February 2, 2022
WRESTLING SEASON ABOUT TO GET SERIOUS: District meet preview. SPORTS, Pages 15-16
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‘Classic domestic violence that escalated’ Bengü Beachley, killed Jan. 23, was denied protective order By Liam Bowman
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
Bengü Beachley, the Bealeton schoolteacher found fatally shot with her ex-husband, John Beachley, in an “apparent murder-suicide” Jan. 23, last year sought a protective order against him, citing a history of threatening and harassing behavior. But a judge denied the request in August 2021. The shooting came just six days after she was granted a divorce. Bengü Beachley was 38 years old. Bengü Beachley’s mother, Semra Metin, 63, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds in Sunday night’s shooting. On Jan. 26, as she was recovering at INOVA Fairfax Hospital, she recalled the shooting to the Fauquier Times through a Turkish-language interpreter. She said that her former son-inlaw had a history of threatening behavior that eventually escalated to
COURTESY PHOTO
Semra Metin, with her daughter, Bengü Beachley the shooting. Metin, who lives in Istanbul but frequently visits her daughter in Virginia, said she and her daughter were out at a movie theater on Jan. 23. When they returned home and backed the car into the garage on Hancock Street, John Beachley was waiting for them. He then “pulled a gun out and said something to Bengü,” Metin recalled, at which point “Bengü turned to [Metin], asked for the phone, because she thought that he was just going to scare them again … and he just started shooting.” See BEACHLEY, page 4
FAUQUIER TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ROBIN EARL
More than 200 people attended a vigil for Bengü Beachley in the Mintbrook subdivision in Bealeton Jan. 26.
Community remembers beloved teacher By Liam Bowman
Piedmont Journalism Foundation
On a frigid Wednesday evening, just three days after Bengü Beachley was shot to death in her Bealeton home Jan. 23, more than 200 people gathered around a community gazebo near the schoolteacher’s house
to hold a vigil in her memory. The crowd, which included Beachley’s neighbors, friends, students and fellow teachers, lit candles, sang and shared memories of the woman who had touched their lives. See VIGIL, page 4
Republicans line up to challenge Wexton By Coy Ferrell
Fauquier Times Staff Writer
The Supreme Court of Virginia signed off on redistricting maps maps Dec. 10. Since then, 10 people have announced or confirmed their intention to seek the Republican Party nomination this year for the newly reconfigured 10th Congressional District; an additional GOP candidate has already
dropped out. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Leesburg) currently holds the seat, although she is being challenged for her party’s nomination. (See accompanying box.) The 10th District Republican Committee will hold a party-run “firehouse primary” on Saturday, May 21, the committee announced last week. Republicans held a convention in Winchester to select their 10th District
nominee in 2020. In 2018, the district committee opted for an open primary election. The 10th District now includes all of Loudoun, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, most of Prince William County and a small portion of Fairfax County. The district formerly See 10TH DISTRICT, page 8
U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Leesburg)
Fauquier Community Theatre presents “Shoah.” Page 18. 9.44x2
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