Millionaire Daniel Beckwitt Guilty In Death Of Man Digging Bunker Tunnels

A Maryland millionaire was found guilty Wednesday night in the death of a worker who was digging tunnels for his underground bunker. Daniel Beckwitt, 27, faces up to 30 years in prison after a jury in Montgomery County ruled the man had acted in "extreme disregard for human life."

According to jurors, Beckwitt committed "depraved heart" second-degree murder in the death of Askia Khafra, 21, whom he had hired for excavation work. Khafra died during a fire in 2017 on Beckwitt's property, according to the Daily Beast. Prosecutors argued that while Beckwitt did not cause the fire, the “death-trap” conditions in his Bethesda home prevented Khafra from escaping in time to survive the flames.

“This is not an intentional murder,” Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres said in her closing arguments Tuesday. She also said Beckwitt was able to escape the home and call the police, adding: “This was a survivable fire.”

The 10-day trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court saw both sides trying to put their case forward, local media reported.

"This case is about an accident, an accident pure and simple," Beckwitt's attorney, Robert Bonsib, said. "An accident that involved the death of a fine a young man. An accident that occurred under circumstances that were completely unintended and unexpected by another fine young man."

According to reports, Beckwitt wanted to keep his bunker a secret because of which he did not hire professional excavators. Beckwitt had met Khafra online, and invested $5,000 in a startup financial venture the worker was trying to launch. In order to keep the project secret, Beckwitt would rent a car to pick Khafra up from his Silver Spring home and then drive to Manassas, Virginia, where Khafra would put on “darkened, black-out glasses” so he wouldn’t know where they were headed.

Hours before the fire, Khafra texted Beckwitt to warn him it smelled like smoke in the tunnels, court documents reveal. Beckwitt didn’t respond for more than six hours before telling Khafra there was a “major electrical failure.” The prosecutor said Beckwitt did not try to get Khafra out of the tunnels, but instead told him he “just switched it all over to another circuit.”

Beckwitt could face a maximum of 30 years in prison and his sentencing was scheduled for June 17.