Fatal shooting in Puyallup might have stemmed from drug deal gone wrong, charges say
A murder in a Puyallup parking lot in October might have stemmed from a drug deal gone wrong, according to charging papers. The man accused in the shooting fled and recently was arrested in Arizona.
Brandon Neil Rudolph, 45, was charged in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday with two counts of second-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
An arraignment date for Rudolph has not been set. Prosecutors wrote in charging documents that he was arrested Feb. 10 for an unrelated matter in El Mirage, Arizona, a city northwest of Phoenix.
Rudolph is accused in the death of 46-year-old Joseph Beckley, who was found dead in the early hours of Oct. 20 in the driver’s seat of a Jeep Cherokee parked near the 3200 block of East Main Avenue.
Video surveillance, phone records, vehicle records and interviews with people who know the victim and defendant helped detectives identify Rudolph as the man they believe killed Beckley.
According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, Beckley was there to pick up drugs from a woman he had given $200 to the day before. The victim had been texting her in the hours leading up to his death, but the woman became concerned about how long he had been waiting in the parking lot.
She texted a friend to ask if Beckley was a threat to her. She quickly texted that person again, saying to disregard the text and that she was just being paranoid.
When the woman saw police cruisers in the parking lot, she called Rudolph and asked what he had done.
“The defendant replied that he ‘did it for her’, stating that he loved her and that she should never feel in danger,” prosecutors wrote in the declaration for determination of probable cause. In an interview with detectives, the woman said she believed Rudolph had killed Beckley.
Rudolph has an extensive criminal history with more than 10 felony convictions, including first-degree robbery, according to charging documents. At the time of the shooting, he had a warrant for his arrest from the Department of Corrections.
Arizona detectives told Puyallup police they found a license plate in the vehicle Rudolph was in when he was detained. Prosecutors say that plate was the same one attached to the SUV caught on video driving by the victim’s car, with someone in the SUV firing gunshots.
Charging documents gave this account:
Puyallup Police Department officers responded about 1:15 a.m. Oct. 20 to a report of shots fired at a restaurant in the 3200 block of East Main Avenue.
In a parking lot next to the restaurant, officers found a green Jeep Cherokee with the front passenger window shot out and damage to the windshield. Inside, officers found a man, later identified as Beckley, dead in the driver’s seat.
Detectives obtained surveillance footage of the parking lot, which showed a Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV pulling in and driving in front of the victim’s vehicle, according to the probable cause document. When it passes the driver’s side, muzzle flashes can be seen from the SUV.
Prior the shooting, another vehicle, a white Chevy Suburban, pulled into the lot. Video shows a man getting out of Beckley’s Jeep and talking to the driver at their door for about a minute before the Suburban leaves. Detectives later learned that man was in the Jeep at the time of the shooting, but he was not injured and fled shortly after.
A search warrant was served on the Jeep, and detectives found methamphetamine, a phone and a scale inside.
On Nov. 4, detectives received text message records for the victim’s phone, which showed he had been texting a woman, who lived at an apartment blocks away.
Text messages appeared to show the victim and the woman had been pooling money to buy drugs, prosecutors wrote in the probable cause document.
When detectives drove by the woman’s apartment complex, they spotted the white Chevy Suburban that was seen on video before the shooting. It was registered to her roommate.
Phone records for the woman obtained through a search warrant showed that at the time of the shooting, she called a phone number belonging to the defendant, Rudolph. She also called this number numerous times that day and the day after.
Detectives also learned that a 2008 Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV was registered to Rudolph’s address in Lakewood. According to the probable cause document, the vehicle had been sold and was registered to another person at the same address.
In an interview with the woman, detectives learned Beckley had given her $200 to buy drugs and was at the parking lot the next night waiting for her to either give him his cash back or give him the drugs. The woman told detectives that she had known the victim for only a few weeks, and she told him that she could get drugs for a cheaper price if they put their money together.
Beckley waited in the lot for more than two hours, which the woman found concerning. She texted a friend to see if Beckley was a threat to her, but she quickly texted that person again saying she was just being paranoid.
Detectives spoke with the woman’s roommate, who said the woman told him about the planned meeting with the victim, but that she was worried because he was already at the parking lot nearby. He drove to the parking lot in his white Chevrolet Suburban to check on Beckley, who was asleep. The man who was in the car with him said Beckley was dope sick.
The roommate went to the grocery store, and when he returned, he saw the Suzuki Grand Vitara turning onto East Main Street at about 1:07 a.m. He couldn’t see who was driving, but he told detectives he believed there were two people inside.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 2:44 PM.
