Bellevue murder goes to grand jury

Bellevue murder suspect Clifford W. Beach likely will be indicted one week from today.

"We're looking to present something the eighth of September to the grand jury," Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler said Tuesday.

Bellevue City Prosecutor Thomas Aigler presented three witnesses during Tuesday's preliminary hearing in Bellevue Municipal Court. In addition to two Bellevue police officers who took the stand, the woman who came to Beach's house Aug. 16 to transport him to a medical appointment also testified.

"He had a full preliminary hearing," Leffler said.

After hearing the evidence Tuesday, Judge Kenneth Fox ruled there was probable cause that Beach killed his wife and had the case transferred to Huron County Common Pleas Court for a possible grand jury indictment. The grand jurors next meet Sept. 8.

The woman called 9-1-1 after Beach told her he had killed his wife and she should make the emergency call. Authorities have said the suspect told an officer he attacked his wife about 7 p.m. Aug. 15.

Linda S. Beach, 63, died of various head injuries. She also sustained fractures to her face, head and legs and multiple lacerations. Huron County Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Harwood has said the victim appeared to have some defensive wounds on her hands when police found her dead in a recliner in the living room.

Agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI&I) arrived at the Beach house about noon April 16. They processed the crime scene for nearly five hours. BCI&I agents seized the suspect's bloody clothes, shoes and some garage tools as evidence.

"He bludgeoned her to death. ... He used some garage tools he had," Detective Capt. Matt Johnson said earlier. "It was a pretty brutal scene."

Clifford Beach, 79, remains in custody at the Huron County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond on a murder charge.

Beach's defense attorney, Reese Wineman, couldn't be reached for comment.

Beach's half-brother, Bill Sinkus, of Port Clinton, earlier said Beach was "argumentative" and "very hot-headed." Sinkus also said Beach and his wife argued and had "been fighting ever since they got married" 30 to 32 years ago.