MI MI - Ronald & Christine Jabalee, both 58, New Baltimore, 6 Oct 2006

[Reannan]

http://tinyurl.com/2qlvly

NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. -- Police are revealing a photo of a blood-stained message left behind at the scene of a double slaying.

Police said Ronald and Christine Jabalee, both 58, were found slain in their New Baltimore home on Oct. 6, 2006.

Officers responded to the home at 53355 Washington St. and found the two assaulted and slain in their garage. When Ronald Jabalee did not show up for work at the Eastern Market business the family owned, an employee went to their home in New Baltimore and discovered the bodies, according to police. Police said one of the victims left a message written in blood on the garage floor. Part of the message was located under one of the parked vehicles in the garage. “What we're looking at is letters which is part of a message left by one of the victims during this brutal homicide that happened here in October,” said Ken Stevens, New Baltimore detective. Police said Christine wrote the message and probably had broken fingers, and may have put them together to write the message.

Police said the person responsible for the death of the couple saw the message before leaving and tried to clean up most of it. A few letters, which were too far underneath the vehicle, were not cleaned up.

“We know that there was more of the message but whoever committed the crime found it, but fortunately left us these few letters for us to deal with,” said Stevens.

According to police, the couple knew their killer.

A gas can was found at the crime scene, and investigators think the killer went to the home pretending to have run out of gas and looking for help.

The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office reported the victims suffered blunt-force head and body injuries, plus multiple stab wounds.

Police reported there was no forced entry into the home and added that a clue was left behind by one of the victims, something written in blood, but they are not saying what the message said.

Through crime stoppers, police are offering a $160,000 reward to anyone that has information. Those with any information on the killings are being asked to contact New Baltimore police at 586-725-8470, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

More information can be found at America's Most Wanted along with pictures of the message:
http://tinyurl.com/2oxdwv

​

Apparently, the murderer tried to wipe up the message, but the tire of the vehicle prevented all of it from being obliterated. LE is now asking for the public's help with deciphering this message (as seen on Fox news tonight).

 

[Taximom]

I wish we had a better sense of the position of her body when she died, which might help figure this out. Also, are there any suspects? Did they speak english or another language?

 

[Reannan]

From the information at America's Most Wanted, they were a pretty vanilla flavored American family.

"Ron and Christine Jabalee seemed to live a picture-perfect life. A beautiful home, three children -- Ron, Nikki and Ryan -- and several grandchildren. The entire family makes their living in the food industry, Ron in the sales department at Sherwood Foods, and the rest of the family at son Ron's store, "RJ's Meats" in downtown Detroit. Friday, October 6, 2006 was an ordinary day for the Jabalee family, but everything came to a crashing hault that night.
On Friday nights, Ron always called his son to see how closing at the store went. On October 6th, he didn't call. The next morning, when neither Ron nor Christine arrived at the store for work, all three children began to panic. Rosie, Ryan's girlfriend, went over to the Jabalee home to make sure everything was okay, but what she found was a gruesome crime scene. Ron and Christine were laying in the garage, and there was blood in the driveway. When the police arrived they described it as one of the most brutal crime scenes they had ever seen.

Not A Random Crime

New Baltimore cops call the Jabalee home "a perfect crime scene" because they kept their house and garage so clean that it was easy to see what had gone down in the murders. javascript:EnlargeImage('15595');


Police soon discovered that there was very little out of place in the Jabalee's home. In fact, the only things that were missing out of the house were two knives out of the butcher block in the kitchen. Police think that the missing knives were the murder weapons.
Police believe that the killer is someone who the Jabalee family knew. Police say Ron met the killer after dinner when he was working in the garage and that a casual conversation probably took place. Christine was in the den watching television and reading a book, but police say when she heard her husband talking she went to investigate. That's when trouble started. A brutal fight in the garage ensued. Ron and Christine were brutally beaten and stabbed to death.


A Bloody Message

The message, hidden by the tire of the Jeep in the garage, could be the clue that identifies the Jabalees' killer.
javascript:EnlargeImage('15596');


Even in the Jabalee's dying moments, they put up a strong fight. And it wasn't just a fight against their killer, but also a fight for justice. One or both of the Jabalee's actually wrote a message, using their own blood. No one is sure if the message was meant for cops or for the Jabalee's children because the killer saw the bloody message and washed it away, all but a few jumbled letters.
The letters that remain could be s, c, e, i, j, g, or d. Police are investigating and hoping that someone will be able to make sense of the Jabalee's dying words.
Police and the Jabalee children can't imagine who would want to harm Ron and Christine and tear this picture perfect family apart. Cops are working on uncovering what the motive for this crime could have been.
Ron's brother, Roger, has been arrested in connection with a narcotics trafficking ring and is being held on $1.6 million bond. Additionally, cops are wondering if New Baltimore motorcycle gangs, such as the Outlaws, the Devil Deciples, or the Vigilianties, could have been involved in the gruesome murder. One motive that has been ruled out is robbery: Ron and Christine were both wearing all of their jewelry, and Ron's wallet was found in his pocket.
Police are determined to bring the grieving Jabalee family justice.

 

[arielilane]

http://tinyurl.com/2qlvly

NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. -- Police are revealing a photo of a blood-stained message left behind at the scene of a double slaying.

Police said Ronald and Christine Jabalee, both 58, were found slain in their New Baltimore home on Oct. 6, 2006.

Officers responded to the home at 53355 Washington St. and found the two assaulted and slain in their garage. When Ronald Jabalee did not show up for work at the Eastern Market business the family owned, an employee went to their home in New Baltimore and discovered the bodies, according to police. Police said one of the victims left a message written in blood on the garage floor. Part of the message was located under one of the parked vehicles in the garage. “What we're looking at is letters which is part of a message left by one of the victims during this brutal homicide that happened here in October,” said Ken Stevens, New Baltimore detective. Police said Christine wrote the message and probably had broken fingers, and may have put them together to write the message.

Police said the person responsible for the death of the couple saw the message before leaving and tried to clean up most of it. A few letters, which were too far underneath the vehicle, were not cleaned up.

“We know that there was more of the message but whoever committed the crime found it, but fortunately left us these few letters for us to deal with,” said Stevens.

According to police, the couple knew their killer.

A gas can was found at the crime scene, and investigators think the killer went to the home pretending to have run out of gas and looking for help.

The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office reported the victims suffered blunt-force head and body injuries, plus multiple stab wounds.

Police reported there was no forced entry into the home and added that a clue was left behind by one of the victims, something written in blood, but they are not saying what the message said.

Through crime stoppers, police are offering a $160,000 reward to anyone that has information. Those with any information on the killings are being asked to contact New Baltimore police at 586-725-8470, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

More information can be found at America's Most Wanted along with pictures of the message:
http://tinyurl.com/2oxdwv

Apparently, the murderer tried to wipe up the message, but the tire of the vehicle prevented all of it from being obliterated. LE is now asking for the public's help with deciphering this message (as seen on Fox news tonight).

Julie is what I come up with?

 

[Reannan]

From an obituary I found on line, they had three children:

Ronald (married to a Deborah)
Nicole (married to Paul Schmidt)
Ryan (married to Rosie)

I can see the word "Schmidt".

 

[Cranberry]

S Sale ? The article says he worked in sales

 

[Reannan]

Some article I read indicated that Christine likely wrote the message, and that both of her fringers were probably broken, which would have meant she had to painfully hold them together to get the message written. I definitely think the first letter is "S".

 

[Taximom]

I hate to say this, but if the killer had the means and time to wash away some of this message, he also could have added his own letters to confuse LE. He could have used her fingers as well.

That first letter looks like a J to me because it looks like the top part was started on the left and went right. I'm looking at where the blood is thinnest. The bottom part of what I think is a J looks like it started from the top part and went down.

I wish they had a better picture of this, like from right above it and much closer.

 

[Reannan]

Here is a link that contains a larger picture of the message. LE says it could be part of a vanity tag on a car, or a street address:
http://tinyurl.com/2tec58

 

[Reannan]

I don't think I would have written a street address as I lay dying....I think I would have written the name of the person - of course, that is assuming I knew the name.

 

[Taximom]

Here is a link that contains a larger picture of the message. LE says it could be part of a vanity tag on a car, or a street address:
http://tinyurl.com/2tec58

Oh, I see now. Perhaps they didn't know this person, so they took what info they could off of a license plate or something like that. Interesting.

 

[Reannan]

Apparently, there was no robbery or sexual assault (that we have heard of), so where is the motive for a stranger to have done this? It seems like someone came to the home and pretende to have run out of gas whil Ron was working in the garage.

 

[txsvicki]

I think the message is a shortened form of Jabalee. The possible involvement of motorcycle gangs and the brother of Ron probably owing them money is probably what happened. Jble written with a broken finger and even possibly Jbale with the b and the a made into one letter using the same half circle.

 

[Taximom]

There's just too much we don't know, like nicknames etc that could really help the public solve this. I guess we'd have to review the case file for all that!

Here's hoping that someone figures it out soon.

 

[txsvicki]

Also, if the letter above is also a J, the message could mean Jr. Jabalee.

 

[willow]

Didn't LE say that this part was under the tire of the car? And that the killers wiped alot of it up? What if they didn't see this part?


This may sound silly but, it looks to me like the word "State". Or it could be "Slade".


I live in West Michigan and I've heard of the motorcycle gangs that LE spoke of. Yikes. Was this family involved with them and that's why LE mentioned them? If not, I wonder why LE threw that out there. Hmmmmm......

 

[Taximom]

I just saw a comment on another site that said "jabaly" would be the arabic spelling for Jabalee. Not sure if that has any meaning to this case, but thought I'd post it. I asked about their language/background previously because of the name "Eastern Market". Not sure what that implies, but that's the area their meat shop was located. It certainly could be anyone related to their business.

I think the 2nd letter could be an "e" or an "a". My first guess is an "e" because it seems to be written correctly although a little off center. That part could also be the round part of a lower-case "a", though, with the straight line to the right, part of the "a".

Gosh, I wish I could figure this one out in my dreams tonight.

 

[JanetElaine]

I'm leaning towards the first letter being an S.

The 2nd letter could be an 'o' (try drawing it with two fingers and eyes closed - this poor lady probably couldn't see what she was writing with terribly hurting fingers and other pains)

The 3rd (or is it 3rd and 4th?) I'm not sure of, it could be an 'L' or the number '4'

The last an 'e' or even a 'g' maybe.

ETA the short vertical line after the 2nd letter looks like it was started from the bottom. Notice how the blood is thicker at the start of the other letters (like the long vertical line after the short one)? Maybe it's just a smear from the second letter and not an actual letter? Or it started a little to the right in the wiped away part and is the left and bottom part of the number 4.

It could say 'sole'...

Or, in my same line of thinking about the 2nd character, the last one, being how it was partly wiped away, could be a 'u'.
So4U?

Soile
Soilc
So4c

Just brainstorming.

 

[Lola]

S Sale ? The article says he worked in sales

That's what it looked like to me. I was wondering if they were offering something for sale, like a car or something of the sort.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I believe the first letter is an S and she had started up higher, but moved down probably due to pain and losing strength...see the S above the word, too? The second letter looks like a small case e...but with the shape she was in...I think it is actually a t. She couldn't lift her fingers to make a line down so it comes around the top and down instead. It is my opinion this could say, "Steve, Steven, or Stevenson". Could be any other variation on that tho...Stevers, Stevel, etc.

It is a name, IMO. Not an address or a tag. LE gets the craziest ideas sometimes.

I also think this was a very personal crime. I see it as overkill. At least, SHE knew the attacker.

If their own kitchen knives were used in the attack, they could have the scenario all wrong. LE stated in the interview I saw that the perps never entered the house, but remained outside and in the garage.

I think it is quite possible someone came to the door and she let them in...because she knew them...then circumstances changed quickly into the kitchen where the perp grabbed the knives and forced her to the garage where hubby was. In this case, it could have only been one person because he would have had her already at knifepoint when approaching her husband..therefore controlling the situation to a certain extent. The perp could have stabbed her first then started fighting with the husband where he stabbed him, but maybe accidently dropped the knives...so finished them off with hitting them with the blunt object. So what is this "blunt object" they mentioned? Something from the garage, I would say. Tire tool, wrench, etc.

The perp didn't come prepared to kill them since he didn't bring a weapon. Something changed while in the house. Could she have had a stalker? A lover? There has to be a motive to go along with such rage and a very personal one. I don't think it had to do with the brother in the narcotics situation either. This seems to be about them.