Arrest made after man found fatally beaten in North Platte

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Police in west-central Nebraska have arrested a man suspected in the baseball bat beating death of another man in North Platte.

The attack happened Wednesday, when police were called to a North Platte apartment and found 23-year-old Geoffrey Allen severely beaten, the North Platte Telegraph reported. Allen was taken to a local hospital, then flown to a hospital in Denver, where he died Thursday.

The same day, police arrested Logan Divine, 20, of North Platte.

Police investigators said Divine attacked Allen at the apartment — punching and kicking Allen as well as pummeling him with a bat — then placed Allen in his car and then drove him to another residence, where he dropped Allen’s limp body over a fence and attacked him again with a second baseball bat.

Police said Divine then drove Allen back to the apartment, where he was seen trying to perform CPR on Allen inside the car. Divine then asked witnesses for help in moving Allen back into the apartment, police said.

Divine has been charged with first-degree murder and use of deadly weapon and faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted. He was being held Friday without bail.

Divine was already facing charges in a separate violent crime when he was charged in Allen's death. Court records show he is charged with being an accessory in connection with a shooting in late December. Divine is scheduled for a hearing Aug. 23 in that case.