Suspect confesses to murder of young Jacksonville woman

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says 21-year-old James Rhodes confessed to the killing of 20-year-old Shelby Farah.

Police were able to track Rhodes through witnesses who saw his photo on the news this week.  His family members ultimately led police to arrest Rhodes early Wednesday.  He is charged with murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Rhodes had been released from prison in April after serving three years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

JSO says Rhodes went into the Metro PCS on North Main Street with a gun, demanded money, and then shot Farah three times after she handed him the last bit of cash.

"He basically executed her. He shot her...didn't need to do it but he did," said Lt. Rob Schoonover with JSO's homicide unit.

The healing process can now begin for Darlene Farah, Shelby's mother, who had been holding vigil outside JSO until they arrested a suspect.

"Now it's time to move on to the next step and plan my daughter's funeral," says Darlene Farah.

Farah tells our partner Action News she hasn't been able to grieve properly for her daughter yet because she has been so focused on finding out who killed her. Now, she says, she's going to have to relocate and start her life fresh with her two other children.

"I'm not going home, I don't think I could ever go back to that home. Shelby lived there at that home with me. I don't...I don't think I could do that."

Farah says she's grateful for the police's hard work and the media's constantly streaming new information to the public, and thinks that the arrest would not have been made so quickly if not for all that hard work.

"Everybody was working like Shelby was their child," says Farah.