Detectives clear ‘person of interest’ of involvement in 16 recent business burglaries

Dickson police say after interviewing a person of interest in a recent rash of burglaries they have cleared him of any involvement. Commander Eddie Breeden of the Dickson Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said detectives interviewed Michael J. Beem for about three hours and concluded that he was not involved in the 16 burglaries of Dickson businesses that occurred in the first six weeks of the year. While the investigation remains open, Breeden said right now there are no other persons of interest, suspects or leads other than a subject who was found dead in a Nashville parking lot. Breeden said Beem admitted knowing the deceased suspect and was able to identify him from surveillance video during a Feb. 10 burglary at Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant. Three other people also positively identified the subject in the video. The dead suspect’s name is not being released. Breeden said the suspect also closely matched the description of a man who smashed the door at The Open Hand coffee shop and was chased away by the owner. “We’re still looking at any possibilities,” Breeden said of whether other people might have been involved in the burglaries.