The Murder of Ernest Glenn Beight, December 1968

Ernest Glenn Beight was born on February 10, 1940 in Mahoning County, Ohio. He was living in Arizona by 1965. He married his second wife, Eloise, on July 17, 1968 in Imperial County, California. Together they had one daughter together. Ernest worked for American Linen Co at the time of his death. He and his wife lived at 2206 E 14th Place in Yuma, Yuma County, AZ.

Ernest, 28, was in California for an unstated reason on Saturday, December 14, 1968. One of his sisters lived in Napa at the time; it is possible that he had been visiting her. 

At about 12:30am on Sunday, December 15, 1968, Ernest asked a service station attendant in Los Angeles, LA County, CA for directions to Yuma, AZ. Police believe he had been hitchhiking at the time.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, at 12:45am, Ernest's body was found on the side of the southbound lane of the Harbor Freeway near the Slauson Ave on-ramp in Los Angeles. He had been shot in the abdomen and/or chest, with the bullet passing completely through his body. The caliber of the bullet — if one was found at the scene or in Ernest's clothing — was not stated by any sources. He had bled to death before his body was found. It is unknown if anything was stolen.

There is very little information available online regarding Ernest's murder. I could not find any newspaper reports about the killing past the initial reporting. Users on Ancestry and FindAGrave indicate that the crime was unsolved as of at least 2007. I found this case while looking through the latter website. 

Sources

FindAGrave

Long Beach Independent 12/16/68

Anaheim Bulletin 12/16/68 

Tucson Citizen 12/16/68 

Obituary in The Yuma Sun 12/19/68 

Note: While it is possible that there are more newspaper articles on Ernest's death available through the California Digital Newspaper Collection, the site is down at the time of writing; I will check back intermittently.