Well, even though I’m the worst blogger in the short history of bloggers I thought I’d try to get in here and post something.‬

After writing a story about the Naples Daily News staff’s coverage of the investigation into the violent murder of a mother and her five children, I’ve been following the case of Mesac Damas, husband and father of the victims and the man charged with their deaths.‬‪

In 2009, Stephen Beardsley, with camera rolling, simply asked Damas if he killed his wife and children. Surprisingly, Damas answered, “Yes, I did.” The confession was recorded as Damas was being extradited from Haiti, where he had fled after allegedly committing the crimes. Beardsley had followed the story to the island with fellow Daily News staffer, photographer  Lexey Swall.‬‪

Beardsley won a first place award for breaking news video in the 2010 Florida Society of News Editors journalism competition. The Naples staff won first place for online breaking news for its coverage of the Damas tragedy. Swall also won first place for a non-deadline video for an unrelated story.‬‪

You can read the background of how Beardsley obtained the confession from Damas here: http://escrippsnews.scrippsnet.com/articles/399-suspected-murderer-makes-confession-to-naples-pair (Apologies, my embedded links aren’t working today.) The Naples Daily News continues coverage of Damas’s case at naplesnews.com/damas.