Shooting victim remembered as a good person with a soft heart

By Joelyn Hansen

Daily Sun staff writer

The last time Michelle Roe of Beatrice talked to her friend Connie Eacret was Friday night.

So when Roe learned about the death of Eacret 24 hours later, it was a complete shock, she said.

Eacret, 49, was shot early Saturday morning at her home, 1322 Ella St., in Beatrice. She was flown to BryanLGH Medical Center West in Lincoln, where she was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon.

Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Fox Funeral Home.

Richard Allen Griswold, 43, is currently being held without bond at the Gage County Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony in connection with the shooting, according to the Beatrice Police Department.

Formal charges have not been filed yet. He is scheduled to appear in Gage County Court on Dec. 3.

No further details into the case have been released.

Roe, who knew Eacret for the past three years and had been helping care for Eacret’s disabled brother, first learned about the shooting when another friend contacted her after seeing Eacret’s house on the news.

A visit to Eacret’s house and a call to the police department Saturday evening confirmed Eacret was dead, she said.

Eacret will be missed, particularly by Roe’s husband, James, who considered her a sister, Roe said.

Many of the people who knew her or worked with her saw her as friendly and outgoing and an overall good person with a soft heart, Roe said.

“When she made friends, it was a very special bond,” she said.

Eacret was also a private person too, Roe said.

The death of Eacret comes seven years after the last homicide in Beatrice.

On Nov. 8, 2000, the body of runaway Sheila Van Natter was found under a minimum maintenance bridge northwest of Filley, according to The Daily Sun archives.

Van Natter, a 17-year-old who was under the alias Julie Olsen, was a runaway from the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Geneva. She ran away from the facility in May 2000, and lived in Beatrice under the name Julie Olsen until her death.

Through testimony and investigation, it was determined that Van Natter was murdered by ligature strangulation in the basement of the house at 911 N. Sixth St. in Beatrice, according to records.

Several people were sentenced for their involvement in the homicide of Van Natter, including Aaron L. Chapman who was charged with manslaughter, a Class III felony, on Nov. 7, 2001. He was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for 20 years.