What happened to Richard ‘Beebo’ Russell between Alaska and Washington

A great kid, a wonderful friend, a hard worker, and a class clown. That’s how friends and loved ones are describing Richard “Beebo” Russell, the Horizon Air worker who stole a turboprop airplane from Sea-Tac Airport Friday night, and flew over Puget Sound doing barrel rolls before crashing it on Ketron Island.

The 28-year-old grew up in Alaska, where he was a standout football player, wrestler and member of the track team at Wasilla High School. Former coach Gary Howell tells Anchorage’s KTVA he can’t believe this is the same Beebo he knew.

“I’m really at a loss for words about what to say … now that I kind of know what happened, I’m at a loss for words, and I … it just doesn’t even make sense,” he said, noting that Beebo was a great kid who always stayed out of trouble.

“Beebo was an outstanding young man, just the all-American kid … everybody wants to coach, everybody wants to be around,” he said.

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Howell told the Anchorage Daily News that Beebo had an energy and that “he was that kid you high-five in the hallway even if you don’t know him.” He said the kid he knew could never have done this, and other coaches at Wasilla High School echoed that.

So what could have happened between 2008 and this past Friday night when Beebo took that plane for a final flight.

He left Alaska after graduation in 2008, and attended college in North Dakota for at least one year. By 2010, he was in Coos Bay, Oregon where he met his wife while the two attended a Campus Crusade for Christ at Southwestern Oregon Community College. The couple married within a year and opened a bakery in North Bend — Hannah Marie’s Artisan Breads and Pastries, which they owned for three years before moving to Washington to be closer to family.

In a 2012 interview with Coos Bay newspaper “The World” highlighting their bakery, the couple talked about having different personalities. She was detail oriented and a slight perfectionist, while Beebo was more laid back and outgoing.

In 2015, the couple moved to Washington and Beebo took a job at Horizon Air as a ground service agent working at Sea-Tac. It was a job he seemed to be happy with in a video blog he posted on YouTube in December. In the video and he talks about the cool things he gets to do because of his job, like flying to all Alaska Air destinations, and shows pictures of all the cool places he’s been too, like France, Ireland, and Mexico. But most important were his trips back home to Alaska.

Beebo wrote in 2017 on a blog for a college communications course:

Hey all! My names Richard Russell, I’m 27 and currently living in Sumner, WA with my incredible wife … I was born in Key West, Florida, and moved to Wasilla, Alaska when I was 7. I met (my wife) in Coos Bay, Oregon in 2010 while we were both going to school. We were married one year later, and one month after that we opened a bakery which we successfully ran for 3 years. We decided to sell and move in 2015, because we were both so far removed from our families.

Failing to convince (my wife) of Alaska’s greatness, we settled on Sumner because of its close proximity to her family. I, meanwhile, obtained a job working for Horizon Airlines (partnered with Alaska Airlines) so I’m able to fly to Alaska at my leisure. In this season of life we enjoy exploring as much as possible, whether its a day (or so) trip to one of Alaska Airline’s destinations, or visiting a new area of Washington. We consider ourselves bakery connoisseurs and have to try a new one every place we go. Once I earn my Bachelors in Social Sciences I will either seek a management position where I’m at now, or possibly join the military as an officer. With this blog I hope to showcase all that I’ve learned in Ms. Newman’s Communications 210 class.

A former co-worker and friend believes an exchange between Beebo and air traffic control Friday night could shed light on why he did what he did.

“Ah minimum wage…we’ll chalk it up to that, maybe that’ll grease some gears a little bit with the higher ups,” Beebo said to the air traffic controller.

Former Horizon co-worker, and friend, Robert Reeves explained to KIRO 7, Beebo was one of the hardest working people he’d ever met at Horizon, where Reeves says they were overworked and underpaid.

“As the years go by and they are expecting more and more and more out of you,” Reeves said. “You could be at the end of your shift but they still want you to go work another flight … he was one of the hardest working people I met at Horizon.”

Reeves says he last spoke to Beebo a couple of months ago.

“I could see his financial problems and his future was causing him a lot of stress internally that he was keeping to himself,” Reeves said.

Alaska Airlines did not return calls for comment on the claims of poor pay and working conditions.

Beebo’s family were clearly shocked by what happened. They have not spoken in person, but issued a statement that was read by family friend Mike Matthews over the weekend: “It may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe but Beebo was a warm, compassionate man. He was a faithful husband, a loving son and a good friend.”

Matthews spoke about how a childhood friend of Beebo’s described him as being loved by everyone because he was kind and gentle to everyone he met.

“This is a complete shock to us,” Matthews said. “We are devastated by these events and Jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now … without him we would be hopeless. As the voice recordings show Beebo’s intent was not to harm anyone. He was right in saying that there are so many people who have loved him.”

He went on to thank investigators, and Alaska Airlines for their resources and ask for prayers and privacy as the family tries to process their grief.

Beebo’s Facebook page has now been removed, but in the initial hours after the incident there were hundreds of comments, with some painting him as somewhat of a folk hero, calling him the “Sky King” and praising him for that barrel roll, and others speaking about their own battles with depression and thoughts of suicide.

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