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Rape charges added in murder case against Niles boy
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The 15-year-old Niles boy charged with aggravated murder in the March 31 death of his 94-year-old neighbor now also is charged with attempting to rape her, as well as aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.
Affidavits released Friday say police and an ambulance were called to the Lafayette Avenue home of Jacob O. Larosa that afternoon for injuries to Larosa before they even knew Marie Belcastro had died.
They found Larosa vomiting halfway in the bathroom and hallway of his home with blood on his hands and underwear and wearing no pants, police said.
About that time, police learned that Belcastro’s daughter, Debbie O’Leary, was outside Belcastro’s house on Cherry Street around the corner from Larosa’s house. Police went inside to find Belcastro dead with no pants on and her legs “twisted.”
Larosa, who was taken to St. Joseph Warren Hospital, initially told police he had not been in Belcastro’s house and said he heard screams and saw other people inside.
Later, he said he had been in the house that day but only to get $10 and then later to get change for a candy bar.
Police looked at a neighbor’s surveillance video, which showed Larosa “on the side door” of Belcastro’s house that day, the affidavit said, adding that the door was broken.
Larosa was arraigned Friday morning in Trumbull County Juvenile Court, where his charges were read to him. He was not required to enter a plea. His mother, Megan Lucariello, and father, Edward Larosa, stood toward the rear of the courtroom. His mother sobbed through part of the hearing.
Jacob Larosa will remain in juvenile detention until his next hearing in juvenile court, at 1:30 p.m. April 30. That hearing will be to determine whether there is probable cause for the case to proceed, said Judge Sandra Stabile Harwood.
If so, the following hearing will be one in which evidence will be presented to Judge Stabile Harwood so she can determine whether she should transfer the case to the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, where Larosa would be tried as an adult, as county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has requested.
Judge Stabile Harwood said the possible penalty for aggravated murder if he were tried in common pleas court and convicted would be like other adult cases — life in prison with no parole or life in prison with parole eligibility after 20, 25 or 30 years.
The possible penalty if the case were tried in juvenile court and he were convicted would be limited to detention up to age 21 with the option for adult penalties under certain circumstances.
Larosa’s other charges each could add as much as 8 or 11 years to his sentence if tried and convicted in adult court.
He stood before Judge Stabile Harwood with his back to the news media, giving simple yes and no answers.
Larosa was found to have blood on his hands and his privates later at the hospital, which led investigators to believe that a sexual assault had occurred, the affidavit said.
An affidavit is filed in support of a search warrant. Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Please Court authorized the search of Larosa’s home and authorized investigators to take samples of fingernail scrapings and DNA from his hands, privates and the inside of his mouth.
Police recovered shoes, jeans, eyeglasses and T-shirt from his home.