Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020118
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Deel is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Robert Jarrells, 59, on the morning of April 15. Jarrells' body was found by sheriff's deputies on a porch at his home on Virginia 793.
Deputies apprehended Deel that afternoon in a field near Ferrum. Deel was identified by Jarrells' wife, Judy, 43, who was at home at the time of the killing.
Judy Jarrells - an acquaintance of Deel's, according to Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. Overton - told investigators that Deel tried to attack her, but she managed to free herself and get away.
Deel, 45, faces additional charges filed last week by state police investigators. The charges - making a false statement to purchase a gun and possession of a gun after being convicted of a felony - were brought after an investigation traced the murder weapon, a 9mm pistol, to Barton's Pawn Shop in Dickenson County.
Deel was in the store on April 11, investigators say, and the purchase of the gun was denied after the owner of the pawn shop, Culbertson Barton, called state police for a criminal background check now required by law.
Deel was found guilty of grand larceny and burglary in Dickenson County in 1971, said Joe Boone, a firearms investigator with the Wytheville division of the state police.
The pawn shop owner did not report the gun as stolen, and how it left the store remains under investigation, Boone said.
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said Deel's trial date on the murder charges has not been set.
by CNB