AURORA, Colo. — More than a year after the body of 36-year-old Karl Beaman was found stuffed under a layer of concrete in an Aurora apartment crawl space, the man accused of killing him pleaded guilty Wednesday to two of four charges against him.
Haskel Leroy Crawford, 40, initially pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence when he was charged in April 2024. But on Monday he dropped that argument and agreed to a plea deal admitting guilt to second-degree murder and violent crime resulting in death or serious injury. As part of the deal, the more serious first-degree murder charge was dismissed, as was the charge of tampering with a deceased human body. Crawford was ordered to be sentenced on April 17 at 9 a.m.
A Mother’s Desperate Search for Her Missing Son
The case first emerged on April 1, 2023 when Beaman’s mother contacted the Aurora Police Department to report Beaman missing. She expressed fear that foul play may have been involved in her son’s involvement with Crawford. Crawford and Beaman had been robbed of circulating in crime, such as an attempted theft of catalytic converters, according to an arrest affidavit. Beaman’s mother suspected that Crawford may have soured on her son after a near run-in with law enforcement.
Its fears were magnified when she received a chilling message from an anonymous Facebook user. The message alleged that Beaman had been killed, and his body buried in a shallow grave under an Aurora apartment. The tipster said the grave had been covered with cement to hide any smells and keep it from being discovered. The apartment in question was owned by 30-year-old Casie Taylor Bock.
The Social Media Break That Cracked The Case
An anonymous informant also contacted Beaman’s mother and gave details that only added to the rot. They alleged that Bock told them, under the influence of drugs, that Crawford killed Beaman because he believed he was a police informant. The informant claimed Bock was in a “highly distressed” and paranoid state, convinced that people were hiding in the walls of her apartment.
The messages led police to probe deeper. The anonymous tipster then communicated with authorities and relayed more details that contributed to the formation of a timeline. According to their account, Beaman had been killed sometime between June and September 2022, several months before Crawford was arrested on an unrelated charge of attempted first-degree murder in September 2022.
Body Found and Arrests
Aurora police arrested Bock on April 4, 2023, as she was leaving her apartment. They subsequently served a search warrant at her home. Inside, they found a crawl space in Bock’s bedroom. Investigators observed a fresh-looking mound of poured concrete, and suspected it may have been used to hide Beaman’s body. The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office later confirmed that Beaman’s remains had indeed been enshrined in the crawl space beneath layers of cement.
While interrogated by police, Bock confessed to having helped conceal the body but said she had done it under duress. She also said that she and Crawford had gotten back together even after a history of domestic violence. She recounted returning home one day to find Crawford inside her apartment with Beaman’s body on the floor. Bock said Crawford told her they had suffocated Beaman.
When she tried to leave, Crawford grabbed her arm and threatened to hurt her if she didn’t help him get rid of the body, Bock said. Afraid for her own safety, she assisted him in hiding Beaman’s remains in the crawl space.
Contested by the Prosecutors, but Ruled by the Work of 63 Letters
Bock subsequently confessed that she lacked faith in the police and therefore did not alert them to the crime. She was thus charged as an accessory in first-degree murder. In September 2023, she entered a guilty plea for accessory to a crime, resulting in the dropping of witness intimidation and tampering of a deceased human body charges. She was given a four-year deferred sentence in the Department of Corrections.
Crawford was also charged, with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body and violent crime causing death or serious injury. Though he initially entered a not guilty plea in April 2024, he accepted a plea deal that lowered his charges to second-degree murder and violent crime resulting in death.
If Crawford successfully accepted the plea deal, his jury trial would have commenced on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Now, instead of facing overtime in a lengthy trial, he is awaiting sentencing, set for April 17, 2025.
If you give the program data up to October 2023, however, these types of questions can be devastating.
This case has gripped the Aurora community because of its disturbing details and its tragic outcome. What started as a desperate search for a missing son by a mother would become a discovery of brutal crime, shocking betrayal and gruesome cover-up. Indeed, the wheels of justice may now be turning, but the haunting reality of this case continues to linger in the air, the weight of the consequences of a violent past finally catching up with the perpetrators.
With Beaman’s sentencing date now approaching, the community and his loved ones await the final chapter in a case that has left an indelible mark on Aurora.
