Espresso County, Georgia, Sheriff Fred Cole
In September 2006, Doris Worrell was shot and killed inside her and husband Jon Worrell’s shared enterprise in Douglas, Georgia. Almost 20 years later, Jon was arrested and accused of hiring a hitman to commit his spouse’s homicide. Although the case ran chilly within the public’s eye for a few years, investigators continued to work on it. Espresso County, Georgia, Sheriff Fred Cole completely tells In Contact that they’ve discovered new leads, together with a possible identification for the individual employed to kill Doris.
“We’re nonetheless underneath an open investigation on the case, and I’d somewhat not indulge that, however we have now a good suggestion,” Cole tells In Contact Investigates’ Kristin Thorne.
Jon was arrested in Missouri on Could 23 and charged with malice homicide, felony homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and aggravated battery. He was extradited again to Georgia. Although Jon has not but issued a plea, his attorneys say he has no legal previous.
On September 20, 2006, Doris was discovered lifeless at 39 years outdated inside Jon’s Sports activities Park. Authorities initially believed that she was the sufferer of a theft gone fallacious, and Jon, 58, was portrayed as a “grieving husband.” Nonetheless, as investigators dug into Jon and Doris’ relationship, they discovered proof of an affair between Jon and their live-in nanny, Paola Yarberry, whom Doris had welcomed into their household when she was a youngster and had nowhere else to remain.
In response to police, Yarberry isn’t thought-about a suspect in Doris’ homicide. Nonetheless, it’s believed that Jon employed somebody to kill his spouse due to the affair.
“Jon was involved that if he divorced Doris, he would lose his youngsters,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Jason Seacrist stated in a press convention. “And it’s these ideas that led him to start recruiting somebody to homicide his spouse.”
In Contact Investigates’ Kristin Thorne
After Doris’ homicide, Jon and Yarberry moved to Costa Rica, the place they continued to lift his and Doris’ three youngsters. In response to Jon’s legal professional, they determined to maneuver as a result of that they had been harassed by some members of the neighborhood who believed Jon was chargeable for Doris’ dying.
Jon and the nanny finally ended their relationship, with the previous shifting to Missouri and the latter remaining in Costa Rica. Authorities traveled to Costa Rica to additional examine Jon’s involvement in Doris’ dying, the place Yarberry supplied particulars that led to his arrest, based on a Could 20 press launch from the GBI.
“I wish to be clear. This case has by no means been forgotten,” Cole stated in a press convention on the time. “Whereas the highway has been lengthy and sometimes irritating, we by no means gave up. Justice delayed remains to be justice. In the present day, we honor Doris and her family members with this long-awaited breakthrough.”
Cole tells In Contact that he was “excited” by the prospect of lastly getting closure on this case.
“Each household deserves closure, you recognize? And this household is not any totally different. Nineteen years is a very long time to go with none solutions. And, you recognize, we simply felt just like the household wanted closure. We knew they wished closure,” he says. “The Worrell youngsters grew up not realizing their mother, and it’s identical to it could [be] in any case, you need to have the ability to deliver closure to the household, and that’s why we work at it so laborious.”
