PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – The man accused of fatally stabbing a Putnam County woman outside a Dollar General in Fruitland could face the death penalty.
Lemar Beasly, 54, was indicted for capital murder, making him eligible for the death penalty.
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Investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office arrested Beasley after they said he had killed 36-year-old Cheyenne Kastens in a random attack that resulted in her being stabbed more than 40 times.
“We have some theories on his motives, but we’re not sure what his intent was," Capt. Chris Stallings said.
Beasley, who is also a convicted sex offender, had been released from prison just months before the murder for violating the terms of the state sex offender registry.
Back in 1999, he was sent to prison for 15 years after he was convicted of rape and false imprisonment. According to the detectives in that case, the woman was beaten and choked before she was sexually assaulted.
In 1991, Beasley was sent to prison after he was convicted of attempted murder and armed burglary, and then in February 2021, Stalling said detectives were looking at Beasley as a primary person of interest in the death of 20-year-old Nyeisha Nelson.
Her remains were discovered in a shallow grave along a road just outside of Crescent City, days after she was reported missing.
“We were just not able to get that to fruition for charging purposes,” Stallings said.
Stallings said there was also another similar incident on that same dirt road.
“We had another incident that same year where I believe we were potentially getting ready to have another victim that was luckily able to get away from him before anything criminal would have transpired,” he said.