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Former Farrell, Howland resident now a suspect in Michigan assault and homicide
By Ed Runyan
GRANDVILLE, MICH.
Shawn J. Jarrett, 50, who spent 30 years in prison for killing his elderly neighbor in Farrell, Pa., in 1982 and attacking a Sharon woman, has pleaded not guilty in Grandville, Mich., to assaulting and robbing an elderly woman there Thursday.
Judge Peter Versluis of the 59th District Court ordered that Jarrett remain in the Kent County Jail without eligibility to make bond.
Meanwhile, police in Walker, Mich., released a statement Monday saying Jarrett also is a suspect in the killing of a 40-year-old woman who worked at the same greenhouse as Jarrett in April when the woman disappeared. Walker is about seven miles from Grandville.
Jarrett is charged in Grandville with criminal sexual conduct and home invasion for purportedly tricking an elderly Grandville woman into letting him in her house, then sexually assaulting her, taking money and leaving on a bicycle.
Walker police released a statement Monday saying Jarrett is considered a person of interest in the death of Berta Y. Reyes, 40, a mother of four, who disappeared in April. Her body was found at a Walker construction site in May.
“Jarrett is currently considered a suspect in Ms. Reyes’ death, but at this time, there are no charges being sought until a forensic report is received and all relevant physical evidence thoroughly examined,” the Walker police statement said, according to Fox 17 TV station in West Michigan.
Greg Long, deputy police chief in Walker said Monday that Jarrett worked at Neal Mast & Son Greenhouses, where Reyes also was employed until the time of her disappearance, according to the Grand Rapids Press.
Walker detectives have conducted interviews with co-workers of Reyes and examined employment records and discovered Jarrett’s extensive criminal history, Long told the newspaper.
Jarrett moved in with his parents on Dawson Drive in Howland in January 2013 after serving his full 30-year sentence for murdering Mary Sposito, 64, in Farrell in 1982. Sposito, the widow of the former Farrell police chief, was Jarrett’s next-door neighbor on Roemer Boulevard, where she lived alone.
Police said Jarrett killed her by strangling her. He also stabbed her in the back with a paring knife.
He also was sentenced for an attack on a 58-year-old Sharon woman two months after the Sposito killing, police said.
Jarrett was choking his victim when her daughter came into the house and frightened him away, according to Vindicator files.
Jarrett was not required to report his whereabouts to anyone because he had served his entire prison sentence in Pennsylvania and was not on probation, former district attorney James Epstein said Monday.
Jarrett gave permission to Howland police to check on him while he was living in Howland, but left Howland and went to California after a short time in Howland, Epstein said.
Normally, police would need a search warrant or probable cause to stop at the house where Jarrett was living to talk to him, Epstein explained.
Epstein said he and other local officials warned the public about Jarrett being released into the public in January 2013 because they were fearful that he might pose a continued danger to the public.
“I was hopeful that he would not commit another crime, but I was fearful that he would,” Epstein said.