$30K Reward Offered To Help Find Suspect Who Fatally Shot Young Dad While Camping
CALABASAS (CBSLA) -- A $30,000 reward was offered Wednesday for information leading to the suspect who killed a young father who was camping with his two daughters at Malibu Creek State Park.
Tristan Beaudette, 35, of Irvine was killed last month.
Detectives said they have no leads, no suspect and no motive.
Beaudette was shot in the head while he was in a tent with his children.
City and county leaders are hoping the offer of the reward money will help break the case.
There is no known connection between the murder and as many as nine other shooting incidents at the park over the past two years.
"It's really bizarre, really bizarre. Scary," said nearby resident Jon Lake.
Lake and many of his neighbors say they are concerned that a killer is still on the loose.
"My wife is probably the most relaxed person I know," Lake said, "and she's really nervous about this."
Lake believes all the shootings have some connection.
"I definitely think it's connected. It just seems too unreasonable for them not to be," Lake says.
Witnesses claimed to have have heard more shots this past Monday and Thursday.
"People heard shots and a scream," says CeCe Woods, publisher of a local Malibu paper.
"They told everybody to lock their windows and their doors," she says, "There was an active search. There were deputies who were pulled out of bed, called in for this search. that night on Thursday."
Investigators have released very little information about the case.
"Right after the murder," says Woods, "There was talks of a description that they were going to release and then all of a sudden they held back from releasing it."
The city of Malibu pledged $5,000 to the reward and the LA County of Supervisors added $10,000. The LA County Sheriff's added $15,000 more.
LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl spoke to KNX 1070 about the reward.
"I think this obviously is very serious," Kuehl said, "and they don't have enough information from the investigation, they haven't been able to turn out any likely suspects or sufficient evidence which is why they wanted to offer the reward."
Woods hopes the reward money will climb even higher to help catch the killer.
"There are residents there who hear and see everything," Woods said, "everything all the time."
L.A. County Sheriff's told Johnson they did a thorough investigation following the last report of shots fired but found no evidence.
