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.

RELATED STORIES

Orleans DA blasts juvenile officials’ monitoring of teen accused of tour guide’s murder

Accused 15-year-old killer of French Quarter tour guide was wearing deactivated ankle monitor, sources say

Accused killer of Tacoma visitor in January was under Orleans Juvenile Court monitoring order

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.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.

Copyright 2024 WVUE. All rights reserved.

A federal agency is sending investigators to south Louisiana to look into the cause of a crude oil spill that has tainted a portion of Bayou Lafourche, a spokesman for the company where the accident took place said Monday.

As the third day of cleanup following the Saturday morning spill progressed, officials overseeing the cleanup calculated that 34,440 gallons of crude were released from a storage tank near Raceland. The oil originated from the Crescent Midstream Crude Oil Facility, spilling through a protective dike into a stormwater canal and eventually through a culvert under Highway 308 that flows into the bayou.

Michael Smith, public information officer for Crescent Midstream and the Unified Command overseeing the spill response, said the 34,440 gallons of oil — or 820 barrels — includes the amount spilled on the grounds of the facility. The accident does not involve the large cylindrical storage tank on the property, which Smith said was empty before Saturday.

Officials from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will be on site within the next few days, Smith said, confirming Crescent Midstream representatives had spoken with the agency Monday. They will begin an official investigation, taking over the informal work of the Unified Command, which is composed of state and local officials along with Crescent Midstream.  

Meanwhile, work continues to capture the crude from the bayou. An advisory to conserve water remains in place for residents and business along Bayou Lafourche from south of the Louisiana Highway 182 bridge to Port Fourchon, a stretch that covers 55 miles. However, drinking water remains safe to consume, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson said.  

Our news partners at WVUE-TV Fox 8 report that Lafourche Parish Water District No. 1 has issued a water conservation notice for all customers in the parish.

Chaisson reported Thursday evening that a fish kill was spot in the incident area. No immediate information was provided on the type or number of fish affected.

An update on the wildlife impact increased the death toll to 17 salamanders, in addition to the previously reported three turtles and one crawfish. Cleanup crews were able to capture one of three oil-covered ducks on the bayou. It was taken to a rehabilitation center for cleaning and care.

A black sheen trailing down the bayou remained visible Monday from aerial photographs. Crews were washing oil from the banks of the bayou and collecting it with skimmers, boom and vacuum trucks for disposal. More than a mile of boom — 6,800 feet — has been deployed on the bayou so far, according to Monday afternoon’s update from the Unified Command. 

Smith stressed that oil dispersants, which are not approved for inland water use, are not among the methods being used to contain the oil. 

Use of oil dispersants has been under added scrutiny since the deadly BP Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 just off the coast of Louisiana. The chemical Corexit has been blamed for sickening cleanup workers who responded to the manmade disaster. Medical issues ranging from skin rashes to cancer have been detailed in thousands of lawsuits.  

Cleanup crews are pumping water from the bayou to remove oil from the bayouside, Smith said. As a result, it’s causing some oil to flow upstream, which could find its way back to shore if it can’t be collected from the water with booms or skimmers. 

“It could get worse before it gets better,” Smith said in an interview. “You could see oil cleaned up in front of your house one day, only to see it back again the next day.”

The bayou remains closed to boaters from the Highway 182 bridge in Raceland to the Lockport Bridge, with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office handling enforcement.