Monday, March 15, 2010
Murder Indictment Returned Against Clifton Couple
Indictments have been returned against a Clifton couple accused of murdering their young grandson’s mother.
Steven Ray and Sylvia Beersdorf were arrested in January, days after they reported their son’s fiancé, twenty-one-year-old Rose Goggins, had disappeared while en route to an EMT class in Lawrenceburg. Goggins and her eleven-month-old son resided with the Beersdorfs at their Beech Creek home. The boy’s father, Steven Beersdorf, Jr., was stationed at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
Remains were located on the property belonging to the Beersdorfs in early February. The remains were reportedly scattered about a ten-foot area, situated approximately 250 yards behind a two-story log cabin on the couple’s 1099 Swinging Bridge Road property, between Waynesboro and Clifton.
Authorities indicate that teams with the Federal Bureau of Investigation sifted through layers of dirt to recover the flesh and small bone fragments from what they called a burn circle. Experts with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab utilized DNA from Goggins’ young son to make the identification.
Officials indicate that after hearing preliminary evidence in the case, a Wayne County Grand Jury opted to return indictments against both Beersdorfs. Each is charged with one count of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The couple currently remains jailed, awaiting trial.
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