photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Kansas Department of Corrections

A mugshot of Julius Beasley is pictured with a photograph taken from the scene of Crystal White's death on Feb 22, 2024, near the 100 block of Maple Street in North Lawrence.

Updated at 10:49 a.m. Monday, March 18

Additional details surrounding a stabbing death at a homeless camp in North Lawrence will not be available anytime soon, because not only was the arrest affidavit in the case sealed, but the motion requesting the secrecy was also sealed.

Julius Robert Beasley, 40, of Lawrence, has been charged in Douglas County District Court with one count of first-degree murder and one felony count of interference with law enforcement.

The charge is in connection with the death of Crystal Marie White, 51, of Lawrence, around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 22 at an unsanctioned camp near the 100 block of Maple Street in North Lawrence. Beasley was arrested a few hours after White was found dead from apparent stab wounds, as the Journal-World reported.

An arrest affidavit for Beasley would provide additional details about White’s death and why police believed there was probable cause to arrest Beasley, but that affidavit was sealed this week. The next opportunity for the public to learn more about the incident would be at a preliminary hearing where a judge would determine whether probable cause exists to order Beasley to stand trial, but that hearing, which Beasley could waive, has not yet been scheduled.

The judge in the case is Douglas County District Judge Stacey Donovan.

The affidavit was sealed after a motion to seal was filed by either the defense attorney, Branden Smith, or by the state, represented by Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden, but the motion itself was filed under seal — meaning that not only are the alleged circumstances of the homicide now secret, but the reasoning behind keeping them secret is also a secret.

Arrest affidavits are generally available for public inspection unless the court finds good reason to seal the document; in that case, the reasoning behind sealing the document is usually available via the motion to seal or in the seal order itself. Typical reasons for sealing include that making the information available could reveal confidential investigative techniques or that it could jeopardize the well-being of a victim, but the order to seal in this case did not include any reason for sealing.

Judges can also order that affidavits be redacted to conceal sensitive information rather than making the document wholly unavailable to the public, but that more transparent measure was not used in this case.

White’s sister, Melissa White-Gustafson, told the Journal-World Friday that she has not received any new information about the case since she returned home to California and that she has “no clue” why the information would be sealed. The Journal-World has reached out to White’s other sister, Angelina Cruz, of Lawrence, for comment but has yet to receive a response.

What public records are available show that Beasley had been in and out of custody throughout 2023, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. He completed a sentence in February 2023 for a combination of convictions in Douglas County. He pleaded no contest to one count of felony criminal threat, reduced from attempted robbery, in March of 2022, that also resolved two matters that he was on probation for at the time and dismissed a pending case for possession of a firearm, theft and interference with law enforcement.

The cases Beasley was on probation for at that time included a conviction for attempted burglary in 2019 that was reduced by plea agreement from aggravated burglary of a dwelling and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of criminal use of a firearm by a felon, and a conviction for felony burglary in 2018, according to court records.

He went into Kansas Department of Corrections custody in May 2022 and spent part of his time in the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and received two disciplinary reports for fighting and for entering a restricted area while there in July of 2022. He was released back into Douglas County on post-release supervision in February 2023 but absconded in April 2023, according to KDOC records.

He was arrested by Douglas County sheriff’s deputies in August of 2023 and released but then arrested again in September 2023 and sent back to KDOC. He again was sent to Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility and received two additional minor disciplinary reports. Beasley has additional felony convictions for drug possession in Wyandotte County in 2004, according to KDOC records.

He was released again in Douglas County on post-release supervision on Feb. 9, 2024. He absconded from that supervision on Feb. 19 before being arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder on Feb 22. He is being held at the Douglas County jail on a $500,000 bond and is next scheduled to appear in court on May 7 for a status conference.

Editor’s note: A previous update to this story incorrectly stated that the arrest affidavit had been unsealed. The motion to seal the affidavit was briefly unsealed Friday and then resealed following what was described to the Journal-World as a clerical error in the court clerk’s office.