AURORA, Colo. — A 40-year-old defendant accused of killing a man and hiding his body in an Aurora apartment's crawl space has pleaded guilty to two of the four charges against him.
Haskel Leroy Crawford faced four charges: first-degree murder after deliberation, tampering with a deceased human body, second-degree murder and violent crime causing death of serious injury. He initially pleaded not guilty in April 2024.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to the latter two charges, meaning the first-degree murder charge and tampering with a body charge were both dismissed. His sentencing is scheduled for April 17 at 9 a.m.
The investigation into this case began on April 1, 2023, when a woman called the Aurora Police Department to report that her son was missing. According to an arrest affidavit, she said she was concerned that her son, 36-year-old Karl Beaman, had a friend named Haskel Leroy Crawford who might have "jumped Karl at some point" after the duo was nearly caught stealing catalytic converters.
The woman told police that she had recently received a message on Facebook from an anonymous account that told her that her son was "buried in a shallow grave which was covered in cement to help mask the smell" under an apartment in Aurora belonging to a 30-year-old woman named Casie Taylor Bock, an affidavit read.
Watch Denver7's initial reporting on this case, which began in April 2023, in the video below.
The person went on to say in other messages that Bock "had gotten high and … that Leroy believed Karl was an informant for the police," which led to an altercation that ended with Beaman’s death, the arrest affidavit reads.
The Facebook tipster told Beaman’s mother that Bock had disclosed this information when she was “very high and upset about people being in her walls,” according to the affidavit.
Crime
Affidavit: Woman helped hide body, told neighbor about ‘people inside her walls’
Police were able to communicate with the anonymous person, who said Beaman was killed before Crawford was arrested in September 2022 on an unrelated crime, where he was facing a charge of attempted first-degree murder. Based on this timeline, the tipster said they assumed this meant that the homicide occurred “anywhere between six and eight months ago,” according to the affidavit.
In the early afternoon of April 4, 2023, Bock was arrested leaving her apartment and police executed a search warrant of her apartment, where they found the crawl space and saw "what appeared to be a mound of poured concrete… which would be more than able to cover Karl," according to the affidavit.
Arresting documents provided by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office showed that Beaman's body was likely hidden in the crawl space, which was accessible from Bock's bedroom, sometime between June 12 and Sept. 19, 2022. He was entombed in the concrete.
During an interview with police, Bock said she and Crawford had started dating again, despite a history of domestic violence. She recalled returning home from work one day to find Crawford in her apartment and Beaman on the ground. He had apparently been suffocated, she told police. She said Crawford forced her to help him hide the body in the crawl space, according to the affidavit.
“At one point during this event, Casie (Bock) said she tried to flee her apartment, but Leroy (Crawford) grabbed her by the arm and threatened to hurt her if she did not assist,” it reads.
Bock told police she did not trust the police department, which is why she did not report the homicide, according to the affidavit. She was charged with accessory to first-degree murder.
Crawford, who was already in jail in connection with an unrelated crime, was also arrested on new charges related to the discovery of the body in the crawl space.
In September 2023, Bock pleaded guilty to accessory to a crime. This meant that the charges against her of intimidating a witness and tampering with a deceased human body were dismissed. She received a deferred sentence of four years in the Department of Corrections.
Aurora
Man accused of hiding body in Aurora apartment crawl space pleads not guilty
Crawford pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in April 2024, nearly a year before he accepted a plea deal.
Crawford's jury trial, had he not accepted the plea deal, was expected to begin on Tuesday morning.
His sentencing is set for April 17, 2025.
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