Nearly two years after an elderly woman was killed in her home, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says they've arrested the man responsible.
71-year-old Marilyn Alu hired 50-year-old Marvin Jones to do some work on her home on Swimming Salmon Place North, according to JSO. She has been looking at a contractor, but apparently cut a cheaper deal with Jones, who was seen by Alu's relatives in her home in September 2013.
JSO says Jones strangled Alu, stole her jewelry, and sold it, with the help of his then-girlfriend 52-year-old Constance Messina. JSO Lieutenant Stevev Gallaher says they don’t believe Messina had any involvement in planning the robbery or murder. She told police Jones told her the jewelry was bought from a drug dealer, and he would give her half the profit if she helped him sell it.
Jones and Messina allegedly fled to Clewiston, FL after the murder, and police located some of the stolen jewelry in a home where they were allegedly staying there, although they were gone. Messina left Jones and went to Massachusetts where she had family. Gallaher says she pled guilty to selling some of the jewelry.
Jones was soon located in Texas by US Marshals, and brought to Brevard County, FL on unrelated charges, including domestic violence. He has been in Brevard until Wednesday night, at which point he was brought to the Duval County Jail and booked on the murder charge. WOKV asked why it took so long to bring forward the murder charge, and Gallaher said it’s the plan the State Attorney’s Office and all agencies involved believed was best.
JSO says Jones admits to knowing of the victim and of the work she was having done on her home. Gallaher declined to give any more insight in to what Jones has told investigators, except to say that his statements have been conflicting with themselves and with evidence they’ve uncovered.
“Statements are refuted by the DNA evidence in this case, cell phone records, the pawn shop records, as well as the various eye witness testimony,” Gallaher says.
He acknowledged that, sometimes, it takes a while to close these cases, but says JSO is always working hard to pursue every available lead.