Neighbors of the Linthicum suspect charged with killing his father said he was a troubled man.
“He would pace back and forth in the front yard, and nobody around here made eye contact with him,” said Douglas Franks, 53, who lives across the street.
“My wife always said he would do something. I guess he just snapped.”
Police charged John Scott Bealefeld, 42, with first- and second-degree murder after he allegedly beat his 76-year-old father, Maurice John Bealefeld, to death in the home they shared Saturday morning.
In April, the elder Bealefeld filed a petition for an emergency psychological evaluation of his son; it is still pending. The father filed domestic violence and reckless endangerment charges against his son in December, court records show. The younger Bealefeld received probation before judgment in the domestic violence case.
Neighbors said John Bealefeld was in and out of trouble.
“He allegedly stopped taking his medication and was drinking at the time of the murder,” said Conrad Bladey, 54, who lives next door.
“He always looked sinister,” he said.
“The tragedy is that no one did anything. I should have called somebody about it.”
The elder Bealefeld, who spent his days grooming his roses, was involved in an ongoing feud with the Bladey family over plants crossing his property line and the appearance of their unusually decorated cars, which Bladey describes as his artwork.
Bladey said Maurice Bealefeld, a widower, frequently seemed angry. “Anyone living in that house with him had to be under severe stress,” he added.
