Jeff Bedinger has been indicted on an aggravated murder charge in the July 8 shooting of 22-year-old Brandon Haskins. Police found Haskins sitting in a recliner with a laptop computer on his lap, a notebook beside him, and at least five empty bullet casings on the floor.
“It appeared he had been working on homework,” an officer wrote.
Police reports in the court file detail what led up to the shooting, including the Bedingers’ visit earlier that day to a marriage counselor, where Kim dashed Jeff’s hopes for a reconciliation.
The family had lived together in Dayton until June 5, when Kim moved to a Troy apartment.
After the counseling session, Jeff took the couple’s 7-year-old son, Zane, with him to the Dayton house to get a swimsuit, intending to take the boy swimming.
He also got a gun.
Jeff Bedinger told police that the counselor had said during the day’s session that he use to have all the power in the relationship, and now he had none.
Bedinger, however, said he thought to himself: “No, I still have the gun, and I can blow both of their heads off, so I can take the power back.”
Kim Bedinger told police that her husband had threatened to shoot her on four prior occasions.
She also told police that Jeff was under the illusion that they were getting back together, but she was ready to file for divorce.
Jeff told the counselor that he had given up and had nothing to live for.
He told police that he thought about killing Brandon during the drive home.
“That would really put the screws and pressure on Kim if I shot Brandon,” he said.
While Zane waited in the car, Jeff tested the gun at the house by firing a round into a basement wall, he said.
Ten minutes after Kim got to her home, Jeff arrived with Zane. Jeff told Zane to go to his room, then shot Brandon several times.
Kim told police that Jeff said he was angry with Brandon because he was texting while driving and because Brandon took Zane from the house the day Kim moved out.
Jeff told police that he realized at the counselor’s that Kim and he weren’t going to reconcile. He said he brought the gun to intimidate them, but when asked if he had ever thought about killing people, he replied: “Sure, thought about killing a lot of people.”
Jeff said he did not dislike Brandon, and that he was a good kid 95 percent of the time. He said the problem was Brandon would not listen to him. He also said Brandon was a drag on Kim’s resources, and therefore a drain on Zane’s resources.
He said shooting Brandon was an impulse.
After the shooting, Jeff called Zane out of the bedroom and Zane asked about the noise. Jeff would not let Zane look at Brandon and said that fireworks had been going off.
Jeff left with Zane and the family dog.
Jeff told police he contemplated killing his father in Indiana, but decided his father was not worth “a 39-cent Wal Mart bullet.”
He dropped his son off at a friend’s house in Indiana, then drove to West Virginia because he thought police would not be looking for him there, he said.
At night, he backed his car into a parking spot and took off his front license plate.
He said he returned to the Dayton area to drop off the dog, because Kim and Zane loved it. He said he intended to commit suicide afterward.
He was captured July 9 following a brief chase in Sugarcreek Twp.
Bedinger’s crime does not fit any of the death penalty specifications in Ohio law, according to Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal. But Bedinger brought up the possibility of execution during one of his police interviews, according to the records.
“If you can get me the death penalty in the next week, I’ll take it,” Bedinger reportedly said. “It was premeditated. I planned it the whole way there.”
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