Indiana family's killings may be tried as capital case

Lewis Paul Beatty slit the throats of his two young daughters with a hunting knife before buying a soft drink at a convenience store and attempting to change information on a bank account, state police said on Monday.

The Indiana County man then staked out Marion Center Bank, waiting for his estranged wife, Christine Beatty, 33, to leave work, troopers said.

The pair spoke briefly at her rented home on Pfeiffer Road in East Mahoning before the situation turned deadly, state police Trooper John Matchik said at a news conference.

"When she attempted to leave, he brutally attacked her (and cut her throat with a kitchen knife)," Matchik said.

Beatty, 40, is accused of setting fire to Christine Beatty's home before returning to torch his own home on Morrow Road in South Mahoning, where the body of Sara, 6, lay in a bunk bed. The body of Amanda, 11, lay in the living room.

Police said Beatty killed Sara and then shot and killed a pet pony, goat and dog in a fenced-in area while waiting for Amanda to come home on Friday night.

Indiana County District Attorney Pat Dougherty said that he will consider seeking the death penalty against Beatty. Beatty became trapped inside the Morrow Road home after setting it on fire.

"I just killed the girls," he told a neighbor who rescued him, according to a criminal complaint.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and retrieved the girls' bodies, unaware of what had happened, Matchik said.

Beatty told police that he earlier set a fire at the home of his estranged wife, the complaint states. Her body was found in the doorway.

All three victims bled to death, Coroner Michael Baker said.

Beatty was treated at Indiana Regional Medical Center before he was questioned by state police. He admitted that he killed his family, the complaint states.

He is being held without bond in the Indiana County Jail on three counts of homicide.

"I'm not sure too many people have dealt with a situation like this," Dougherty said. "I know we were all pretty shaken Friday night. It was very sad, something that'll be in my head for a long, long time."

Christine and Lewis Beatty were separated and had a verbal custody agreement, Matchik said. Sara was Lewis Beatty's biological daughter. He had adopted Amanda, who was Christine's biological daughter, police said.

The Beattys married in May 2005 and purchased the Morrow Road home in 2007, records show.

"Mr. Beatty and Mrs. Beatty were having marital problems and a divorce was pending," Matchik said.

Christine Beatty's father told the Tribune-Review that Lewis Beatty had a temper, but had never physically harmed his wife or daughters. Her family and friends begged her for years to leave him, Ron Smail said.

Amanda was in fifth grade and Sara in kindergarten in the Marion Center Area School District. Lewis Beatty worked as a steelworker at a foundry.