Can of Busch beer gives key clue in cold case murder arrest
NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A can of Busch beer provided the key clue in the arrest of a 1990 murder in North Palm Beach.
Mark Steven Gribbin, 57, is accused of killing 68-year-old Leo Beauregard in June 29, 1990. Police found Beauregard's body in a chair with a deep stab wound to his neck.
Investigators also found a can of beer on the table next to his body. Blood covered the table, but not the can. It told investigators who ever placed the can there put it down after Beauregard had been stabbed.
According to the arrest report, police found a notebook with hand-written notes on several dates. The note on June 26 read "Mark birthday." Another note read "Mark, Phoenix House," and included an address in Michigan and the number 179-237.
The case went cold until North Palm Beach Police formed a cold case investigation squad in 2018 to look at old cases. Detectives submitted the can of Busch beer for DNA testing. Authorities, according to the report, found a match for Mark Gribbin in Michigan.
Police said Gribbin, inmate 179-237, left a state prison facility called the Phoenix House on parole in 1990, and had his parole transferred to West Palm Beach on June 1, 1990. The inmate number, Gribbin's date of birth of June 26, 1963, and the reference to the prison facility, all matched the notes found in the murder victim's home.
Gribbin moved to Ohio. Investigators traveled to his home to collect a DNA sample. According to the arrest report, Gribbin denied ever knowing the murder victim or being in his home, but did provide a DNA sample to investigators. It matched the evidence found on the beer can.
”I always wondered what happened. You know it’s been a long time ago, a real long time ago and nobody ever had any information," said Sandi Berkenfeld, North Palm Beach resident.
Berkenfeld, condo association president at Paradise Harbour, has lived here for 26 years. She is glad to learn that police have made an arrest in the murder of a man who lived here—in unit 502—back in June 1990.
“I think it’s great that we have that kind of technology that they can go back so many years and find the person. It certainly makes me feel safer," she said.
Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan, now a defense attorney, says DNA technology has come a long way.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment for local law enforcement," said Kaplan. “Now with the advancement of technology, they’re able to now extract even the smallest of a DNA that may have been left behind," he continued.
Gribbin is being held on a charge of second-degree murder. There’s no clear motive for the killing though the two clearly knew each other. The killer’s birthday was noted on a calendar in the victim’s apartment.
Gribbin appeared in court on Thursday morning.
