Man pleads guilty to Willoughby murder

Man pleads guilty to aggravated murder, burglary from 2018

Herbert Beard said it wasn’t his intention to kill Sam Pizzuto when he struck him multiple times with the baseball bat, including in the back of the head.

Pizzuto was found dead by Willoughby police in his Arlington Drive home July 9, 2018, a day before his 59th birthday and eight days after he was murdered.

Beard, 24, pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to aggravated murder and second-degree felony burglary.

“What did you think was going to happen to this guy when you hit him in the head with a

baseball bat?” Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge John P. O’Donnell asked Beard.

Beard said he thought Pizzuto would still be unconscious and still be alive when he left the house.

O’Donnell said that Pizzuto’s teeth were knocked out and that he had multiple skull fractures.

“Did it ever dawn on you that when you hit somebody in the head with a baseball bat three times — or (however) many times it was — that it could kill somebody,” O’Donnell asked.

“No sir,” Beard replied. Beard along with his co-defendant and girlfriend Miriah Provitt had lived with Pizzuto in his Arlington Drive home for a few weeks prior to the murder. The couple did not have a fixed address and relied on family and friends for places to stay, Assistant Prosecutor Rocco DiPierro Jr. said July 25 when the 26-year-old Provitt pleaded guilty to complicity to murder and second-degree felony burglary.

Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Lisa Neroda said Aug. 13 Provitt’s cousin had a five-year relationship with Pizzuto and asked him if Provitt, Beard and her children could stay with him for a few days while they found a more permanent place to live.

A few days turned into a few weeks and on June 28, 2018, they were asked to leave. Beard, Provitt and her children left the following day, but they still had some items left at Pizzuto’s home.

Prosecutors allege that on the same day they left Pizzuto’s home, Beard began advertising that he had a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan and title for sale for $600. Pizzuto owned the vehicle. DiPierro described the minivan as Pizzuto’s “pride and joy.”

“He used to take care of that car, fix it with his own two hands and never let anybody drive it,” DiPierro said.

DiPierro said text message records indicate that Provitt had stolen the title, but they didn’t have the keys.

Prosecutors allege the couple used the fact that they still had items in Pizzuto’s home as an excuse to return.

Beard told O’Donnell that it was Provitt’s idea to steal the van.

“Miriah asked me to go back to steal the van,” he said. “She wanted to steal the van, period, to get some money because she didn’t want to be alone, she didn’t want to go to the shelter by herself.”

O’Donnell asked Beard why he hit him with the bat. Beard said he didn’t want Pizzuto chasing them when they stole the keys. Beard said he didn’t know Pizzuto was dead or unconscious.

“I just knew he was still in there,” he said.

Beard said Provitt found the keys and they left the home. Prosecutors said they sold the car for $440 to a buyer at a gas station on the east side of Cleveland later that day.

The buyer drove them to the bus station where the couple and Provitt’s kids took a bus to Columbus. Beard and Provitt were arrested July 12, 2018 in Columbus following a police investigation.

Neroda said the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking life in prison with the possibility of parole in 38 years for Beard. Defense attorney Cory Hinton is asking for a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years.

Beard’s maximum possible sentence is life in prison without the possibility of parole plus eight years.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20. Provitt is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 26.

Beard Jr.