Offender Name: JUNIOR LEE BEEBE
Offender ID:
55506
Date of Birth:
11/07/1976
Age:
34
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Custody Status:
In Custody
Location of Offender:
Van Buren County Sheriff's Office
His criminal record dates back to 1995 and he has been convicted of several charges, including assault, domestic violence and for possessing weapons.
i am hearing that the 2nd body is his girlfriend, no name at this time, she was never reported missing. and that there was trouble in Amy's marriage over this beebe guy (rumor!). i guess more truth will come out over the next 48 hours. obviously there is MUCH more to this story.
beebe SS disability appeal. 6th circuit CT.
doesn't work. claims back hurts. also:
Beebe contends that he suffers from a mental impairment which prevents him from working. He has attached documentary evidence to his brief to support his position. As this argument and evidence were not presented to the Commissioner, they are not reviewable on appeal.
The medical examiner arrived at the scene at 1 a.m. The Michigan State Police crime lab based in Grand Rapids was called to the site early Thursday evening.
For hours Thursday night, police on all-terrain vehicles shuttled between crime-lab trucks parked along rural County Road 687 and a brightly illuminated wooded area a few hundred yards off the road.
At about 10:30 p.m., ATVs pulled a wagon that had been loaded with shovels and other equipment and carried several officers back into the woods. The area is behind a mobile home at 4287 CR 687 in Bangor Township, north of Hartford.
The mobile home was cordoned off by crime scene tape and a pick-up truck advertising firewood and plowing services was parked in front.
Public records indicate the property’s residents include Richard P. Beebe, 27, and Phillip Beebe.
A ramshackle shed and at least two other vehicles covered high in snow sat near the mobile home. A lot with firewood and bins, and a small older travel trailer sit just north of the residence, in the direction of the area police have been searching.
beebe was charged with 2 counts of murder, no bond. it seems he may claim one of the women shot the other, maybe he will say he shot to defend her. just a guess on my part. only burying them doesn't support that story. he's got to be an idiot.
Beebe didn't enter a plea, but when Judge Robert Hentchel asked him about whether he was aware of the charges in Henslee's death, Beebe responded: "Did or didn't? No I didn't."
The 34-year-old from Bangor, who was visibly distracted and didn't attempt to stifle yawns during the brief hearing, told the court he doesn't have a job and that he takes care of his father.
BANGOR — There were signs that something was wrong at the blue house in Bangor where Junior Lee Beebe lived with his family and girlfriend Tonya Howarth, neighbors said.
Mysterious fires. People constantly coming in and out. Regular shouting matches between Howarth and Beebe. Noise coming from the garage late at night.
"We called the police so many times," said neighbor Jessica Parish, who lives across the street from the Beebes.
Several people who knew Beebe described him as loud and brash. When he drank, he often became mean or acted tough.
On Friday, he was charged with two counts of open murder in the deaths of Amy Henslee and Tonya Howarth.
Parish said she saw Beebe kick his dog and snap at his girlfriend when she tried to wake him up at 3 in the afternoon.
Neighbor Kim Wojciehowski said Beebe, who was a mixed-martial-arts competitor, was loud and outspoken and known for cussing people out.
But friend Tom Bowman, 47, of Bangor, said that while he was going through a divorce, Beebe let a him stay at Beebe's place. Beebe also helped him find a job, Bowman said.
Beebe was known for helping others and being the devoted father of a 12-year-old son, Wojciehowski said.
When the wind blew over a tree in Wojciehowski's yard, Beebe cleaned it up without being asked and refused to accept payment.
BANGOR — Tonya Howarth was so proud of herself for going back to school and graduating from Everest Institute in Kalamazoo.
The 36-year-old mother of two teenage daughters wanted a better life for herself. Her plan next was to find a job as a pharmacy technician.
"Girl, I did it!" she told her friend Kim Wojciehowski, according to Wojciehowski.
Howarth, who friends described as outgoing and the kind of person who could strike up a conversation with strangers, was killed this week and found by authorities in Hartford Township.
Her boyfriend, Junior Lee Beebe, was arraigned this morning in Paw Paw in connection to her death and Amy Henslee, of Hartford Township.
The relationship between Howarth and Beebe was turbulent, and at times, abusive, friends said.
"It was a nasty blow-out argument all the time," said Wojciehowski, who lived next door to the house where the couple sometimes lived in Bangor. "They never hid it."
the parents of murder victim Tonya Howarth are speaking exclusively with FOX 17 News.
After watching the news closely about the disappearance of Amy Sue Henslee, they had no idea their daughter was connected. They didn't know until this morning that their daughter was a murder victim in the case.
They're speaking out about how they want their daughter to be remembered, her long and often violent relationship with the suspect, and the children she leaves behind.
also, more on beebe's girlfriend Tonya who was also murdered. another woman who goes with scumbags. they just don't learn.---->
Amber Bradshaw is Howarth's 17-year-old daughter. She said her mom went to great extent to cover up violence from her boyfriends.
Before she dated Beebe, Howarth dated another abusive man who ended up in prison, Bradshaw told 24 Hour News 8. She suspected her mom had a broken rib at Christmas - the last time they visited - but Howarth wouldn't go to the hospital.
When Bradshaw was 3, she said, Howarth lost custody, and also lost custody of a second child, a 12-year-old girl who lives with her grandparents in Arkansas.
That girl, Mariah Howarth, wrote on a Facebook page memorial, "I miss you Mama."
Two years after she had her first child, Howarth was charged with welfare fraud, and then several years later, a couple misdemeanor charges for marijuana possession.
But she tried to turn her life around in 2009 and returned to school to train as a medical assistant. One classmate told 24 Hour News 8 she talked often about being a better mother to her daughters.
Bradshaw said Howarth was with Beebe when he picked up Henslee Monday morning at Henslee's home. Investigators said Henslee initially went willingly with Beebe, and they believe the women were killed shortly after. Beebe drives the black truck witnesses said pulled up at Henslee's house.
The family said Beebe, 34, and Howarth had some problems.
"Like any couple, they argued, they fought, But I honestly didn't think he'd be capable of doing something like this," Rebecca Nickerson, Beebe's sister told 24 Hour News 8.
Friends and family members tried to get Howarth to break off her relationship with Beebe but she wouldn't, Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said her mother lived on and off with Beebe at his mother's house in Bangor. And even though she infrequently saw her mother, her grief at the news was evident.
"She is a great person," Bradshaw said tearfully. "She just has a lot of problems."
i can understand why victims' families hate this...but it IS a first amendment right. there is a lot of anger on the page. pretty vile all around.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD8) - A Facebook page has popped up in support of Junior Lee Beebe, the man charged with the murders of Amy Henslee and Tonya Howarth.
The page showed up on Facebook on Saturday, encouraging people to support Beebe -- claiming he is innocent.
It's not helping Henslee's family in the healing process, said Matt Utley, Amy's brother-in-law.
"The creator has offended a lot of people," he said. "It's pretty sick, it's hurting a lot of people and it is going to cause a lot of grief."
A picture was posted to the page, calling Beebe a hero.
"It brings nothing but pain and hurt to the family," Utley said.
Another post lets people know that soon, a link will be posted to a Paypal account, so supporters can donate to Beebe's legal expenses.
Most of the posts are against the page, however, some supporters have posted their comments, as well.
The family is not sure who created the page, Utley said, but they have contacted Facebook to have it removed.
"Like adding salt to an open wound, it is sick and deviant," Utley added.
BANGOR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Locked in a jail cell in Paw Paw, Junior Lee Beebe told his family a different story -- that he didn't kill Amy Henslee, relatives told 24 Hour News 8 on Sunday.
Beebe's family said Junior shot and killed Tonya Howarth to save his own life.
Even from the beginning, the story didn't make sense to Beebe's relatives.
"I couldn't imagine him having any problem with Amy," said Beebe's sister, Rebecca Nickerson, on Thursday night. "Amy's too sweet of a person. She's too much of a good, kind-hearted person for anybody to ever be angry at her."
Family members visited Junior in jail on Saturday and he explained to them what happened in the Van Buren County woods Monday morning.
The first shots were fired by Howarth, Beebe's girlfriend, in a jealous rage after catching Junior and Henslee having an affair in a camper.
It started Monday morning, when Beebe left his mother's house; where he lived and had spent the night with Howarth, the family member said.
Beebe then went to pick up Henslee in his black pick-up truck -- the one witnesses reported seeing.
Henslee and Beebe were intimate in that camper in the woods, according to Beebe, when his mother dropped Howarth off at the property where the camper sat. Howarth started looking for Beebe after seeing his truck, and found him with Henslee.
That's when Beebe claims Howarth picked up a shotgun already in the camper and shot Henslee to death. Beebe then wrestled the gun away from Howarth and shot her, his family said. Next, he got scared and buried the bodies -- where they were found Thursday night.
The shotgun was out because Beebe and his son had been working on target practice on the property.
"It's just a bad situation that went down all at once," the family source told 24 Hour News 8 on Sunday. "It answers a lot of questions."
Beebe has been charged with both Henslee and Howarth's murders, but police say he has only confessed to killing one woman.
"It says that you did murder Amy Sue Henslee," a judge said in court last week.
Asked Beebe: "I did, or didn't?"
"Did," the judge answered.
Said Beebe: "No."
One of the property owners said he didn't suspect Junior because "he acted natural, and wasn't dirty," Phillip Beebe said. "I didn't see nothing unusual."
Henslee's loved ones don't believe Beebe's story.
"We all know that's a (bold-faced) lie," family friend Wendy Boyd said.
And Amy's husband doesn't believe she would have an affair.
"Amy would never do that," James Henslee said. "I don't want anybody trying to slander my wife's name. ... They have charged him with a double homicide for a reason."
But Beebe's family supports him.
"We support him and he knows that," said Jennifer Hardin, his niece. "And that's all that matters.
"It breaks my heart to know that two moms are gone, and their kids don't have a mom no more," she said Thursday.
Beebe feels bad about what happened, his family said, and "you couldn't be human if you didn't feel bad about it," one relative said.
"He wanted people to know that he did not shoot Amy."
24 Hour News 8 will continue to work on this developing story. Beebe declined an interview from jail, and investigators won't comment on what he told relatives.
An elderly neighbor reported seeing a black pick-up truck at the Henslee home between 9 and 9:30 a.m. and it looked like Amy Henslee may have gotten into the vehicle, a family friend has said.
James Henslee said Tuesday that he talked to the neighbor. When he heard about the pick-up truck, he figured it was his cousin's and called Beebe at about 11 a.m.
Beebe told him that he stopped at the Henslees’ home and knocked, but left when nobody answered.
“When I talked to him, I surprised him,” said James Henslee, 32. “He didn’t think anyone had seen him. ... I think I caught him off guard.”
Later that day, Beebe called James Henslee back to see if Amy Henslee had returned home, James Henslee said.
During that call, Beebe also mentioned he hadn’t seen Howarth, either, James Henslee said.
In a message left with the Gazette on Monday, James Henslee said he thought Beebe had a “sick obsession” with his wife.
When asked about the comment Tuesday, James Henslee said Amy Henslee told one of his friends that she didn’t trust Beebe.
"He spent most of his life trying to out run the cops," James Henslee said.
James Henslee said he grew up with his cousin and played on the same softball team with him.
“This is someone I’m related to, I’ve actually grown up around,” he said.
HARTFORD — Amy Henslee was a petite woman but, somehow, she was usually the loudest one cheering for her sons' sports teams.
"She was like dynamite," her close friend Michael Williamson said. "She was just so little and just so explosive."
On Thursday, Williamson joined hundreds of others who crowded into the Hartford Federated Church to say goodbye to Henslee at the funeral service for her.
The funeral procession later wound through downtown Hartford on Red Arrow Highway to Hill Cemetery in Lawrence Township. There, family members buried Henslee under a cloudless, sunny sky.
Henslee, 30, and Tonya Howarth, 36, were both killed Jan. 24 in Bangor Township. Junior Lee Beebe Jr., who is a cousin of Henslee's husband, was charged in the two women's deaths. Howarth's funeral service was Wednesday in Benton Harbor.
Photographs of Henslee flashed on the screen in the church — holding one of her babies, smiling with family in front of a Christmas tree, wrapping her arm around her husband, James.
"Amy Sue, my wifey, my baby, my best friend," James Henslee said as he read a letter during the funeral that he wrote to his wife. "I will never forget the best 12 years of my life — all the laughs, the smiles, the hugs and the kisses, the long car rides, the camping trips and all the great things we shared in our lives."
The Henslees had been a close couple. On his lunch break, James would often come home to eat with his wife and watch television. When he left, Amy would stand by the window and blow him kisses goodbye.
James Henslee told those gathered that when he looked at their sons, Jared, 11, and Jonah, 7, he saw his wife's eyes and smile.
During the service, the boys sat close to their father and grandmother.
"That smile you passed on to our boys along with those puppy dog, brown, beautiful eyes
— for that reason, I know I'll always see you,” said James Henslee, 32. “We're soulmates for life."
Many remembered Henslee as a nurturer, someone passionate about caring for others.
Henslee, who graduated in 1999 from Hartford High School, got a certification in phlebotomy from Southwestern Michigan College and had worked for several years at Lakeland Community Hospital in Niles. At the time of her death, she was a stay-at-home mom, but her goal was to eventually go back to school and become a registered nurse.
funeral, henslee, amy hensleeView full sizeMark Bugnaski / Kalamazoo GazetteThe body of Amy Henslee is led from Hartford Federated Church after the funeral today.
"She had the personality to be a nurse," Williamson said. "She was on her way."
James Henslee has said he plans to start a scholarship for aspiring nurses in honor of his wife.
Henslee, who was known for her infectious giggle and always seemed to be happy, enjoyed shopping with her grandmother, Louise McCoy, who lives in Dowagiac.
"I've lost my best friend," McCoy wrote in a poem that was read by another family member. "A light has gone out."
Above all, Henslee loved Jared and Jonah, her loved ones said.
"Anything she did in life was for those kids," said friend Shaun Russell, 33, of Coloma.
Family members acknowledged the national media attention and the outpouring of support for Henslee's family after she went missing Jan. 24. In Hartford, a small working-class community in Van Buren County, hundreds of people attended two prayer vigils and a fundraiser for the family.
"You have people all over this country that have been praying for this family and this community," said Bruce Dunford, a relative of Henslee's and pastor at First Baptist Church in West Bend, Wis., who officiated the funeral service. "What I've seen as an outsider coming in is a community coming together. That's a wonderful thing."
Henslee is also survived by her parents, Brenda and Robert Miston, of Dowagiac; her other grandmother Sue Miston, of Watervliet; and a brother, Bobby Miston, of Millburg.
Memorials for the Henslee and Howarth families are set up at Chemical Bank branches.
PAW PAW — Junior Lee Beebe Jr.'s next court appearance has been pushed back two weeks to Feb. 25, Judge Robert T. Hentchel said this morning.
Beebe, 34, of Bangor, has been charged with open murder in the deaths of Amy Henslee and Tonya Howarth.
Henslee, 30, and Howarth, 36, were both killed Jan. 24, and their bodies were found buried behind a trailer owned by Beebe in Bangor Township. The funerals for the women were held last week in Hartford and Benton Harbor.
Van Buren County Prosecutor Juris Kaps said more evidence needs to be gathered before the preliminary hearing could take place.
Beebe's preliminary examination, which was previously scheduled for Friday, will now take place at 1 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Van Buren County's 7th District Court East in Paw Paw.
Hey LC, do have an opinion on the suspect's comment about him having an affair with Amy?
I don't see her going for that type, but what do I know. This guy is a tool x1000....
(02-09-2011, 08:05 PM)Countryside_Belle Wrote: Hey LC, do have an opinion on the suspect's comment about him having an affair with Amy?
I don't see her going for that type, but what do I know. This guy is a tool x1000....
from what i have heard about Amy, i'd be pretty surprised. i think beebe has more shit with him than a Christmas turkey.
![[Image: Zy3rKpW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Zy3rKpW.png)
there is a lot of anger on the page. pretty vile all around.
