Inset: Lemar Beasley (Putnam County Sheriff”s Office). Background: Dollar General in Crescent City, Florida (Google Maps).

Lemar Beasley has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 36-year-old Cheyenne Kastens, according to a statement from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook.

Deputies reported that both Beasley and Kastens were present at the Dollar General in Crescent City on Friday afternoon. However, there was no indication that they interacted inside the store or that they knew each other prior to the incident. Kastens was near her vehicle when Beasley allegedly approached and repeatedly stabbed her.

Police officers responded quickly to the scene, administering CPR until paramedics arrived and transported Kastens to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Following the attack, Beasley fled, prompting a 24-hour search by law enforcement. Detectives eventually identified Beasley as the suspect and apprehended him at a camper located on Huntington Shortcut Road, roughly seven miles from the Dollar General.

Cops arrived to the scene and performed CPR until paramedics rushed her to the hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead. Beasley fled after the attack, setting off a 24-hour manhunt, deputies said. Detectives identified Beasley as the suspect and arrested him in the camper where he was living on a property on Huntington Shortcut Road, about 7 miles away from the Dollar General.

A knife that was possibly used in the attack was recovered. Beasley has an “extensive criminal history” dating back some three decades. He also is a registered sex offender and was just released from prison in July after serving for failing to register as a sex offender.

“Our prayers and deepest condolences are to the family and friends of Cheyenne Kastens,” Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said in a statement. “While I cannot take away their pain and sorrow while grieving the loss of a loved one, my promise to her family and our south Putnam community is that we will do everything to make sure this refuse of human garbage spends the rest of his life confined in a cell away from society and dies in prison. There is no reason for someone to lose their life for just going about their day.”

Beasley is in the Putnam County Jail without bond.