JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Danny Ray Beard, the ex-fiance of slain Navy Chief Petty Officer Andrea Washington, 37, has pleaded guilty to her murder. Washington, also a mother of three, was shot and killed in 2018.
He has not been sentenced yet but as part of a plea deal, he will serve between 25 and 30 years.
Beard had abused Washington in the past. She filed a protection order against him on Sept. 6, 2018 -- 11 days before she was killed. The day she was found dead, Beard appeared in court to defend the restraining order. It was dismissed because Washington was absent; she was already dead at the time.
Two weeks before her death, on Sept. 2, 2018, Washington reported a violent assault. She told police Beard broke down doors, smashed her iPad, kicked her in the stomach and held a gun to her head.
Beard was never arrested or charged in the alleged aggravated assault. He was never interviewed or contacted by police or prosecutors.
“I wished they would’ve pressed charges on you the first time you beat her up, ‘cause she’d still be alive,” Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Homicide Detective M.P. Gibson told Beard during a Dec. 7, 2018 interrogation. “They were still trying to get evidence … That is what they were waiting on, and it came too late.”