Missing Baytown police officer found dead near his home
BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) -- Missing Baytown Police Officer John Stewart Beasley has been found dead near his home, according to the Baytown Police Department.
Beasley was last seen Thursday, Aug., 2 at 3:30 p.m. when he left his home in the Cove area. Tuesday morning, his body was located less than a mile from his home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and the hundreds of people that knew and loved Officer Beasley," the police department statement read in part,
"This is all too common in our business," said Lt. Steve Dorris with the Baytown Police Department. "The truth is, we may never know what led this to occur, but what we do know is, it's a tragedy. We lost a brother. We lost somebody we love."
Beasley, a 23-year veteran, was not currently involved in any major case investigations.
"A big portion of his career was working the streets of Baytown," Lt. Dorris said. "It's the unfortunate drip, drip, drip of stress and trauma and chaos that we, as law enforcement officers, deal with on a daily basis that sometimes takes its toll."
Beasley's son was the first to notice he was gone after arriving home at 4 p.m. Thursday and he was nowhere to be found.
Police were brought in after friends and family said they had not heard from Beasley, said Sheriff Hawthorne.
During a search, authorities located Beasley's cellphone in the woods behind the house. The battery and phone were separated, Hawthorne said.
On Tuesday, drones, helicopters and cadaver dogs were brought in to assist the search.
