Man's Death Probed 2 Weeks After Assault

On the last Saturday in August, Beasley McIvey called police to say his 37-year-old daughter had assaulted him in his Fort Washington home, court records show.

According to police charging documents, the daughter threw a nine-foot ladder at her father, then began striking him with a fishing rod. When officers arrived, they found Beasley McIvey with a two-inch laceration on his forehead and blood "all over his shirt," the documents say. They charged his daughter, Laurie McIvey, with second-degree assault.

On Monday, police were again called to the McIvey house in the 13400 block of Pendleton Street, this time because another relative of Beasley's had not been able to reach him in a few weeks. Officers found the 62-year-old man dead inside his house. Now they're exploring whether his death might be connected to the beating he took Aug. 29.

"At this point, it's a death investigation," said Officer Henry Tippett, a spokesman for the Prince George's County police. "They're actually just waiting for autopsy results to determine a cause."

Police confirmed the details of what happened in both incidents, but they declined to release the names of any of those involved -- even that of Laurie McIvey, Beasley McIvey's daughter, who has been in the county detention center since Aug. 29 on the assault charge. The Washington Post obtained the names using court records.

Maj. Andrew Ellis, the police department's top spokesman, said he could not release the woman's name because "she's also a suspect in a death investigation." He declined to release the father's name, too, because the investigation is ongoing.

It is unclear exactly what happened to Beasley McIvey in the weeks after his daughter was arrested, charged and detained. According to charging documents, the officers who arrested his daughter took pictures of Beasley's injuries. Fire department officials said that they responded about 4:20 p.m. that day with police and that the patient refused medical treatment.

Tippett said Beasley did not appear to be near death when officers left him.

"I don't think it was anything like that," he said.

Laurie McIvey, who lived with her father, has been undergoing a psychiatric evaluation while in the detention center. According to court records, she told a court commissioner that she was depressed and taking lithium, and at times during their conversation, she turned and spoke as if someone were beside her.

Laurie McIvey also told the commissioner that she believed her father or another man was raping her in her sleep, that her family was trying to induce her to kill herself and that members of a secret society were choking her every night, court records show.

Laurie McIvey twice acknowledged assaulting her father, court records show -- once to the detectives at the house and once to the district court commissioner. The court commissioner ordered her held without bail, and a judge upheld that order.

Efforts to reach Laurie McIvey's family members were unsuccessful, and a lawyer was not listed for her in court records.