Tustin : Jury Finds Man Guilty in ’81 Murder of Woman

A Tustin man was convicted Thursday of murder in the 1981 death of an 18-year-old Carson woman whose body has never been found.

Relatives of Tracy Lee Stewart wept as the six-man, six-woman jury in Los Angeles Superior Court declared Robert Wayne Beckett Jr. guilty of killing her on Aug. 9, 1981.

Beckett, 28, wearing jeans and cowboy boots and shackled at the feet, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. But he laughed and joked with bailiffs as he was led out of the courtroom.

Sentencing has been delayed pending a probation report, which is due Aug. 31. He could be sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.

In December, 1988, Beckett and his father, Robert Beckett Sr., were charged with the woman’s murder. But after the son backed out of an agreement to testify against his father, Beckett Sr. was released, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dale Davidson said.

Beckett Jr. was the last person seen with Stewart, when he picked her up at her Carson residence for a date and drove to his father’s Torrance-area home. His arrest came after his conviction in 1985 for felonious assault on a woman friend in Colorado, for which he served two years there. While in prison, Beckett talked to authorities about a murder in Carson, and detectives eventually were able to connect him with Stewart’s disappearance, according to law enforcement authorities.

Stewart telephoned her parents on the day of the murder to tell them that she was on a date with someone named Robbie, authorities said. She was never seen again.