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Niles police testify to ‘utterances’ made by apparently intoxicated murder suspect Jacob Larosa
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The judge in the Jacob Larosa aggravated-murder case on Thursday heard an audio recording of an apparently highly intoxicated Jacob Larosa in the hours after he was accused of killing his elderly neighbor.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court also heard testimony from two Niles police officers, who described potentially incriminating “utterances” they said Larosa made when they encountered him at his home and at St. Joseph Warren Hospital that day.
And the judge heard from detectives who testified about the search warrants obtained that day allowing them to collect evidence from Larosa’s home and body.
Those issues have been challenged by Larosa’s lawyers, who say police violated Larosa’s rights when they collected evidence such as hairs and blood from him and documented the things Larosa said that evening.
Judge McKay must decide whether any of the evidence police gathered March 31, 2015, should be suppressed from the Larosa’s Feb. 12 trial. One thing the judge doesn’t have to decide is whether to allow an interview Larosa gave to Niles Detective Dan Atkins that night to be part of the trial. Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker announced at the start of the hearing prosecutors would voluntarily withdraw that evidence.
That eliminated some of the witnesses originally expected to testify, Judge McKay said.
Larosa, 18, of Lafayette Avenue, is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and attempted rape in the March 31, 2015, killing of Marie Belcastro, 94, in her Cherry Street home. Larosa and Belcastro knew each other.
Detective Craig Aurilio of the Niles Police Department was the first witness, describing the initial 911 call to Larosa’s home, during which the caller described Larosa as having been assaulted.
Patrolman Todd Mobley arrived at Larosa’s house and found Larosa, then 15, on the floor wearing only underwear and socks.
“He was crying,” Mobley said. “He said I don’t know how many times, ‘They are going to kill me for this,’” Mobley said. When Larosa vomited, Mobley smelled alcohol, he said.
Mike Biddlestone, a Niles patrolman at the time of the Belcastro killing, testified Larosa appeared to be intoxicated when Biddlestone was guarding Larosa at the hospital.
The officer said he spotted some long strands of black hair on the cot Larosa was resting on.
Biddlestone put the hair in a napkin and then in the trunk of his cruiser because he suspected it might be relevant evidence, partly because Larosa’s hair was not long or black.