being held without bond.
He is set for the pre-preliminary hearing docket at 1:30 p.m. on June 13.
The first degree murder charge accuses Beeson on about Oct. 28, 2018 in Pottawatomie County by acting jointly with others committing the crime of first degree arson, during the commission or a result of which Rocky Joe Beeson was killed.
Or, in the alternative, second degree murder, on about the same date in October of 2018 in Pottawatomie County committing the crime of second degree robbery during the commission or a result of which, Rocky Joe Beeson was killed.
Beeson was found not guilty of manslaughter in a non-jury trial in Lincoln County in May of 2021.
The charge had been filed May 28, 2019, in Lincoln County District Court, accusing him of stabbing his grandfather to death.
In a probable cause affidavit, Michael Vaught, a Special Agent with the Department of Agriculture, states that he and Special Agent Ryan Hensley on due to the origin of these fires which appeared to have been deliberate acts of arson.
He noted that relative to the fires, he and Hensley developed Beeson as a person of interest.
Vaught stated that as the investigation developed, it was noted the pasture fires had happened on and near property owned at one time by the family of Beeson and that on about Oct. 28, 2018, a residential fire at 2251 N. Range Road, McLoud, in Pottawatomie County, resulted in the death of Rocky Joe Beeson.
Rocky Joe Beeson was Thomas Beeson’s father, it’s noted in the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Vaught and Hensley continued the investigation with the State Fire Marshal’s Office since the fire resulted in the death of Rocky Joe Beeson, and it was considered an open case.
Vaught says he contacted the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office who also held that structure fire to be an open investigation, He states that he learned Beeson was held on unrelated charges in the Lincoln County jail and during his time in jail had made two requests to speak with a Lincoln County Sheriff’s investigator relative to the structure fire that resulted in Rocky Beeson’s death but that no interviews had been done with Thomas Beeson concerning the fatal fire.
On April 24, 2023, Vaught and Hensley requested assistance from the Shawnee Police Department to make an arrest of Thomas Beeson on a warrant.
Vaught stated Beeson was arrested in the 2100 block of Main Street and following his arrest, Beeson was transported to the Shawnee Police Department.
In the affidavit, it’s stated that on April 26 this year, a couple of days following his arrest, Beeson was interviewed for a second time by Agent Hensley. Although again he initially denied any active participation in his father’s death, Beeson acknowledged he had received $5,000 from a subject after the fire.
He reportedly told Hensley the money was for keeping his other siblings away from the residence where Rocky Beeson was so he would be alone. He further acknowledged he had accompanied the other subject and a woman and Beeson informed the agent he had loaded the torch into a vehicle that he believed was used to burn the home.
He told the agent the other subject initiated a violent attack on Rocky Beeson as the woman ran into the home in an attempt to find the money and Beeson told Hensley he observed the subject choke Rocky Beeson in the same area of the home where Rocky’s burned body was found.