Man charged in vicious Arizona, Las Vegas attacks
In a cautionary tale for online daters, a man already in the Clark County Detention Center on an Arizona murder warrant alleging that he killed an ex-girlfriend has been indicted in Las Vegas in the attempted murder of another.
In a Clark County Grand Jury indictment unsealed Friday, Wade Mitchell Ridley, 53, faces several counts in the stabbing and beating of Mary Ann Beckman outside her Las Vegas home Jan. 21. The pair dated briefly after meeting through the match.com online dating site, according to court papers.
Beckman’s daughter told police about her mother’s relationship with Ridley, saying “he was not happy with the breakup.”
Prosecutor Michael Staudaher told District Judge Linda Bell that Ridley has been charged with attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon and other counts. The deputy district attorney said Ridley told police he hid in Beckman’s garage, armed with a knife, until she came home.
When the woman arrived, she was talking to her current boyfriend on her cell phone, authorities said. He heard her scream before the call was cut off.
“When she got close he knocked her down and stabbed her repeatedly,” said Staudaher. “He didn’t stop stabbing her until the knife broke.”
Staudaher told the judge that Ridley “continued stomping on her head and neck until she stopped making the gurgling noise.”
Ridley, said Staudaher, later told police he “wanted to see her die,”
The Clark County grand jury returned the indictment after hearing evidence of the brutal attack and from a neighbor who reported seeing Ridley bend down and take something from the prone Beckman, 49, before he fled.
Citing concern for Beckman’s safety, Bell set bail at $1 million.
Ridley is charged with attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, possession of a deadly weapon, battery constituting domestic violence with use of a deadly weapon resulting in bodily harm, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and robbery with use of a deadly weapon.
Beckman survived; Anne Simenson did not.
Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said Simenson, 62, was stabbed with a butcher knife and a machete inside her home in early February. Arizona authorities allege Ridley robbed and killed her. He was driving Simenson’s red 2005 Toyota Solara when he was arrested in Las Vegas on Feb. 14.
Arizona authorities say Ridley also has said he used a knife to rob a Phoenix pharmacy of painkillers on the afternoon of Simenson’s murder.
Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.