Ankle monitoring company to face negligent homicide trial in Louisiana woman’s 2021 murder

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a Mississippi-based electronic monitoring company can be tried for negligent homicide in the case of Peggy Beasley, a mother of three murdered by her estranged husband Marshall Rayburn.

The monitoring company AEM allegedly failed to report multiple breaches of a court-ordered security perimeter around Beasley’s home, which prosecutors say allowed Rayburn the opportunity to kill her.

“Had I thought he would do it, I would have never let my mom stay at her home by herself,” Beasley’s daughter, Devlin Hopper, said.

In August 2021, Beasley reported to St. Francisville authorities that Rayburn, from whom she was separated, had been drugging and raping her.

Rayburn was arrested for second-degree rape, released on a $100,000 bond, and outfitted with an ankle monitor. He was instructed to stay away from Beasley’s home, with an exclusion zone programmed into the monitor.

Despite this, Rayburn breached the exclusion zone five times within four days, triggering notifications to AEM. However, the company failed to alert authorities.

Over the following weeks, Rayburn repeatedly violated the zone.

On Sept. 20, 2021, Rayburn entered Beasley’s home, hid in the laundry room with a gun and attacked her.

A neighbor heard the screams and tried to help.

“Marshall put the gun to the neighbor’s chest and fired through her chest, through her back, and hit (Beasley) and killed her,” District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla recounted.

Rayburn then turned the gun on himself. Crime scene photos revealed Rayburn had wrapped his ankle monitor in aluminum foil to block the signal, a violation that also went unreported by AEM.

“He blatantly broke the rules. He tested them,” said Beasley’s son, Jared Crow. “The GPS data shows that.”

D’Aquilla charged AEM’s owner and an employee with negligent homicide for not reporting the violations.

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Beasley’s murder prompted new legislation requiring monitoring companies to report breaches or face penalties, including imprisonment and fines.

“It’s a slap in the face to the victims and the public,” D’Aquilla said. “These are dangerous individuals being monitored with no oversight.”

The law, effective January 1, will make Louisiana the first state to hold monitoring companies criminally accountable for failing to report violations.

“If you screw this stuff up, you can go to jail,” said Matt Dennis of ASAP Release, who is helping revamp state electronic monitor protocols.

Although the new law came too late for Peggy Beasley, her family hopes it will prevent future tragedies.

“That’s one of the hardest things for my brothers and daughters, knowing her life could have been saved so many times. It didn’t have to be this,” Hopper said. “We miss her. She was one of a kind. She truly was.”

The case against AEM will move forward after the Supreme Court upheld the indictment, which was initially appealed by the company.

“The system failed. We’re doing everything we can to hold somebody accountable for the death of their mother,” D’Aquilla stated.

Fox 8 reached out to AEM for comment but received no response.

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