Sanger murder suspect does about-face on repeated confession

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- His murder confession aired on Action News, and DNA evidence points to him as the only suspect in a young girl's rape. But now a Sanger man claims innocence as he goes on trial.

Keith Beyer's defense is that he mistakenly believed he was guilty of murder, and the evidence actually proves he's innocent.

A sharp suit, glasses on his head, and obvious weight loss highlight the changes in Beyer's appearance since November 2012. Beyer has also changed his tune about what happened that month.

Before police found Sandra Beyer dead on her bed, Keith had called his grandmother and told her he killed his wife. He repeated the confession to a police officer after he was found in Shaver Lake.

"He stated 'You might not like me, but I killed my wife,'" said Fresno County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Pulkownik.

And a few days later, an Action News camera was there when he did it again.

"I took my wife's life, and I am accepting full responsibility of that but nothing less than the death penalty," Beyer said in a November 2012 court appearance. Prosecutor Robert Mangano played the ABC30 news video during opening statements in Beyer's trial.

Mangano says Beyer's crimes actually started hours earlier when he sexually attacked an 11-year-old girl.

"She kicks, she screams, she scratches, she bites," Mangano said. "The defendant takes out a gun and says 'If you struggle, I will kill you.'"

When Fresno County sheriff's deputies arrested Beyer, he had a bite mark on his chest, matching the girl's description. Prosecutors say DNA evidence also proves she was the victim of a sexual assault described by one nurse as the worst she's ever seen in a child.

But since his repeated admissions, Beyer has gone on the offensive on Facebook, denying the sex crimes and claiming he was delirious when he confessed. His defense attorney says the girl's statements are inconsistent, and Beyer's confession was just wrong.

"The cause of death does not match what Keith Beyer thought of at the time he was on TV at the time of arraignment," said defense attorney Roberto Dulce.

Beyer told investigators he choked his wife. His attorney says that's far different than how she really died -- strangled by a shoelace from Keith's steel-toed boot.

"This is the shoelace going around three times, and the knot, there are two knots on the right side of the neck," said Fresno County coroner's office forensic pathologist Dr. Venu Gopal as he demonstrated how the shoelaces were tied in a 14-inch circle around Sandra Beyer's 15-inch neck.

Beyer faces life in prison if he's convicted. The trial is only expected to last about a week.