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Dustin L. Beechner of St. Joseph is charged with first-degree child abuse leading to the death of a child.

St. Joseph man charged in beating death of six year old girl makes court appearance

St. Joseph man charged in beating death of six year old girl makes court appearance

Dustin L. Beechner of St. Joseph is charged with first-degree child abuse leading to the death of a child.

The man charged in the beating death of a 6-year-old girl remained under suicide watch and made a video court appearance Wednesday morning from the Buchanan County Jail.

Dustin L. Beechner, 37, faces one count of child abuse resulting in death, a Class A felony that carries a maximum punishment of 30 years or life in prison.

St. Joseph police were called early in the morning of Sept. 2 to a residence at 3217½ Mitchell Ave., where a child later identified as Jozlyn Marie Beechner was found dead with blunt force trauma to the head.

According to the probable cause statement filed in Buchanan County Circuit Court, the girl was struck several times with an aluminum baseball bat. Police investigators wrote in the statement that Dustin Beechner led officers to the roof of the house, where the child’s body was covered in a white sheet. He identified the girl as his daughter and was taken into custody and charged.

The defendant appeared on video before Associate Circuit Judge Keith Marquart and Assistant Prosecutor Kristina Zeit, both of whom were in the courtroom.

Marquart ordered that Dustin Beechner remain jailed without bond, noting that he has two felony domestic assault convictions and was on probation on one of those past cases.

Dustin Beechner does not yet have an attorney but had plenty to say to the judge and prosecutor.

“I’ve been doing good for a year and a half in recovery,” he told the judge at the court hearing. “Some things have been going on in my life ...”

At that point, Marquart cut him off and told the defendant that the prosecuting attorney was in the room and that anything he said could be used against him in court.

The judge set a bond review hearing for Sept. 14, one day before what would have been the victim’s seventh birthday.

On Sept. 15 — what would be her seventh birthday — there will be a candlelight vigil held in her honor at the Remington Nature Center at 7:30 p.m.

Riley Funk can be reached at riley.funk@newspressnow.com.

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