Investigators: Shooting of Irvine father in Malibu Creek State Park not ‘gang-related,’ but details still sparse

A sheriff’s department commander said Sunday that the mysterious shooting death of an Irvine father at Malibu Creek State Park in June was not believed to be gang-related, and that the killing remained under investigation.

At a community meeting attended by dozens of local residents on state park land near the campground where 35-year-old Tristan Beaudette was shot to death, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Rodney Moore said investigators still have determined neither a suspect nor a motive in the killing.

He and other investigators at an auditorium at King Gillette Ranch said they needed help from tipsters to identify the suspect or suspects responsible for Beaudette’s death.

Lt. James Royal, a supervising detective at the sheriff’s Malibu/Lost Hills station, said he wanted anyone who sees something out of the ordinary in the area to call homicide investigators.

“I strongly encourage you to trust your instinct,” Royal said. “If you see something that doesn’t feel right, if you have a gut feeling, please trust it.”

Beaudette was killed early on the morning of June 22 while he was sleeping in a tent at the campground. A coroner’s office spokesman said the man died from a single gunshot wound to the head before sheriff’s investigators placed a security hold on any more information about his death.

Beaudette, a pharmaceutical company worker from Irvine, was camping with his two young daughters. Both of the girls were inside the tent with him when he was shot.

Sheriff’s investigators have so far refused to divulge much information about the killing. Both Moore and Royal on Sunday said revealing more information than they have so far could taint the investigation.

A lack of answers in the investigation led to confusion and rumors among locals, especially in Monte Nido, an affluent neighborhood just southeast of the entrance of Malibu Creek State Park where some residents have said they now fear using the park’s hiking trails.

Just as troubling for locals was the fact that after the man’s death, sheriff’s officials said they investigated six other reports of shootings or calls about possible gunfire occurring near the park going back to November 2016.

The first was on Nov. 3, 2016, when a man camping in a hammock in Tapia Park, a state park campground, was shot in the arm. On Nov. 9, 2016, someone shot once at a vehicle parked at a Malibu Creek State Park campground; one person sleeping inside was not injured.

Another vehicle parked at a campground in the area was shot on Jan. 7, 2017. The man and woman sleeping inside were not injured.

About six months passed, then a vehicle travelling on Malibu Canyon Road on June 8 was shot once. Again, no one was injured.

Royal said sheriff’s deputies investigated a report of gunfire on July 31, 2017, but they could not determine if any shots were fired.

Another vehicle was travelling on Malibu Canyon Road on June 18, 2018 and was shot with no one inside injured.

Four days later, Beaudette was killed. Royal said investigators so far have determined no links between the earlier shootings and the man’s death.

Since Beaudette’s death, sheriff’s deputies have responded to at least nine reports of gunfire in the area. Royal said all were investigated but that none could be confirmed as gunfire.

He said three reports were determined to be something other than gunfire — one of those shots-fired calls turned out to be a vehicle backfiring, while another was a transformer that exploded.

Yet another report came from a man who believed his rear windshield was shot out while he was driving. The explosion was determined to have been heat-related in an older model car, Royal said.

Still, Royal said investigators have not ruled out that any of those reports of gunfire were connected to Beaudette’s death, and he asked for residents to continue calling the Malibu/Lost Hills station.

Officials said rumors of Beaudette’s death being at the hands of gang members may have been spurred by the discovery of two bodies nearby in recent months.

On May 16, the body of an unidentified  man was found on Las Virgenes Road near the Malibu Hindu Temple. And on July 27, the body of another man was found in the 24000 block of Piuma Road.

Moore said both of the deaths appeared to be gang related, but neither could be linked to the killing of Beaudette. Investigators have not said whether the men were killed where they were found, or if their bodies were dumped at those locations.

“It’s true that we do not have a known theory or definitive answer in Mr. Beaudette’s death, or a known suspect,” Moore said. “However, we are working and moving in the direction of certain theories that do not include a gang-style homicide.”

A $30,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of a suspect in Beaudette’s killing remains in effect.

Royal said anyone with information about possible gunfire in the area should contact sheriff’s investigators at 323-890-5500.