photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Officers secure the scene of a homicide investigation on Feb. 22, 2024, at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence.

Updated at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22

The body of a 51-year-old woman who had apparently been stabbed was found in a tent in an unsanctioned camp near the city-supported homeless site in North Lawrence, Lawrence police said Thursday morning.

Police said the woman, later identified as Crystal White, of Lawrence, was found around 4:30 a.m., and her death is being investigated as a homicide. She was found with apparent stab wounds in a tent near 100 Maple St.

At approximately 9 a.m., police located a person of interest in Burcham Park. According to Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman George Diepenbrock, sheriff’s personnel were in the area of Burcham Park assisting police, and a deputy observed someone matching the description of a person of interest. Deputies and police took the person into custody.

Investigators are speaking with witnesses, and the person of interest has been brought to police headquarters for questioning, police said.

photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Julius Beasley

The Douglas County Jail booking log indicates that a 40-year-old man, Julius Robert Beasley, was arrested at Burcham Park shortly before 9 a.m. Beasley was arrested on suspicion of a parole violation and failure to appear for a municipal court violation. According to Kansas Department of Corrections records, Beasley has a history of multiple drug convictions, burglary and criminal threat, and he reportedly had absconded from his post-release supervision on Sunday after being released from prison on Feb. 9 in Douglas County. He was previously an inmate at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.

The Journal-World asked police if Beasley was simply a person of interest or a suspect in the case, but police did not reply. The Journal-World asked whether investigators believed others were involved and/or were still at large, but police declined to answer. They also declined to say how they were alerted to the death.

A mother of 8 who struggled

Before police released White’s name Thursday afternoon, the Journal-World spoke to Melissa White-Gustafson, who said White was her sister. White-Gustafson said that she had planned to call Crystal on Thursday to wish her a happy birthday but never got the chance.

“She was an amazing person who did not deserve this,” White-Gustafson said.

White-Gustafson, who lives in California, said the call came to her around 3 a.m. from her cousin, who told her that Crystal had been stabbed to death. She said Crystal was a mother of eight children and was born in the San Francisco Bay area. Crystal grew up in California, but she came to Kansas around 2008 to be closer to her mother and sister.

White-Gustafson said that she last spoke with Crystal in October and that Crystal at times struggled with mental health issues and would block people out of her life. She said that despite those struggles, Crystal cared deeply for her family.

“We truly loved each other,” White-Gustafson said.

Crystal loved music and would use it to soothe herself in times of trouble, White-Gustafson said, and the tragedies in her life were frequent. She said that her and Crystal’s father died recently and that the family and Crystal both were still processing the loss.

White-Gustafson said that she has been getting information from her family in Kansas and that she is aware that the police have arrested someone in connection with the incident but she did not know if they were a suspect or just a person of interest.

“She meant the world to us. She meant the world,” White-Gustafson said.

One of many deaths

White’s death is among half a dozen deaths of homeless people in less than two years in Lawrence, which has seen explosive growth in its unhoused population.

On Jan. 9, a 31-year-old woman, Samantha Boyles, was found dead in a tent near Sandra J. Shaw Park in north-central Lawrence along with a dog that was also deceased. Police said that no signs of foul play had been found, but that officers reported a strong odor of propane near the tent.

In October 2023, a 71-year-old man, Eric Rundquist, was found unresponsive in a tent in Centennial Park. He died of hypothermia, according to an autopsy report.

In July 2023, the body of David Blaine Sullivan, 62, who had been homeless off and on, was found in the bushes on the northwest corner of the intersection of Sixth and Vermont streets, across the bridge from North Lawrence. Authorities said he had been bludgeoned to death, and they arrested Chadwick Elliott Potter, 34, who is now facing one count of second-degree murder, as the Journal-World has reported.

On March 21, 2023, Ashley Sawyer, 36, died at the city-supported site from a mixture of drugs and alcohol, including fentanyl use, according to her autopsy report, as the Journal-World reported.

A 26-year-old man, Anthony Cipollaro, was found dead at an unsanctioned camp less than 100 yards north of the city-run camp on Dec. 30, 2022. According to his autopsy report, Cipollaro died of a combination of fentanyl, methamphetamine and kratom intoxication.

A 53-year-old woman, Susan Ford, was found dead in her tent on Nov. 21, 2022, at the same city-supported site as Sawyer. Her autopsy report said that she had multiple prescription drugs and methamphetamine in her system and exhibited signs consistent with alcoholic ketoacidosis, a complication of alcohol abuse.

Lawrence’s homeless population in 2023 increased more than four times faster than the national rate, according to a federal report, and the city has expended considerable time and resources in trying to address the crisis — though not to the satisfaction of more than 20 plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit claiming that the city has created a “vagrancy crisis” by allowing city laws, including those prohibiting illegal camping, to be “violated with impunity.”

The city is on the verge of opening a village of 50 Pallet shelters in northern Lawrence — a project that, at one time, was supposed to have opened before the cold weather set in but that had experienced delays due in part to difficulty in finding an operator. The village, which is still not open, will prioritize vulnerable groups including veterans, the elderly, women without children emerging from domestic violence situations and individuals with disabilities who require specialized support and care.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Officers secure the scene of a homicide investigation on Feb. 22, 2024, at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Officers secure the scene of a homicide investigation on Feb. 22, 2024, at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Two officers secure the scene of a homicide investigation on Feb. 22, 2024, at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Investigators on the scene of a homicide investigation on Feb. 22, 2024, near 100 Maple St. in Lawrence.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Police were investigating at an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence after a woman’s body was found with apparent stab wounds Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Police taped off an unsanctioned homeless camp in North Lawrence after a woman’s body was found with apparent stab wounds Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.