Rauda
The man accused of killing a father who was camping with his two young daughters at Malibu Creek State Park in 2018 has been found guilty of murder.
A jury on Fri., May 26 found Anthony Rauda, 46, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Tristan Beaudette, an Orange County man who was shot as he slept in a tent with his two young daughters in Malibu Creek State Park on June 22, 2018.
He was found not guilty of the more serious charge of first-degree, premeditated murder but was convicted of a firearms charge associated with the murder.
Rauda was also convicted on two counts of second-degree attempted murder for firing into the tent where Beaudette’s daughters, then 2 and 4 years old, slept beside their father.
Rauda was apprehended on Oct. 10, 2018, after a manhunt with a scent dog led police into the hills surrounding the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center. He was living at an improvised campsite.
He faced eight additional charges of attempted murder for various shootings in and around the area of the park, dating back to 2016, but was convicted of only one: an incident in which a Tesla traveling on Malibu Canyon Road was hit by a bullet just days before Beaudette’s killing.
Rauda was found not guilty on the other attempted murder counts.
Rauda was also charged with five counts of second-degree commercial burglary for break-ins in the area, including at the Agoura Hills/Calabasas community center and a wastewater treatment plant, from which food was stolen. He was found guilty on all five counts.
“I think the jury was careful and detail-oriented in their analysis, in their deliberations.,” Rauda’s lawyer, Nick Okorocha, told The Acorn.
Asked what made the difference between the verdicts for first- and second-degree murder, Okorocha said the testimony at trial did not point to the shooter’s having had knowledge of any specific occupants of the tent whom he intended to kill.
“Out of five shots that appear to have been fired, the direction three were fired in isn’t even known,” Okorocha said. “Of the two that hit the tent, one hit very low, one hit very high. It was speculative to argue that the shooter was targeting the tent specifically.”
Sentencing is set for June 7.
After Beaudette’s death, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies in the region confirmed that they were aware of multiple unsolved cases of gunfire in the canyon.
Beaudette’s widow, Erica Wu, later sued park officials and the sheriff for not making the public aware of Rauda’s alleged two-year crime spree, which she said might have warned her husband about the danger of the campground and prevented his death. A judge rejected her suit.