Bellevue, OH: 79-year-old arrested in wife’s death

Published: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

By TAYLOR DUNGJEN
tdungjen@MorningJournal.com


BELLEVUE — A 79-year-old Bellevue man is in custody after allegedly beating to death his wife of nearly 30 years, according to Bellevue police.

A woman picking up Clifford Beach at about 9 a.m. from his 116 Walnut St. home for a medical appointment called police and said Beach told her he had killed his wife. When police arrived, they found 63-year-old Linda Beach “brutally beaten to death,” Capt. Matt Johnson said.

Linda Beach’s body was in the front room of the home with multiple injuries, according to a Bellevue police report. Clifford Beach told police multiple times that he killed his wife.

“He’s telling police that he did this at 7 p.m. (Sunday),” Huron County Coroner Dr. Jeff Harwood said.

Linda Beach suffered multiple cuts to her arms and legs and had been struck in the head multiple times, Harwood said.

“Her head wounds would have been rapidly fatal. They were not survivable ... It was a pretty savage attack,” Harwood said.

Johnson said she was hit with a type of gardening tool. Clifford Beach was arraigned in Bellevue Municipal Court on one count of murder.

He is now being held in the Huron County jail on a $1 million bond.

The couple has no children and Linda Beach has no other known relatives, according to the report.