Politics & Government

Man Accused of Killing Fiancee Implies Demonic Possession

He killed his fiancée after he "let (his) friend come completely in," he says.

A man accused of raping and killing his fiancée implied he was demonically possessed, according to evidence presented in court today.

Mickey David Beauchamp Wagstaff, 27, of Pala, allegedly fatally stabbed musician and former Calvary Chapel Bible College student Elizabeth “Bipsy” Kellenbarger Amirian in a van in Feb. 2009 in the parking garage at the Promenade mall.

To read about how the crime allegedly happened,

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Audio and video recordings of Wagstaff’s interrogation sessions conducted by investigators were played for a jury today at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley. 

During one of the sessions, an investigator asked Wagstaff what happened just before he started stabbing Amirian, and he said, “I let my friend come completely in.”

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During another video recorded session, Wagstaff asked for a break from the interrogation and staring blankly at a wall.

“What are you staring at? What are you seeing?” the investigator asked him.

“I’m here,” he said quietly, his eyes gazing away from the interrogator.

He appeared to be talking to an invisible presence, said defense attorney Renee Rupp during a break from the proceedings.

“He definitely seems to be seeing something, enough for the investigator to ask what he’s looking at,” she said.

The couple was planning to get married the following March and were living in their van to save money, he said in the recordings.

On the day of the killing, Wagstaff asked Amirian to have sex with him, though she refused – possibly because he punched her in the head the day before, he said in the recordings.

After he raped her, a sheriff’s sergeant tapped on the van door. “My heart burned,” he said. “My heart filled with terror.”

He then grabbed a hunting knife and stabbed her more 36 times, according to prosecutor Jennifer Garcia.

Wagstaff did not understand what he was doing, Rupp told a jury on Tuesday. 


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