Killer’s girlfriend sentenced to prison - Larry Basford

A woman who drove her boyfriend away from the scene of a murder – with her young daughter in the vehicle – and lied to authorities about it has been sentenced to 75 months in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Kim Marie Whaley, 43, of Southport, pled guilty Tuesday to Accessory After the Fact to Second-Degree Murder, Neglect of a Child, and Child Abuse. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson accepted the plea and sentence. Whaley was charged with helping her boyfriend, Jeremiah Beazley, flee the scene so he could dispose of the weapon after he shot and killed Bryan T. Anderson in the residence the three shared on March 31, 2021.

Upper left: The car the defendant used after the shooting. Bottom left: The residence where the shooting occurred. Bottom Right: Closer view of entry to residence. Center: Defendant Kim Marie Whaley.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet at Jeremiah Beazley’s trial

Beazley was found guilty of Second-Degree Murder with a Firearm and Felon in Possession of a Firearm after his July, 2023 trial. He was sentenced to Life in prison under Florida’s 10-20-Life Statute.

At Beazley’s trial, Prosecutor Peter Overstreet proved to jurors that Beazley was living in a Southport residence with Whaley and the victim, Anderson, at the time of the shooting. Jurors found that Beazley shot the victim twice in a bedroom during an argument. Whaley and her 7-year-old daughter were in the residence at the time.

Overstreet was prepared to call witnesses, including deputies from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office who handled the investigation, and present evidence proving Whaley helped the defendant afterward and ordered her daughter not to tell anyone what she had seen or heard.

The evidence would have shown that Whaley, with her 7-year-old daughter in the car, drove the armed defendant away from the home and dropped him off at a park. When sheriff’s deputies served a search warrant at the residence, they found evidence of open drug use and syringes, as well as unsanitary conditions.

Basford thanked the Sheriff’s Office and Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center for their work on the case that led to two successful prosecutions.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.