Man found in murder victim's car jailed in Pittsburgh

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown detectives traveled to Pittsburgh to question the stepson of a woman found slain in a West Side home.

Pittsburgh police are charging James Jarrell, 33, with receiving stolen property. He was found in that city Wednesday in a car belonging to Tina Jarrell, 55. She was found dead in her home in the 1600 block of Wellington Avenue about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police say her death is a homicide, but they are not saying how she died. James Jarrell has not been charged in her death.

“We have no charges on him at this time,” Lt. Douglas Bobovnyik, of the detective bureau, said Thursday night.

Bobovnyik said detectives issued a computer bulletin to departments across the region to be on the lookout for the car with the added proviso that the car belonged to a person who was recently killed. Pittsburgh police spotted the car and took James Jarrell into custody.

Bobovnyik said he and other detectives went to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night to question Jarrell, but he immediately asked for a lawyer, so he could not be questioned.

Bobovnyik said the lead investigators, Detective Sgts. Dave Sweeney and John Perdue, got several leads quickly.

“Things are developing constantly,” Bobovnyik said. Police said it did not appear as if someone broke into the home before Tina Jarrell’s body was found. Police were at the home early Sunday evening after reports that Tina Jarrell had been drinking all day and was threatening to kill herself by taking a bottle of pills.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court records show that James Jarrell has been to prison at least three times.

In 2003, he was sentenced to a year in prison on charges of theft and breaking and entering after he failed to appear in the county’s drug court.

In 2006, records show Jarrell was given a four-year sentence on a charge of felonious assault, and in 2011 he was given a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of breaking and entering as well as single counts of receiving stolen property and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.

A complaint against Jarrell filed in Pittsburgh Municipal Court said officers working a plain-clothes detail in Pittsburgh spotted the vehicle at a gas station on Spring Garden Avenue, and when officers ordered him out of the car, he at first refused.

The complaint said an officer opened the door and ordered Jarrell to the ground. Jarrell obeyed and was searched. Officers found a needle in his pockets, leading to an additional charge of prohibited acts.

Jarrell was taken to the Allegheny County Jail, where he remains pending his next court appearance. Youngstown police took possession of the vehicle.

The complaint listed an address of North Four Mile Run Road for Jarrell.