The murder trial for Caleb Marion Beehler, 41, of Irrigon, begins Monday, Feb. 12, at the Morrow County Courthouse, Heppner.
Beehler has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the March 9, 2022, shooting death of Richard Broadbent, 58 in Boardman.
According to a search warrant affidavit, Broadbent was married to Beehler’s mother, who told local law enforcement officers her husband and son were arguing at the family’s home over Beehler’s drinking at the home and because he had been living there for about three months and had not found a job. She said during the argument Beehler became very angry, went to his bedroom, grabbed his black semiautomatic handgun and came back to the living room.
She said she saw the handgun, yelled at her husband to run and he fled through the kitchen door to the driveway. Beehler gave chase with his mother telling him to stop, according to the affidavit, when she heard two gunshots.
Beehler took off in his mother’s red 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier, and Broadbent was lying in the driveway, according to the document, with a gunshot wound just above the left eye. He died at the scene.
Law enforcement looked for Beehler in the wake of the killing. He turned himself in at the Hermiston Police Department on March 10. He told police he tossed the gun into the Columbia River near milepost 194 on Highway 730.
Beehler in January waived his right to a jury trial, leaving it to the Circuit Judge Jon Lieuallen to decide the outcome of the trial. Court records show the trial could run until Feb. 16.
I am Caleb Beehlers mother. Why do the news papers have to turn things around. There was no argument, no fighting that night. I told the D.A. that’s what I couldn’t understand. Caleb did not get angry at all. And I heard only 1 gun shot not 2 like the papers are saying!