Abstract Artist Dismembers Partner's Body, Hides Mangled Remains In Freezer

A man previously arrested in New Orleans after police found a headless dismembered torso of a woman has been charged for the murder of his missing partner on Friday, Jan. 14, after the mangled remains were positively identified to belong to his former girlfriend.

Benjamin Beale, also known as Kelley Kirkpatrick, has been charged with second-degree murder after the headless torso found in the bus in their backyard was positively identified in an autopsy to belong to missing person Julie Dardar, who lived with Beale recently, WGNO reported.

Beale had previously said that Dardar had moved out of their house and was struggling with a crippling meth addiction. He has denied knowing about Dardar’s whereabouts, but suspicion from police officers caused them to raid the house, according to a previous report.

Among the things found in Beale’s house were the headless torso and dismembered head of Dardar in a freezer inside a blue bus, dismembered hands, and feet, as well as a meth lab and other objects that could be linked to the murder of Dardar, NOLA reported.

Police officers were not able to charge Beale with Dardar’s murder immediately due to the fact that the dismembered body parts were not fully thawed until Friday. Among their observations in the autopsy was that Dardar was beaten and strangled before she was killed.

Dardar and Beale, who were both artistic people, met after the victim reportedly developed a methamphetamine addiction that caused a rift between her and her estranged husband Micah Dardar. Micah was the one who reported Julie missing to authorities in December 2021.

Micah and Julie Dardar have two daughters together, aged 13 and 17.

Julie Dardar moved into Beale’s house in 2021. At some point, both Dardar and Beale were in California to pick up a bus that was left to Beale by a dead friend. Dardar, who worked as a mechanic, helped fix it up before driving it back to New Orleans.

The bail set for Beale has been increased to $1.4 million after the new charges have been filed.