A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday evening (May 6) found Jarrell Jones guilty of fatally stabbing his grandfather and another man in their Marrero home before setting the residence on fire.
Jones, 37, is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his grandfather Larry Brown, 70, and Shelton Martin, 60, who lived in Brown’s residence in the 2000 block of Gladstone Drive.
Between them, Brown and Martin suffered 68 stab wounds, many of which were defensive in nature. Brown, who just hours before he died called 911 to report that his grandson stole cash from him, suffered 47 of those wounds, including a fatal puncture to his heart.
“The evidence in this case shows that he brutally and mercilessly attacked two old men in their home because he was mad that he was caught taking money,” Assistant District Attorney Zach Grate told jurors in closing argument Thursday. “That’s what their lives meant to him.”
“This killing was personally motivated,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen told jurors Thursday. “That’s how you wind up with 68 stab wounds, because it was domestic.”
Jones additionally was convicted of simple arson, obstruction of justice and theft of a motor vehicle.
Jones murdered Brown and Martin and set the fires at some point between the night of June 6, 2020 and the early morning hours of June 7, 2020. Brown’s Chevrolet Trailblazer was missing, the detectives learned.
The last time anyone had contact with the victims was at about 10 p.m., on June 6, 2020. On the morning of June 7, 2020, a family member of Brown’s contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and asked it to conduct a wellness check at the home.
Deputies discovered the unlocked front door and evidence of a fire inside. They had to push the front door open because the bodies were on the foyer floor behind it. There was no sign of forced entry.
Jones set fires at several locations in the house. None spread and were extinguished on their own. Blood was smeared on walls. Jones placed a pocket knife in the hand of a victim, with the blade against the palm, in an apparent attempt to stage the scene.
Jones stayed at Brown’s residence, and the men often had a contentious relationship. Just hours before the murders, Brown accused Jones of stealing cash and contacted the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies escorted Jones from the residence but did not arrest him.
When they learned of the murders, family members immediately suspected that Jones was responsible. Detectives watched security video footage from a nearby residence showing Brown’s Trailblazer being driven away.
The autopsies showed that Brown and Martin had no smoke soot in their lungs, indicating they were dead when Jones set the fires.
A U.S. Marshal Service fugitive task force arrested Jones on June 10, 2020, having tracked him as a passenger on a New Orleans-based Regional Transit Authority bus in Kenner.
Jones had lacerations on his hands. These “slippage wounds” are commonly found on assailants’ hands, caused when blood-covered knives slip during the stabbings and cut their fingers or palms.
Jones was linked to the crimes in part by cell phone geo-location technology, which helped detectives pinpoint his whereabouts. He was in the vicinity of the murders during the time they occurred, the evidence shows. He also was in the vicinity of the cell phone tower in Marrero near where the stolen Trailblazer was recorded by the license plate recognition system shortly after he stole it from Brown’s home.
And, following the murders, Jones was in the vicinity of the 2900 block of Music Street in New Orleans, near a home owned by an individual with links to Jones and where the Trailblazer was later found.
Investigators also found evidence of blood being cleaned from the inside of Brown’s Trailblazer. The blood was Brown’s, according to Sheriff’s Office DNA analysts.
Jones denied killing the men. Concocting an alibi, he told a detective that he was with a woman when the murders occurred. Yet he had no other information to offer, such as her full name or where they met that night. During the trial, he admitted that he drove the Trailblazer away from his grandfather’s home and that he ditched it on Music Street. His attorney argued that the evidence was circumstantial and inadequate to prove he committed the murders.
Jurors, who heard testimony from 21 state witnesses and from the defendant, deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with their unanimous verdict just before 6 p.m.
Jones faces a mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for June 8.
Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate, Brendan Bowen and Alexandra Herman prosecuted the case.