MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR STABBING-MURDER OF WIFE IN SANTA ANA APARTMENT

Case # 17CF2332

Date: September 20, 2017

MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR STABBING-MURDER OF WIFE IN SANTA ANA APARTMENT

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man is scheduled to be arraigned today for the stabbing-murder of his wife in a Santa Ana apartment.

Defendant

Charges

Maximum Sentence

Court Date

Mark Lewis Amacher Jr., 38, Santa Ana

Charged today with:

  • One felony count of murder
  • One misdemeanor count of disobeying a court order

Sentencing Enhancement

  • Personal use of a knife
  • Prior felony conviction for vandalism in 2016

27 years to life in state prison

Arraignment

Sept. 20, 2017, time to be determined

Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana

Circumstances of the Case

  • On Sept. 18, 2017, at approximately 2:45 a.m., Amacher is accused of stabbing his wife, 58-year-old Carrie Beckett, multiple times in the chest in the living room of a Santa Ana apartment.
  • The defendant is accused of violating a restraining order by being in contact with the victim.
  • Amacher is accused of calling an acquaintance, who called 911.
  • The Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) responded and located the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of multiple stab wounds.
  • SAPD arrested Amacher at the scene. The defendant’s acquaintance was arrested for an unrelated warrant.

Prosecutor: Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney, Homicide Unit