Wife’s Lover Jailed for Life for Murder of Peekskill Cab Driver
A Newburgh man was sentenced to life in prison without parole earlier this week for murdering a well-known cab driver and the husband of his lover in 2012 on Pine Street in Peekskill.
John Murray, 62, who has already served more than 30 years behind bars for other violent crimes, received his punishment on September 30 after a jury found him guilty in April of first-degree murder in the death of Terrance Camper, 53, who police said was unaware his wife, Beatrice, 62, was involved with Murray.
“This conviction and sentencing reflects the third separate and unrelated murder that this defendant has committed during his lifetime. He has spent virtually his whole adult life in prison,” said Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore. “By his past actions and his actions in this case, John Murray has shown that this punishment must be permanent and he should be removed from society for the rest of his life. The sentence handed down by the Court…will now hold him accountable for his behavior.”
Beatrice Camper, a resident of Brown Street in Peekskill, who on the night of her husband’s murder appeared on television and called him her soul mate, had taken out two “sizeable” life insurance policies on Terrance a few months before the crime listing her as the beneficiary. She pled guilty on February 20, 2014 to one count of murder in the second degree and was sentenced in June to 15 years to life in prison.
Police said Murray and Beatrice began an “intimate relationship” while Murray was in jail awaiting parole two murders he committed in 1977. Murray had lured Terrance Camper to Pine Street on October 3, 2012 in the early afternoon by calling him for a cab ride. Murray then shot Camper in the head twice with a small caliber handgun.
A postal worker observed Camper’s Mercury Marquis parked a few blocks from Peekskill High School in the wrong direction and the driver was not moving. She called 911 and on arrival first responders immediately recognized Camper, a longstanding member of the community who once owned a taxi company but before his death worked independently driving local children to school and area veterans to appointments.
Camper had blood dripping from the left side of his head behind his ear by his neck and was taken to Hudson Valley Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
