By Denise Rockenstein ? staff reporter
CLEARLAKE — A plea of not guilty to all charges and allegations was entered Tuesday on behalf of Robby Alan Beasley, 30, who along with Elijah Bae McKay, 28, was charged with murder late last year in connection with the deaths of two Maine residents.
District Attorney Art Grothe said he expects to conduct two, separate preliminary hearings against the defendants.
McKay, whose defense attorney Richard Peterson waived his right to a speedy trial, entered no plea on Tuesday. The case against him was continued to 8:15 a.m. April 5 in Lake County Superior Court Department 4 for entry of plea and trial setting.
Murder charges with special allegations were filed against Beasley and McKay in December in connection to the deaths of Frank Maddox, 32 and his wife Yvette Maddox, 40. The couple”s partially decomposed bodies were discovered early March 2010 at the bottom of an embankment off Morgan Valley Road. According to Lake County Sheriff, an autopsy of the bodies revealed both sustained gunshots wounds among other injuries.
“Within days of the discovery of their bodies, detectives with the Sheriff”s Major Crime Unit learned that Beasley had apparently hired the couple to come to Lake County several months prior to help him with a marijuana operation,” Captain Jim Bauman stated in a press release issued in Dec. 2010. “Both of the victims had been reported as missing about a month before the discovery of their bodies.”
Bauman further stated that while Beasley was still considered only as a person of interest in the Maddox case at the time, he was located near his home in Clearlake two days after the bodies were found and arrested on an unrelated arrest warrant out of the State of Maine. According to Bauman, subsequent searches of two home frequented by Beasley resulted in additional charges of marijuana cultivation.
Judge Stephen Hedstrom said Tuesday that extradition in the Maine case has been waived; one of Beasley”s additional cases will be heard at his next scheduled court appearance, which is 8:15 a.m. Jan. 14 in Department 2 for the purpose of a hearing assignment in the murder case and a readiness conference in the cultivation case.
Beasley requested a speedy trial and preliminary hearing was scheduled for January 18 in a department to be determined.
According to Bauman, McKay was identified as a person of interest in the Maddox murders about one week into the investigation. Following service of a search warrant at his Lower Lake home, McKay was arrested on marijuana cultivation, possession for sales and weapons charges. “He posted a $10,000 bail and released the same day he was arrested,” Bauman stated in December. “With his marijuana case still pending in Lake County, detectives learned in October that he had apparently fled California and was believed to be in Atlanta, Georgia. His local bondsman surrendered his bond from March, retrieved him from Georgia, and brought him back to Lake County where he has remained in custody at the county jail since Oct. 19.”
The additional cases pending against McKay will also be heard on April 5 in Department 4.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
