UAPD Investigator Dies After Battle With Rare Cancer

Investigator Justin Beal of the University of Alabama Police Department has died after a years-long battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. He was a former Tuscaloosa Police Department officer.

His wife has chronicled his cancer battle on a still-active GoFundMe and said he died Wednesday after battling adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer first diagnosed in February 2019.

He won the first round after surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy at that time, but the cancer returned in September 2025, spreading to multiple areas of his right sinus, jaw, and eye socket.

It aggressively spread this summer, including into his brain, and Beal was sent home for hospice care in early July. He died on Tuesday.

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In a post commemorating him, UAPD said Beal joined their ranks in March 2023 and was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division in the fall of 2024.

CID supervisor Lt. Daniel Pate remembered Beal as someone who consistently went above and beyond despite his illness.

"During his time in CID, Inv. Beal went out of his way to help other investigators and officers. He was always willing to take on extra assignments, even those that others did not want, and did so without complaint. He was always pleasant even when we knew he was dealing with the pain from his medical treatments. Our department will miss him."

Beal is survived by his wife, Christina, and their children, Gracie, Braxton and Chadeyn.

The GoFundMe campaign to help cover medical and travel expenses and, now, end-of-life costs had raised more than $50,000 from 600 donors as of Wednesday.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time.

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