Fort Sumner double homicide case moved to district court

A Fort Sumner man accused of shooting to death an Arizona couple in the man’s home on Oct. 2 will receive a trial on first degree murder charges in Tenth Judicial District Court, District Judge Albert Mitchell decided on Tuesday.

The Fort Sumner man, Kelby Randolph, 53, remained incarcerated in the De Baca County Jail after Tuesday’s preliminary hearing before Mitchell.

Randolph is accused of shooting to death Brian Beaver, 48 and his wife Rachelle Beaver, 38, both of Mesa, Az., in Randolph’s home.

At Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Gary Wilson, who called himself a “friend and brother” of Randolph’s said Randolph had called Wilson to his home on Oct. 2.

Wilson said he saw Brian Beaver lying on a couch and Rachelle Beaver lying on the floor in front of the couch.

Wilson said Randolph was on the phone with a brother and discussed suicide as a way out of going to jail. Wilson said both he and the brother talked Randolph out of suicide.

Randolph asked Wilson to take Randolph’s dog and handed Wilson $1,000 to take care of expenses for the dog. He also handed Wilson a statement saying he was leaving everything to his brother. Wilson then left Randolph’s home.

Wilson said when he arrived, Randolph was carrying a black handgun, and at Wilson’s request, Randolph put the weapon down on a piano bench.

Wilson said he did not ask Randolph what happened, but said, “I could figure it out.”

Wilson was asked whether he called police when he left the home, and he said, “I figured Kelby would take care of that himself.”

Court records show Randolph called police at 5:40 p.m. Sunday.

While Randolph was talking with a sheriff’s deputy outside of Randolph’s home, Bill Hancock, who said he was a friend of Randolph’s drove up, Hancock said Randolph called him over because police were coming, but he did not tell Hancock why, Hancock said Tuesday.

Hancock also testified on Tuesday that Randolph told him he was going to jail for murder, and he said he had killed the “Arizona freeloaders,” the Beavers.

Randolph’s attorney, Tomas Benavidez, argued that the hearing had shown no probable cause to connect Randolph with the couple’s deaths and said the case should not be bound over to district court.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney Tim Rose said Randolph’s actions and statements were clear indications he was involved with the homicide and recommended the case be bound over.

Following Rose’s statement, Mitchell announced his decision to bind the case over to Tenth District Court from the De Baca County Magistrate Court.