Apr 13, 2009 9:23 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Son Talked About Killing His Father
SOUTH MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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South Miami Commissioner Jay Beckman
CBS
The son of South Miami Commissioner Jay Beckman often spoke about killing his father and may have even kept a list of people he wanted to see die, according to the teen's classmates.
"It came to the point where he started talking about his dad and how he wanted to kill him and his plans," said Catherine Presno, a junior at South Miami Senior High School. "Obviously no one took him seriously but then I heard the news yesterday."
On Easter Sunday morning, Jason Beckman shot and killed his father with a shotgun. The 17-year-old told police the shooting was an accident. He said he had assembled the shotgun, which his father had given him, and was eager to show his father that he had completed it.
Jason told detectives he went into the bathroom, where his father was showering, and slipped on the floor, causing the shotgun to accidentally fire. The blast struck Jay Beckman in the neck.
"He slipped and fell and accidentally shot his dad," said South Miami Commissioner Valerie Newman.
But was it an accident?
On Monday, investigators were continuing to interview friends and classmates of Beckman, who was charged Sunday with manslaughter. Ultimately, detectives were trying to understand the relationship between Jason Beckman and his father.
Jay Beckman, 52, a civil engineer who for the last three years served on the South Miami City Commission, had been raising his son alone following the death of his wife ten years ago to cancer.
At South Miami High, where Jason was a junior, students talked about how Jason frequently spoke about wanting to kill his father. And parents and teachers who knew Jason referred to him as a brilliant but troubled child who they described as "a misfit," "a loner," and "an outcast."
But it was Jason's frequent comments about how much he hated has father and wanted to see him die that is drawing the most attention.
"Before Spring Break he even had mentioned it," said Leilani Redwan, a South Miami High classmate who had gone to school with Jason since the sixth grade.
"There was nothing I could [do], I couldn't be like, `Jason, stop saying that,' because he's been saying that since the sixth grade," she said. "He used to tell us stories about how his dad was with him and stuff but I would block it out because then I would have to be the one to report it."
Redwan and the other students weren't clear as to the problems between Jason and his father. On the city commission, Jay Beckman was known as someone who was at times volatile and prone to lash out at critics or those with whom he disagreed.
But he was also described as a loving and doting father, who spent time with his son. "I know he loved his son tremendously," said South Miami Mayor Horace Feliu.
One teacher, who recently had Jason in one of her classes, told
CBS4 News that when she learned on Monday Jason had killed his father; she was saddened but not shocked.
"I wasn't surprised," the teacher said. "He was a strange kid. That's the best way to describe it, he was just strange."
Students described how Jason Beckman, in addition to wanting to kill his father, would also talk about maintaining a list of other individuals he wanted to kill. The teen supposedly had a system of assigning points to different people who bothered him and he would warn them that they would have to do things to redeem themselves to get off his list.
Nancy Martin, whose daughter attends South Miami, said she spoke to one of the detectives on the case Monday. She said the detective read to her several names that Jason supposedly wanted to target.
"It's scary to think about," she said Monday afternoon as she waited outside the school for her daughter who was in one of Jason's classes.
Detectives are still trying to determine if the list was real or the merely dark humor of an emotionally disturbed teen.
Jason Beckman remains in custody and in addition to deciding if the charges against him should be upgraded to murder, prosecutors will also have to decide whether to try him as a juvenile or as an adult.
Beckman's next court hearing is set for May.
The street where Jay Beckman grew up as a child and ultimately died, is a quiet block of well kept homes and nice yards; the one exception being the Beckman house, an old-style Florida building with jalousie windows.
People who have been inside the house say it was sparsely furnished. In the driveway was an aging Ford Taurus still registered to Jay Beckman's wife, Nora, who died a decade ago.
Neighbors were reluctant to talk, tired of the unwelcome media attention. But Janelle Syren, a 21-year-old who lives with her family across the street from the Beckmans, said there have long been signs of trouble.
"He wasn't okay," she said of Jason, whom she has known his entire life.
She said Jason may have had a form of autism.
The Miami Herald reported that friends said Jason suffered from a mild form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome which is characterized by the individual's inability to communicate well with others, socialize or form meaningful relationships. The neurological disorder affects about one in every one thousand people.
Syren said despite whatever problems Jason and Jay Beckman may have had, she was confident Jay Beckman did everything he could for his son.
"No one is perfect really," she said, "but he did love his son as best as he could because Jason did have a mental instability, but he did the best he could."
Syren admitted she, too, had heard Jason threatening to kill his father.
"Yes, yes, he did," she said, the emotion evident in her voice.
Asked if she thought Jason wanted to kill his father, she said: "I can't say. I don't -"
Before she could finish her thought, she stopped, looked away and then finally said, "Yeah, I think so. But maybe he doesn't understand the gravity of what he's done."
So does she think this was an accident as Jason told the police?
Syren again paused, slowly shook her head, and in a voice barely above a whisper said, "No."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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