An acclaimed New Jersey singer was bludgeoned to death by her daughter in her New Jersey home while her other teenage daughter was in the house, police and a family member said.
Police in Willingboro Township found Kim Beacham-Hanson, 57, dead from multiple blunt injuries allegedly delivered by her daughter, 32-year-old Breanna Beacham, prosecutors claim.
Beacham-Hanson wrote and sang the 1992 dance hit “Trouble” for 111 East Records.
Police are still investigating a motive, but her grandmother said Beachman had a long history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, and had threatened family members with violence in the past.
“She wasn’t in her right mind,” Lorainne Beacham, 79, told The York Post.
She had called my daughter in the middle of the night one day last week talking really crazy,” Lorainne Beacham recalled.
She said another of the victim’s daughters, 17, was at the house when the attack occurred.
Beacham’s mental decline began around seven years ago, Lorainne Beacham said.
“She was back and forth in [mental health] facilities. She used to live with me and my sister, but she had to be removed by the police a couple of times because she’d start threatening out of the blue.”
Remixes of Beacham-Hanson’s song “Trouble” are still played on dance floors today, and the 57-year-old singer was still active in the club scene, often performing to raise money for charity, Lorraine Beacham said.
“She was so sweet and talented. Her brother, my son, had a major stroke in July and he’s in recovery now. I’m handicapped myself. She used to come pick us up and take us to the center and to doctor’s appointments. It’s just too much.”
Breanna Beacham also has a daughter, but she has been in the care of her sister.
She had distanced herself from her family, including her mother, who often didn’t know where she was living or where her money came from. “She had this problem, and you never knew what she was going to do.”
“Not in my wildest imagination did I think she would do this,” Lorainne Beacham said.
In addition to first-degree murder, Beacham was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, although police have not said what that weapon was.
