Thursday, April 9, 2009

El Paso, TX: Ex-Gurnee man kills wife, self at Army base


FBI says newlyweds had marital problems

April 8, 2009

Marital problems might have been the reason a former Gurnee man shot and killed his 19-year-old wife inside a federal military reservation before taking his own life moments later, authorities said Tuesday.

Kevin Beckel, 23, shot Army Pfc. Cassaundra Beckel, 19, on Saturday while they were at the Fort Bliss Post Exchange in El Paso, Texas, FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons said.

Witnesses said the couple entered the Post Exchange around 4 p.m. and got into an argument. Beckel then pulled out a gun and shot his wife once in the head at close range before turning the gun on himself, Simmons said.

Cassaundra Beckel was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Kevin Beckel was pronounced brain dead at 10:55 a.m. Sunday, but was kept on life support until Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Investigators later found a suicide note at his El Paso home, but they did not disclose what it contained.

Simmons said the two had recently experienced some marital difficulties. The Beckels were married Sept. 28, 2008, officials said. Cassaundra had been stationed at Fort Bliss less than two weeks for training when she was killed, officials said.

Cassaundra joined the military last November while in Seattle. She completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., before transferring to Fort Bliss for Advance Individual Training. She was staying at the Fort Bliss barracks while her husband lived off base, said Fort Bliss spokesperson Jean Offutt.

"This is a horrible tragedy for this young lady," Offutt said. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened here."

Kevin Beckel, who was unemployed when he died, had a history of run-ins with police in Lake County.

As recently as 2008 he was arrested for burglary and battery in separate incidents. In the battery arrest, Antioch police say he fought two people in the basement of a house party. In 2003, he was arrested in Lindenhurst for throwing rocks at a car from the roof of a pizza parlor. And in late 2002, as a 17-year-old, he pleaded guilty to burglarizing a Lindenhurst video store.

Simmons said the FBI is continuing to work this case with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division.

The FBI has primary jurisdiction whenever a civilian crime occurs at a federal reservation.

News-Sun staff reporter Nick Alajakis contributed to this report


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