A Bellevue man with a history of abusing his longtime girlfriend has been found guilty of her murder following a bench trial in Sarpy County District Court.
Judge Stefanie Martinez on Tuesday found Alan Stack, 57, guilty of second-degree murder in the slaying of Beverly Diane Bauermeister. He faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 14.
Stack also was found guilty of using a weapon, a blunt instrument, to kill Bauermeister. He faces one to 50 years in prison on that charge.
Martinez found Stack not guilty of abuse of a vulnerable adult in connection with the death of Bauermeister’s 90-year-old, bedridden mother, Beverly Bauermeister. The mother languished for days with her daughter’s body nearby until family stopped by and discovered the gruesome scene on Nov. 16, 2017, prosecutors said.
The mother was taken to a hospital, and authorities thought she might survive. She took a turn for the worse, however, and died Nov. 28.
Authorities said at the time that Bauermeister and her mother were in the home for a week before family members found them.
Their home was at the Washington Terrace mobile home park at 3101 Washington St., just east of Offutt Air Force Base.
In 2010, the younger Bauermeister, who went by her middle name, applied for a protection order against Stack. She wrote that Stack entered her bedroom ranting and yelling at her. She said he then sucker-punched her in the back of her head and hit her in the stomach, arms and legs. She said officers took photos of bruises and told her to take more in the following days because more bruising would become visible.
Stack and Bauermeister were recovering alcoholics, said Donna Livingston, a neighbor. Bauermeister had been sober for several months before she was slain, she said.
“She was doing really well,” Livingston said.
She said Stack had gone to a detox facility, but his continued alcohol abuse may have led to problems between the two.
“They argued a lot,” she said. “She told me that she wanted to get rid of him. She was tired of supporting him.”
Bauermeister’s family has described her as a warm and loving woman.
Katarina Bauermeister, a niece, has previously described her aunt as an energetic woman who made everybody in the family laugh.
“I want everyone to know how selfless and amazing my aunt was,” she said. “She’s not just another homicide victim. She’s an aunt, a sister, a mother and a grandmother.”
World-Herald staff writer Kevin Cole contributed to this report.
