Naman Shrestha
When 16-year-old Cassie Jo Stoddart was found murdered in her uncle and aunt’s home where she had been housesitting, the detectives took a look at the events that took place on the day of her demise. When they learned that she had a few friends come over, including her then-boyfriend Matt Beckham, the police were quick to suspect him at first. NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Secret in Black Rock Canyon’ covers the gruesome murder of Cassie, giving us a detailed account of the day of the murder and the investigation that followed, with the help of interviews with the victim’s loved ones and officials directly involved in the case.
Who is Matt Beckham?
At the time of the murder of Cassie Stoddart, teenager Matt Beckham led a rather regular life, living with his mother, Sherry Beckham, and younger sister in an apartment complex in the northern region of Pocatello, Idaho. Dealing with addiction, his father had just returned to the house after spending a significant amount of time in rehab. He went to Pocatello High School in Pocatello, Idaho, with Cassie. When her body was found, the police suspected Matt of being involved as he was the last person to see her alive on the night of September 22, 2006. During his interrogation, Matt informed the detectives that he arrived around 6 pm on the fateful night to give Cassie company.
He added that the couple was accompanied by a couple of classmates from their high school — Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik. Recounting the events of the night from his perspective, Matt told the investigators that after getting a house tour of the house, all four teenagers sat in the living room and watched ‘Kill Bill: Volume II.’ However, before the movie ended, Brian and Torey left the house to watch another movie at the theater instead, leaving behind Matt and Cassie all alone in the house. Soon, there was a sudden power outage for a while, which left Cassie quite scared and uneasy.
He even claimed that he saw one of the dogs in the house staring down the basement stairs, barking and growling at short intervals. Wanting to be there for his girlfriend, Matt called up his mother and requested to spend the night with Cassie to keep her company. Unfortunately, his request was denied. However, she told him that he could instead bring her over to their house and let her stay for the night. But Cassie respectfully declined Matt’s mother’s offer as she believed that she took the responsibility to stay at her uncle and aunt’s house and take care of their pets. Later that night, around 10:30 pm or 11:30 pm, Matt bid goodnight to Cassie and left the house with his mother, who had come to pick him up.
Afterward, he also reportedly called Torey to know about his and Brian’s whereabouts, but Torey was speaking in a low voice on the phone. Barely able to hear what he was saying, Matt assumed that they must be in the movie theater. The detectives even conducted a polygraph test on Matt, who passed it without any complications whatsoever. As there were more developments in the investigation, it was found that the two classmates, Brian and Torey, had returned to the basement of Cassie’s uncle and aunt’s house and stayed there until they got the right opportunity to stab her to death.
Matt Beckham Now Prefers a Life of Privacy
While the immediate suspicion fell on Matt Beckham as he was the boyfriend of Cassie Stoddart and the last person to see her alive, he was more than eager to help out with the investigation, which he did by providing them with an accurate timeline of the night when she was brutally killed. He claimed that he even repeatedly called her the next morning, on September 23, 2006, to check up on her, but she never picked up. As proof, he even showed his phone records to the authorities.
Since his timeline, alibi, and phone records proved to be true, the investigators lifted their suspicions from him as they were confident that he was in no way involved in the murder of Cassie. Ever since her death, he probably carries a guilt in his heart that he could have done something different that night and convinced her to come to his place or convinced his mother to stay over with her. As of today, he chooses to keep his life private and away from the prying eyes of the media. We hope that he is leading a peaceful life with his loved ones while keeping good health.
Read More: Where is Cassie Stoddart’s Family Now?
