Two charged in killing at homeless camp

The victim was Darren Alexander, 30, who wasn't homeless but was visiting the camp, police said.

The accused are Kevin Beasley, 43, who is charged with second-degree murder, and Steven Billum, 45, who is charged with second-degree assault. Both also are charged with tampering with evidence.

During a fight late Friday or early Saturday, Beasley hit Alexander in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, which broke in two, then put the broken bat in the fire pit, police say. Billum took out the red-hot bat and burned Alexander with it, police say.

The homeless camp is east of McCarrey Street, between Mountain View Drive and the Glenn Highway.

People living there told police that Alexander showed up and called Beasley a child molester, then started to pound on him. Alexander then dragged Beasley to a clearing north of the camp, one witness, Lance Hobson, told police. Police found a pool of blood in the clearing.

Billum initially told police that he heard the fight happening but went to bed. But his shoes were bloody. And Alexander's torso looked as if it had been kicked, police said.

Confronted with that, Billum told police he kicked Alexander in the torso and the face while Hobson pulled Alexander off Beasley, according to the charging document.

Beasley then grabbed his baseball bat and hit Alexander in the head, knocking him to the ground, the charges say. Beasley hit him again "this time with so much force that the baseball bat is broken in two," the charges said. He kept hitting him, then Hobson and Billum dragged Alexander back to the camp near the fire, the document says.

Everyone was angry, people told police. Beasley threw the bat into the fire and yelled for others to mess Alexander up, Billum eventually told detectives.

Billum grabbed the baseball bat from the fire and forced it into Alexander's flesh, police said. He could hear the man groan and smell the flesh burning.

The three men wrapped up Alexander in blankets. They went to a neighboring campsite to have a beer and discuss what to do with the body, police say.

Alexander died during the night, police say. No one called 911 until he was found dead Saturday morning, still wrapped in the blankets. One group walked to a nearby gas station to call. Another man said he charged his cell phone at the camp and called.

Beasley was injured in the fight and police took him to the hospital. By Sunday evening, he was in the medical unit of the Anchorage jail.

Police Lt. Dave Parker said it's unclear what the child abuse allegation was all about. It could have been a case of mistaken identify, Parker said. Beasley has no record of child sexual abuse, the police spokesman said.

It also wasn't clear Sunday if Alexander went to the camp specifically to hunt Beasley down, or whether he was there partying and spotted Beasley. There was lots of drinking at the homeless camp Friday night, Parker said.

This is the second killing in an Anchorage homeless camp in 15 months. Parker said the camps are plagued by violence including assaults and rapes. Police have been unable to shut down camps on public land because of a court case brought by the ACLU intended to protect homeless people's property rights. The homeless know that, and seem emboldened, Parker said.

Both Beasley and Billum have criminal records, as did Alexander. Billum has a 1994 felony conviction out of Valdez for first-degree assault, plus convictions years ago for drunken driving, shoplifting and property damage, among others, according to the charging document. But he hasn't been in trouble since 1998.

Beasley has convictions for drunken driving, misdemeanor assault, and disorderly conduct, among others.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.