Widow, 80, robbed and killed in Washington County

An 80-year-old Washington County widow who lived alone was robbed and stabbed to death Saturday night in her East Finley home. State police at Washington, Pa., have arrested Frank Russel Jones Jr., 23, also of East Finley, and charged him with homicide, robbery, theft, receiving stolen property, aggravated assault and a "possession of weapon" charge.

The victim was identified as Opal M. Bedillion of 469 Templeton Run Road.

Mr. Jones was being held without bail in the Washington County Correctional Facility.

Details about the arrest of Mr. Jones and the death of Mrs. Bedillion were released Sunday at a noon news conference conducted by newly elected Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone and Lt. Christopher J. Neal, criminal investigations section commander with the Pennsylvania State Police.

Mr. Vittone praised the "swift actions" Saturday night and Sunday morning by state police and South Strabane police officers.

Information released at the news conference and details in the affidavit of probable cause revealed how the case unfolded.

At 8:45 p.m. Saturday South Strabane police Officer Ryan Hoffman made a traffic stop "on a suspicious vehicle" at Meyers and Strabane roads. When Mr. Hoffman looked inside the tan Honda Accord, he saw "in plain view" a wooden jewelry box on the floor of the car.

Mr. Jones gave officers permission to search the car, and they also found a pillow case containing a large amount of jewelry, cash and a prescription pill bottle of hydrocodone with a label containing the name of Mrs. Bedillion.

Total value of stolen property was more than $2,000, police said.

Officers called Mrs. Bedillion's relatives and asked them to check on her. A nephew went to her home and called police to report that she was dead.

Officers said she was on the floor of her home with blood around her head and chest. There were multiple stab and "slashing type knife wounds" on her face, neck and torso.

At 3:37 a.m. Sunday, Washington County Coroner S. Timothy Warco pronounced Mrs. Bedillion dead of knife wounds.

Police think the suspect did not know the victim, but police think Mr. Jones knew that Mrs. Bedillion was a widow and lived alone.

Court records available online indicate that Mr. Jones has had past arrests, going back to when he was a 16-year-old student in the McGuffey School District. Mr. Jones was charged with illegal use of tobacco in a school and completed a program for nonviolent first offenders.

The most serious charges came in 2009 when he entered a guilty plea to a charge of carrying an unlicensed firearm and was sentenced to 6-23 months in prison.

Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-722-0087.

First published on January 9, 2012 at 12:06 am

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12009/1202321-58.stm?cmpid=neighborhoods.xml

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