Boyfriend stabs woman and her 6-year-old son, then traps them in burning home, cops say
A man is accused of stabbing his girlfriend and her 6-year-old son, then barricading them inside a burning home in Georgia.
Now, 32-year-old Donald Beck faces charges of murder and arson.
Shortly before 11 a.m. on April 1, firefighters rushed to the scene of a blaze with people trapped inside the house, the Grovetown Police Department said in a news release.
Rescuers found that Beck had broken the glass of a back window in the home, and they pulled him out, police said. He said there were other people still inside, but Grovetown Police Chief Jamey Kitchens told WRDW the man made additional comments that raised questions for investigators.
“Shortly after that, he began making comments about you know, just let him die, things like that, which was suspicious,” Kitchens told the outlet.
Inside the home, firefighters found the bodies of 47-year-old Karen Denise Boswell and her 6-year-old son Ethan Stephens, both with stab wounds from a kitchen knife, according to Columbia County charging documents.
They had collapsed on the couch, which Beck then set on fire, officials said.
They were discovered in the front of the home “within debris,” and investigators said Beck had barricaded the entrances and exits to the home.
Other children were living in the home at the time, police said.
Boswell spent a lot of time caring for her son, who had a rare condition called OEIS syndrome, or cloacal exstrophy, which affected the lower abdominal wall.
“I have been the only parent to Ethan since he was born and it’s hard but me and him have fought this journey together,” Boswell wrote in a GoFundMe to raise money for her son ahead of another upcoming surgery.
She said she had to take unpaid leave from work to spend time in the hospital with him, but she “wouldn’t trade it for nothing at all.”
“We got a long road ahead of us,” she wrote March 8.
A couple of days prior to the fire, police were called to the couple’s home because of an altercation between Boswell and Beck that led to Beck accidentally cutting himself on a wine bottle, according to an incident report.
Beck told an officer he got upset with Boswell because of her “past boyfriend choices and yelled at her about them because he cares about her,” the officer said.
Boswell told the officer she was fine with Beck staying at the home and “did not think there would be any further issues,” according to the report.
Police told McClatchy News that Beck chose to exercise his Miranda rights and not make a statement. Investigators don’t have a motive at this time.
Beck’s attorney information is not available in Columbia County records.
Grovetown is part of the Augusta metropolitan area in east Georgia.
This story was originally published April 5, 2024 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Boyfriend stabs woman and her 6-year-old son, then traps them in burning home, cops say."