Kriti Mehrotra
It was on May 13, 2013, when the entire state of Nevada was left baffled to the core as inquiries into the homicide of Elliezear Graham brought to light 4 additional murder cases. As explored in Investigation Discovery’s ‘Homicide Hunter: American Detective: Twelve Hours of Terror,’ officials were able to ascertain early on that a single individual was responsible for all the carnage. Therefore, what followed was a local lockdown owing to evidence that the assailant was still in the area, which thankfully soon culminated in their arrest, identification, and indictment.
Elliezear Graham Was Found Shot to Death a Mile Away From His Workplace
A native of rural Nevada through and through, Elliezear “Ellie” Joseph Graham was reportedly born on July 19, 1961, into a deeply religious, farming household as one of 15 children. He was a bright light in their family, according to one of his sisters, mainly because he had such compassion for animals and people alike that it seemed he lived to help others in need. It was thus no surprise he chose to juggle several jobs as an adult to fulfill what he believed was his purpose — he helmed missions, delivered newspapers, served at a gas station, and worked at a mattress company.
Nevertheless, everything changed for the Grahams on the morning of May 13, 2013, as a friend found Elliezear dead a short distance from the gas station where he worked at around 7 am. He was face down in a slight dip of grass alongside the Mustang exit of Interstate 80 (I-80), right near Sparks, with his pants pulled down and his shirt pulled almost all the way up. The 51-year-old was surrounded by newspapers, but his vehicle was nowhere to be found, making things all the more strange because he had been shot thrice in the head with small, .22 caliber bullets.
Investigations Into Elliezear Graham’s Murder Revealed Additional Crimes
Almost as soon as authorities arrived at Elliezear’s crime scene, they suspected that prostitution may have been involved because they were not very far from the Mustang Brothel House. However, this hypothesis was quickly dismissed as an interview with his loved ones made it clear he would not have gone down that path, and then they themselves revealed a suspect. According to records, his family told officials they should look into his brother, Frank Graham, as they had been engaged in a feud for over two decades, leading to several face-offs and threats.
In fact, according to one of Ellizear’s sisters in the original, they had gotten into an argument just two weeks prior, and it had allegedly resulted in Frank trying to run over his brother with his car. The 51-year-old refused to press charges even though he was injured in the leg, yet Frank was also quickly cleared because it came to light that he was at his trucking job at the time of the homicide. However, detectives got a breakthrough at around 9 am when they found an abandoned truck near the vicinity of the crime scene, only for it to be registered not to the victim but a Fernley local.
The truck belonged to 81-year-old Robert “Bob” Pape, but when investigators contacted Fernley officials to get more information, they learned that his home had caught on fire at 5:30 am. Neither he nor his wife, Dorothy “Dotty” Pape, was anywhere to be found, but fire marshals had already managed to ascertain that the blaze had started from a truck in the garage. It turned out this truck belonged to Ellizear, driving the two counties to join forces — that’s when they found the elderly couple dead under a pile of clothes in their closet. They had also been shot with a .22 caliber weapon.
Elliezear Graham’s Assailant Was Arrested Within 6 Hours of the Homicide
Robert and Dorothy’s remains were already decomposing, and the state of their home was eerie, with half-eaten food strewn around, shampoo drizzled on the floor, as well as valuables ransacked. Therefore, detectives knew one thing for sure — the assailant had killed the couple at least a few days prior (later confirmed to be May 10) and then lived at their home as per his own comfort. So, their very next step was to canvas the area understandably, but as soon as they went to the house right across the street from the Papes, they were faced with another chaotic scene with two victims.
Angie Duff’s co-workers had called 911 around the same time to request a welfare check because she hadn’t shown up to work, so officials went around the back when she didn’t answer her door. Little did they know they would find her glass back door shattered, blood spattered all across her home, and her, as well as her long-term romantic partner, Lester Leiber, dead inside. They were both fatally shot with a .22 caliber gun, too, but the latter reportedly also had a deep, gaping, slashing wound on his chest that a sharp knife had clearly made.
However, this crime scene was different because it was still very fresh, driving authorities to move quickly and set up a lockdown perimeter because the assailant couldn’t have gotten far. They received a tip from a neighbor who was hearing noises inside their crawl space not long after, so the SWAT team descended on that house, only to find phones and a large sum of cash inside. Mere minutes later, around noon, they located and arrested the person they were looking for as he tried unsuccessfully to run away from outside the garage.
Jeremiah Bean is Currently on Death Row in Nevada
When the assailant was arrested, he was identified as Jeremiah Diaz Bean, and among his belongings were a .22 caliber weapon as well as the key fobs for both Angie and Lester’s vehicles. He himself agreed to talk to investigators after he was taken to the local police station and read his rights, following which he essentially confessed to all 5 homicides in complete detail. He initially claimed he had acted at the behest of the voices inside his head, but once he realized that detectives did not believe him, he modified his story to admit he was just done with life.
According to the original, Jeremiah alleged he had a heroin addiction, struggling to find a stable job and a place to live, so he had turned to a life of crime. He claimed he had been crashing with a friend in Fernley when he noticed Robert and Dorothy, so he targeted them for their comforts and money. He told officials he killed them on May 10, stole their belongings, drove to Reno to pawn them off, spent the money in a strip club, and then returned to live in their home. As per records, he left again in the early hours of May 13, but the truck he was driving fell into a ditch while he was trying to make a U-turn, and that’s when he started hitchhiking.
Jeremiah reportedly told investigators Elliezear was the one who stopped to help him, but he immediately shot the 51-year-old, dragged him out of his vehicle, and then drove back to the Papes. He claimed he subsequently realized he had to start covering his tracks, which is why he set the fire and then ran to the nearest house in the hopes of stealing a getaway vehicle. He ended up killing Angie and Lester in the process, so he was ultimately charged with five counts of first-degree murder, along with charges related to arson, burglary, robbery, and larceny. In the end, he was convicted of the same counts in July 2015 before later being sentenced to death, so today, at the age of 38, he is incarcerated on death row at the medium-security High Desert State Prison (HDSP) in Indian Springs, Nevada.
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