Thursday: Chaska teen denies being home when mom killed

Three of the four people charged Wednesday in Nancy Everson's murder relented and admitted making up an alibi, but her son stuck to his denial and said he wasn't there when she was shot in the head by one of his friends, authorities said.

Murder charges filed against Grant Everson, 20, of Chaska say he stood next to his friend Joel M. Beckrich as Beckrich shot Everson's mother with a family shotgun in their home before dawn Sunday.

Carver County Attorney Mike Fahey said Everson contended he was at his friend's Burnsville townhouse when his mother was killed. He and his three friends are accused of plotting a murder-for-inheritance scheme that was foiled when his father escaped out a window.

Everson appeared almost lighthearted in a packed Chaska courtroom as Judge Philip Kanning asked whether he had read the charges.

"I read them once, but I'd like to read them over a few times," answered Everson, who had no attorney.

Fahey said the other defendants were "taking it hard."

Everson, Beckrich and Christopher D. Fuhrman, all 20 and 2003 Chaska High School graduates, face charges that include conspiring to commit and aiding premeditated murder and the attempted murder of Tom Everson. The charges allege Everson and Beckrich each said they couldn't pull the trigger before Beckrich shot Nancy Everson as she lunged at him in a hall.

Mike Gulden, 17, was charged with aiding offenders after a murder and helping them avoid arrest. Prosecutors sought to have him tried as an adult. Gulden and Fuhrman knew of the plot but didn't go to the Everson home, charges said.

Everson was held on $1 million bail and the others without bail until hearings in the next week.

More than one of the suspects told police the four smoked marijuana the night of the killing, but "they clearly knew what they were doing," Fahey said.

Tom Everson, speaking to reporters after the hearing, said, "The depth of the darkness of this tragedy is a tsunami-like wave of pain."

Choking back emotion, he added: "I want to thank Nancy for loving us."

Nicole Everson, 23, sitting by her father, added: "My mother's whole being and soul were about love and not hate. We need to carry that and look past the hate that could engulf us all and instead see the beauty of a magnificent woman and her life."

Fahey said Beckrich and Fuhrman told police they hoped to get $10,000 to $20,000 from life insurance once Grant's parents were dead and use that money to start a coffee shop in Amsterdam, where they could sell marijuana without legal consequence.

Grant Everson had "some pent-up hostilities because his life was not going anywhere" and his parents had talked to him about that, Fahey said.

Attorneys and family members defended the other three.

Joel Beckrich "is an innocent young man," a confirmed Catholic with good moral values and an honor-roll student, his father, Matt Beckrich, said after the hearing.

Jeff Fuhrman said his son Chris was dragged into the incident because he lived at the Burnsville townhouse where the others hung out.

Gulden's attorney, Steven Meshbesher, said his client had nothing to do with the crime and didn't understand what the others were apparently planning.

After graduating high school, Beckrich enrolled at the University of Minnesota-Duluth the next fall. But according to UMD records, he withdrew almost as soon as classes began. He again enrolled in the spring of 2004 but again quickly withdrew, the records show.

Yet, when Beckrich applied for an internship with Scott County, he

"said something about studying computer science during his one year at UMD," said county human resources director Jack Kemme. Fuhrman also worked for the county at the same time, Kemme said.

They were hired to help upgrade computer desktops, including Kemme's, he said. "Technically, they were very good," Kemme said.

"It's hard to believe that either of them could be associated with anything like" Everson's death, he said.

Tom Everson, 59, faced a tough choice after awakening early Sunday to hear his wife swearing at their son down the hall. Then came two shotgun blasts and silence.

Everson figured she was dead and sprang out of bed to grab a handgun in the bedroom closet, family spokesman Marsh Halberg told reporters.

Everson, a Vietnam War combat veteran, shut the closet door and soon heard movements in the bedroom, Halberg said.

"He thought he would be killed in the closet," Halberg said. "He had to decide if he would take his son's life or not. He chose to leave."

Halberg said Everson felt guilty for escaping and said that if his wife had screamed or yelled for help he would've gone to her aid. Everson made the right decision, Halberg said: He avoided the loss of another life, will be a witness to counter the suspects' alibi, and kept one parent alive for his other child, Nicole.

Everson told Halberg he suspected that his wife, after being surprised by Grant and another man with a shotgun, drew them away from the bedroom to give her husband time to wake up and defend himself.

"It is his belief that her actions may very well have saved his life," Halberg said.

Staff writer Paul Levy contributed to this report.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658