Suspect, 17, pleads guilty in beating death of Randle teen

Seventeen-year-old Benito S. Marquez pleaded guilty Friday in Lewis County Superior Court to the beating death of a Randle teen.

Marquez and his brother Jonathon R. Adamson, 21, were accused of beating Benjamin Eastman III, 16, to death on June 24, 2018.

The two sides agreed on a recommended sentence of more than 34 years. Because Marquez was 16 at the time of the crime, he can petition for release after 20 years, said Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer.

A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.

Adamson was also scheduled to plead guilty Friday under a plea agreement but his hearing was stricken after Adamson indicated he didn’t want to go through with it. A trial is set for August.

Eastman was reported missing June 27. His body was found the next day in a shallow grave on property owned by the brothers’ relatives.

According to investigators, Adamson and Marquez admitted to planning an assault on Eastman. They lured him to a wooded area, beat him for 20 to 45 minutes and raped him with a stick.

Adamson’s fiancee, Emma Brown, and the brothers’ mother, Kindra Adamson, were charged with rendering assistance to a criminal after authorities say they withheld information in the investigating into Eastman’s disappearance.

Kindra Adamson pleaded guilty in August, while Brown was scheduled to plead guilty Monday.

This story was originally published February 25, 2019 at 5:31 PM.