BDSM MEDIA NEWS!!!!
July 28, 2014
Testimony: Clarksville woman's slaying sex-related.(videolink)
Shirley Beck was gagged, bound, beaten for four hours
Source: Theleafchronicle.com. - Theleafchronicle.com - USA
USA - CLARKSVILLE, TENN - Kristin Wilkerson described in court Thursday how her roommate, Shirley Beck, was hung up, gagged and continuously beaten for four hours, sustaining multiple kicks, punches and strikes with a metal pole, a rod and whip-like devices at the hands of three other roommates.
Clarksville Police found Beck, 39, dead in the back room of her home at 108 Wilson Court on June 26, and police have charged four of her six roommates with criminal homicide.
Thursday afternoon, preliminary hearings were held for Derek M. Vicchitto, 36, Matthew Lee Reynolds, 27, Cynthia Dianne Skipper, 46, and Alphonso Jay Richardson II, 24.
Skipper entered the courtroom in a wheelchair and was hooked up to an oxygen tank. The four sat with their attorneys during the almost three-hour hearing.
The biggest question was whether Beck was murdered during a BDSM session (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism) that went too far, or if she was brutally beaten to death and murdered in cold blood at the hands of the people she’d shared a home with for only one month.
Robert Nash, assistant district attorney, called numerous law enforcement agents to testify, but Wilkerson, an eyewitness, offered a good deal of insight into what led to Beck’s death.
Wilkerson, who lived in the home for a year and a half, said Beck was known to be a “house slave.” She desired to get into the BDSM lifestyle, which Vicchitto and Skipper were involved in together.
Beck called Skipper her “mistress” and was tasked with cleaning the kitchen, taking out trash and walking the dogs. Beck was called “Tuna” by Vicchitto and Skipper.
Lead Detective Eric Ewing said during his investigation he learned that Beck was involved in BDSM to an extent and had previously been another woman’s house slave.
Reynolds and Beck had moved into the house a month prior to the her death, and Wilkerson said she had, on several occasions, seen Beck “punished” and “disciplined” by the couple and complying in a submissive manner. At other times, she’d seen Beck defend herself.
Suspected poisoningBeck was beaten on June 25 by her roommates, but on June 26 the motives were different, according to testimony.
Detective Ewing testified that Richardson admitted to him that he went into a rage after he suspected Beck was trying to kill him and his girlfriend.
“He described the victim as the house slave, and Cynthia (Skipper) was charged with punishing the victim,” Ewing said. “This particular night, Cynthia had charged him with watching over the victim during kitchen and dishes duty. He said he checked one of his cups and it had boric acid on it. He checked another one of his cups and another one.
“He said he snapped. His fiancee, Ashley, was blind, and he felt that the victim was trying to poison Ashley. He said it made him very angry and he snapped. He screamed and woke up the house. He was screaming, ‘Are you a trying to kill me?’ He told me he had anger issues and he had beaten the victim. He told me started hitting her with his hand.”
Richardson also described hitting Beck with his fist and a bamboo rod, and hitting her on the buttocks with a metal pole.
The beatingWilkerson said she did not see Beck bound and hung up in the bedroom but did see her in the living room. She was standing on her feet, with her hands tied to a hanging device from the ceiling.
She was hit in the thighs, chest, back, legs and side, and choked for four hours by Richardson, Reynolds and Vicchitto, Wilkerson said.
Beck was struck with an oxygen hose by Vicchitto. Reynolds did a series of martial arts style kicks and hits to her body, and Richardson beat her with his fist, a pole and a rod, Wilkerson said.
Skipper told police she “popped” Beck a time or two, but Wilkerson said she did not see Skipper strike Beck.
“She said she didn’t have to touch her,” Wilkerson said. “She said she had people to do it for her. She just watched.”
Officer Gregory Beebe interviewed Reynolds, who had been released from the Dickson County Jail 30 days prior and needed a place to stay. Reynolds admitted his and the others’ involvement in Beck’s death.
“He stated he kicked her and hit her, and he demonstrated it and described it,” Beebe said. “He stated it was like sparring and pointed to the outside thigh. He called it a 6-inch palm strike. He said she was tied up in a bedroom first. He said she was leaning into the TV, so he suggested she be moved into the living room.”
To not damage the electronics, Beck was hung up in the living room on a BDSM “spreader” where the beating continued.
Beck lost consciousness a couple of times during the beating, but Vicchitto told Ewing they “suspected she was faking it.”
The beating stopped when Vicchitto became worried - Beck had turned ashen gray and was no longer responding, Wilkerson said.
They took her to the bathroom and put her in the shower to revive her, Ewing was told.
She was in the shower for about an hour, Wilkerson said.
When they couldn’t revive her, Vicchitto called 911. Reynolds and Richardson left the home.
When police arrived, Vicchitto and Skipper were in the room with the body while another roommate named Ashley performed CPR.
Agent Jason Hankins testified he recovered several photos from Vicchitto’s phone. Many were pictures of Beck’s badly battered body and photos of her hanging from the ceiling.
Detective Ewing attended Beck’s autopsy, where it was determined her death was caused by multiple blunt force traumas. Her death was ruled a homicide.
The lieWilkerson said Vicchitto, Skipper and herself came up with a lie to tell police.
“It had been said we were on our way to Walmart but never made it because we found her on the side of the road,” Wilkerson said. “It was a plausible concept. I lied to cover for everyone.”
Ewing said Vicchitto first told him Beck left at 3:30 that morning to go for a walk, which she was known for doing.
“He said he went to go get snacks and, as they were driving to Walmart, they retrieved her. She said she was attacked by two males. Vicchitto said they took her back to the house.”
Wikerson said she lied because she was intimidated and denied ever striking Beck or assisting in the beating.
Vicchitto then gave Ewing a second statement.
“He said around 12:30 a.m. they started assaulting her,” Ewing said. “He said he struck her with cords wrapped in duct tape.”
During the beating, Richardson said, Beck asked them to please stop, Ewing said.
“At one point, he said he thought it had went to far and they should’ve stopped it,” Ewing said.
Following the hearing, Grimes sent all four defendants’ cases over to the grand jury. He set a bond of $2 million for each.
Grimes also sentenced Richardson to 11 months and 29 days in jail for violating terms of probation.
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www.theleafchronicle.com.
