Beridon is guilty of murder
By Terry Murry on Friday, April 14th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
HERMISTON – Keith Michael Beridon, 28, has been convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jesus Eli Lopez, 21, of Hermiston in 2020. Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus said it took the jury about two hours to return the verdict. Beridon will serve a life sentence but will become eligible to apply for parole after 25 years has passed.
Lopez’s body was found in the family garage on June 9, 2020. Primus said the support of the young man’s family was deeply appreciated as the case wound its way through the legal system.
He credited all of the investigators for their tenaciousness in finding the suspect when they began with few clues.
“For 21 days it sat there,” he said. “Their determination to continue made all the difference.”
Cell phone data provided the information that moved the investigation forward, ultimately revealing Beridon, who lived in La Grande at the time of the murder, as a suspect. He was in custody at that time in California and was extradited to Oregon in July 2021, where he was held without bail until his trial.
The district attorney praised the Hermiston Police Department, the Umatilla-Morrow Major Crimes Team, the Oregon State Police Crime Lab and all other law enforcement in the region that worked the case so hard.
“It was good, old-fashioned, police work,” Primus said.
