Dixon man, 57, gets 20 years for raping 13-year-old

DIXON – A 57-year-old Dixon man who recorded his rape of a 13-year-old girl was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.

Bill Eugene “Billy” Beauchamp, who either forced or lured the girl into his vehicle and assaulted her on Aug. 19, 2022, pleaded guilty Dec. 11 to aggravated criminal sexual assault.

One additional count, plus two counts of producing images of sexual abuse of a child and four of criminal sexual assault, were dismissed per a plea agreement.

Beauchamp must serve 85% of his sentence, 17 years, before being eligible for parole. He was given credit for one year, 133 days served in Lee County jail, awaiting adjudication.

The child, who was known to Beauchamp, told her family and the attack was reported to Dixon police. Beauchamp was arrested at his home the next day and held on $1 million bond.

Beauchamp also was charged March 26, 2009 in Lee County with aggravated sexual abuse of a girl between ages 13 and 16; he was 42. As part of a plea agreement, that charge was dismissed and he pleaded guilty to aggravated battery on June 21, 2012.

He was sentenced to two years’ probation.

On June 13, 1985, when he was 18, Beauchamp was rushing to Sauk Valley Community College, running late to a GED class, when he ran a yield sign at Wolverine Road and struck a car at the intersection of Kilgore Road in western Lee County, killing driver Walter H. Smith and his passenger, Nayola J. Nelson.

He pleaded guilty on Oct. 25, 1985, to two counts of reckless homicide and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years’ probation, court records show.