Crime & Safety

Wife, Lover Indicted for Murder of Peekskill Cab Driver

Beatrice Camper and her lover, John Murray, were indicted today for the murder of Camper's husband last month.

A Peekskill woman and her lover were indicted today for allegedly orchestrating the murder of her husband last month.

Beatrice Camper and John Murray, both 60,  were indicted on murder charges after police said they conspired to kill Terry Camper, a 53-year-old Peekskill man who worked off and on as  a cab driver. Peekskill police said the motive of the murder was to profit off of insurance policies that were taken out on Terry Camper’s life.

Police believe Murray lured Terry Camper to a location in the area of 118 Pine Street in Peekskill on Oct. 3, entered the back of Camper’s car and shot him in the back of the head with a handgun.

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“The allegations in this indictment would be trite if they weren’t tragic,” said  Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore. “An ongoing affair between a prison inmate and scheming wife, who together, conspired to kill her husband, collect the husband’s life insurance money and move on with their lives. The tragedy now is that an innocent man was murdered, and the defendants are facing the rest of their lives in prison.”

Terry Camper’s body was discovered after a U.S. postal worker saw him inside his grey, Mercury Marquis at about 2:15 p.m. and notified emergency service providers.

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First responders observed that Terry Camper had blood dripping from the left side of his head behind his ear, by his neck area. Camper was transported to the Hudson Valley Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead shortly after  3 p.m.

 Peekskill detectives interviewed Beatrice Camper on Oct. 4 and, based on information gathered from various sources, took Murray into custody at his Newburgh home later that day.

 Beatrice Camper  had met Murray while he was serving a prison sentence for two robbery/homicides he committed in 1977. Murray was out on parole at the time of the he allegedly murdered Terry Camper.

Murray was indicted on the counts of one counts of first-degree murder, second degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without parole.

Beatrice Camper was indicted on a count of second-degree murder. She faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

They are both currently being held in Westchester County Jail and are due back in county court on Dec. 18. 

Assistant District Attorneys Laura Murphy and Kerrie Williams of the Homicide Bureau are prosecuting the case.


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