Stephen William Beattie

Case record

Stephen William Beattie was sentenced to death on February 1, 1979. He committed suicide in prison by an overdose on August 9, 1981.

Background

The spa murders occurred on July 23, 1978 in North Miami Beach, Florida. Three victims (1 male and 2 females) were found shot to death in the World of Health Spas.

One of the victims, a young female, was found nude, posed and her clothing strewn about. It appeared as though she may have been sexually assaulted. She was processed for latent print evidence with black magnetic powder and three prints were developed on the left ankle area. One of the prints was determined to be identifiable and was identified to the subject. The other two victims were also processed for latent print evidence with KromeKote cards, yielding negative results.

Investigation

The case was the first case on record where a latent fingerprint developed from a homicide victim's skin was identified with an offender and introduced as evidence in court.

There were misconceptions connected with this case that had perpetuated over the years and resulted in urban legend. One misconception was that the print was deposited on the surface of the victim's skin with sun tan lotion or oil. This was unsubstantiated and unfounded, but it had contributed to over embellished statements that all prints recovered from human skin have been in the state of Florida and are due to sun tan oil. The causative factor of the print was stated as irrelevant and definitely not sun tan oil. The fact was that a latent print was developed and recovered from the surface of the skin of a murder victim and was subsequently accepted in court as evidence.

Some chewing gum was found on the naked body of Beck. Tooth marks were too vague to be of any use. The saliva type was the same as Beck, so it could have been her gum. A fingerprint was found on her body as well, which proved to belong to Beattie.

Trial

On January 31, 1979, Stephen William Beattie was found guilty of three counts of 1st degree murder.

Sentencing

Stephen William Beattie was given 3 consecutive death sentences. The reason given was that if they were ever commuted to life, he would have to serve a mimimum of 25 years for each one. This was 75 years in total, meaning he would never get out of prison.

Outcome

Beattie committed suicide within three years of his sentence in prison while awaiting execution. He maintained his innocence even to the end.

Aftermath

The legal case was styled as State of Florida v. Stephen William Beattie (1978).