Teen charged in Craigslist slayings

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CALDWELL, Ohio, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- An Ohio youth suspected of killing at least two men who answered a Craigslist job ad was sent back to his cell Tuesday after a brief hearing in juvenile court.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Brogan Rafferty, 16, of Stow was to have had a hearing in Noble County Juvenile Court in Caldwell on whether he would be tried as an adult. However, the hearing was quickly continued until a yet-to-be-determined date after aggravated murder and complicity to aggravated murder were added to the juvenile counts lodged earlier, the newspaper said.

The Zanesville Times Recorder said the hearing was continued after a motion was filed to consolidate the cases against Rafferty.

"We're praying for the families and the victims," Rafferty's mother, Michelle Y. Rafferty, told reporters afterward.

The teenager is suspected in the shooting deaths of David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio.

Authorities had not yet linked him to the body of a third possible victim, a man found shot to death last week in Noble County whose identity has yet to be confirmed.

All three men had been shot in the head this month.

A second suspect, Richard J. Beasley, 52, of Akron, is accused of helping Rafferty try to kill a fourth man who was wounded in the arm while escaping his assailants. Beasley was being held in Summit County under $1 million bond on unrelated charges, the Dispatch said.

The online job ad offered $300 a week and a place to stay in return for working on a farm. The ad allegedly was a ploy to attract robbery victims.