‘I knew it was him,’ says friend of Palm Springs murder victim about man’s arrest
A friend of Jaylynn Amanda Keith, who was found dead in a Palm Springs apartment back in March, speaks about the arrest of Keith’s boyfriend Wednesday murder in connection with her death.
Palm Springs police detectives arrested 34-year-old James Beushausen in Texas Wednesday afternoon in connection with the shooting death of 27-year-old Jaylynn Amanda Keith in their Palm Springs apartment back in March.
Read: Palm Springs murder suspect arrested
“The moment I found out she had been shot, I knew it was him. There was no doubt in my mind, ever, ever,” said Judy Johnson, Keith’s former coworker and friend.
Johnson said she remembers the moments leading up to Keith’s death.
“The night before this happened, she put on Facebook, something about pray for me and she doesn’t normally post stuff like that. So I texted her and asked what’s wrong? She replied to me and said ‘he’s drinking and using again, and I’m just done,'” Johnson said.
Johnson said Keith and Beushausen had been dating for more than 5 years.
According to Johnson, Keith told her Beaushausen was recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, when he relapsed, Keith tried to leave him.
“He had said to her a few times that if she ever left him, he’d kill himself. and with a mindset like that, it’s not a very far jump from, ‘I’m going to kill myself, to I’m going to take you out,'” Johnson said.
Beaushausen called police on the morning of March 15, he said he found Keith in their bathroom with a gunshot wound to her head. He told police Keith had committed suicide, but police ruled the death suspicious.
“We had several different stories that he provided and the evidence at the scene just didn’t add up how he had claimed, one of those being it was a suicide. It didn’t look like a suicide, so based on the totality of the situation our investigators believed it could be a murder investigation,” said Sgt, William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs Police Department.
Neighbors said they never saw Beaushausen again.
“It seemed a little suspicious we never heard anything about it and someone you see on a now and then basis totally disappears from your life and you don’t know why. Then you wonder, did something happen? Was it a suicide,” said Bruce Cudd, who lived in the apartment complex.
After months of investigating, police obtained an arrest warrant for Beaushasuen and arrested him in McAllen, Texas.
“Now, her memory’s been cleared up and she can be free. She was an absolutely beautiful person inside and out..and everyone loved her,” Johnson said.
Beushausen has been booked into the McAllen Police Department city jail on one count of murder and two counts of possession of an assault rifle. His bail is set at $1 million dollars.
Police said he’ll be sent back to California to face the charges in the near future.