Suspect Awaits Arraignment in Slaying of Employer’s Wife

A construction worker suspected of killing the wife of his Newport Beach employer remained in custody Wednesday on charges that he shot Bonnie Jean Hood at a remote mountain lodge that her family owns near Sequoia National Forest.

Bruce Edward Beauchamp, 30, who was arrested without incident Saturday at his Fontana home, made a brief appearance Tuesday in Visalia Municipal Court, where he stands accused of murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. His arraignment was postponed until Monday.

Beauchamp is suspected of shooting Hood and a caretaker inside her cabin at Camp Nelson Lodge, a small resort she was renovating about 35 miles east of Porterville in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Both were shot in the head with a pistol about 3:20 a.m. on Aug. 19, shortly after they closed the lodge’s bar for the night.

Hood, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene. Rudy Manuel, 35, survived the attack and provided authorities with a description of the suspect.

Lt. Dave Williams, a spokesman for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, said robbery might be a motive, although nothing was taken from the lodge or Hood’s cabin, where she kept $300.

At the time of his arrest, Beauchamp was a maintenance foreman at Mission Plaza, a shopping center in Fontana owned by a business partnership that includes Hood’s husband, real estate developer James N. Hood of Newport Beach.

Authorities said Beauchamp was originally hired two years ago during the construction phase of the complex and stayed on as a maintenance supervisor.

Williams declined to elaborate on the status of the investigation or the possibility that others might be involved in the attack.

Authorities said Beauchamp became a key suspect Friday when the FBI identified a fingerprint lifted at the scene of the shooting. He was implicated further, deputies said, when Manuel identified him as the gunman.

At 5-foot-9 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds and having a mustache and red medium-length hair, Beauchamp also fits the description of a stranger that townspeople said they saw around Camp Nelson in the two weeks before the shootings. Beauchamp is being held without bail in Tulare County Jail.