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

[RayStar]

Ron Jr. has been arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder of his parents. This was just reported on the local news at www.clickondetroit.com.

 

[Knox]

Ron Jr. has been arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder of his parents. This was just reported on the local news at www.clickondetroit.com.

WOW!!!! Going to read NOW!!!

 

[Knox]

"Ron Jabalee Jr. was charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, Christine and Ronald."

Snipped from the news article. I am not familar with the way the charges are outlined. Can someone explain why there are first and second degree counts?

Hey!? Isn't Ron Jr. the oldest son and Ryan the youngest? Click on Detroit says Ron Jr. the "youngest son" was arrested?

 

[KT Can]

Wow....

 

[fran]

Whoa!

 

[kittenish]

:O

no motive mentioned yet though

 

[Proud Country Gal]

Wow!

Off to finish reading the report.

 

[fran]

It's gotta be money.

I hope they really have the evidence and aren't guessing.

I just can't imagine a 40 yo man killing his own mom and dad.

Wow,
fran

 

[PIwannabe]

Even though I had a gut feeling it was Ron Jr., it's still shocking....and very, very sad. Obviously, he's only been charged and is still presumed innocent, but they must have some pretty good evidence against him.

I'm very confused about both 1st and 2nd degree charges for each victim. I've never seen anything like that. Anyone have insight into that?

It will be interesting to see the evidence unfold and I REALLY hope somehow the dying message mystery is revealed so I can stop thinking about it.

 

[Beyond Belief]

i am glad they have done something on this horrible case. The only thing I could determine on the letters was: rotate 1x to right. Top S or 5 unknown.
Next looks like J or S. Actually capital I
Next vertical slash is an L
Next looks like e actually an O
Next smaller slash goes below other letters, then goes back up looking like an l or i dotted, actually a V
Next letter looks like c or e is a E

Determine message says" 5 I love "or " S I love "

 

[Reannan]

Finally!!! The wheels of justice grind slowly, but the have ground forward in this case. I still need to know how the message fits in. Why did no other family members recognize it??? Did he act alone??? There are still a lot of unanswered questions in this case, but I now have confidence in the handling of this case. Nice job LE.....nice job.

 

[grace60]

A interesting comment from a lawyer not involved in another paper.
"This is bizarre and unusual," criminal defense attorney Timothy Barkovic, who is not connected to the case, said in the hallway outside the courtroom. "They're trying to flush out or compel testimony from a witness who refused to come forward. If they had the goods, they would have charged somebody already."
http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2009/06/26/news/srv0000005691973.txt

 

[Knox]

Perhaps the testimony they were trying to compel was from a sibling who refused to "tell"? Something broke loose recently, search warrents and seizure of the truck indicate that. I hope the riddle of the letters is solved and we'll see details released Saturday or Monday if they don't seal the records.

 

[txsvicki]

Jr. Jbale

 

[jnTexas]

i am glad they have done something on this horrible case. The only thing I could determine on the letters was: rotate 1x to right. Top S or 5 unknown.
Next looks like J or S. Actually capital I
Next vertical slash is an L
Next looks like e actually an O
Next smaller slash goes below other letters, then goes back up looking like an l or i dotted, actually a V
Next letter looks like c or e is a E

Determine message says" 5 I love "or " S I love "

OMG maybe they were trying to say to their killer "Son I Love You" like I still love you no matter what you do. pne last dying note of forgivness maybe?

 

[Burke]

Hey guys,

Ron Jr.'s arraignment is today, according to http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19873647/detail.html .

I'm hoping we get some more information on this case, pronto. It's very encouraging that the trial is only two weeks away. I hope it doesn't get delayed any further than that; it's been three years!

My personal theory is this:

It's been mentioned that Ron Sr. had someone come to his home to inquire about a classic car the night before the incident (but has anyone found out if Ron Sr. was selling or showing a restored car at or around that time?). I think this person is a friend or acquaintance of Ron Jr. who was hired to "do the job", and this first visit was to case the place, check out the family, and make it easier for him to come back the next day. Get his foot in the door, so to speak.

This friend shows up the next day - the family recognizes him, and maybe he's mentioned "I'm a friend of Ron [Jr]'s", so they welcome him as a friend of their son.

While following Ron Sr. into the garage, he's able to snatch a couple of knives from the butcher's block in the kitchen (which I believe AMW places at the top of the garage stairs). Once they get into the garage proper, the assailant strikes Ron Sr. with something heavy to incapacitate him and begins stabbing him. Any garage would have a number of appropriate tools (even the gas can mentioned in several articles, if it was full, could have been used just to knock Mr Jabalee down), and this garage has been said to have been almost spotless, which would make finding the right tool for the job much easier.

Mrs Jabalee, oblivious to the commotion, enters the garage to check up on her husband and their visitor. (btw, that is the most disturbing photo on AMW's profile: the slippers and the cookie. It's haunting.) I think she was eating the cookie, not bringing it down for anyone in particular, judging from its place on the steps in relation to the slippers. She's startled and doesn't know quite what to do; she drops the cookie. The assailant, thinking Ron Sr. is dead or knowing he's too wounded to get far, leaves him on the garage floor to go after his wife.

I don't believe Mrs Jabalee would have grabbed a knife in self-defense. While there is a bloody print in the driveway, LE thinks it's an imprint from Ron's attempt to escape. If the attacker had been wounded, there would have to be blood spatter somewhere, OR material missing from the garage to staunch the bleeding. There is always the chance that Mrs Jabalee brought a knife but wasn't given a chance to use it, or didn't use it effectively; that might account for one of the two missing knives.. but I don't think it fits with the rest of the picture. The presence of the cookie (and the slippers) reinforces the idea that she was just wandering down into the garage to check in, not expecting a battle. It's possible that she wasn't even aware they had a "guest" until she got down the steps and saw some stranger stabbing her husband. It also looks to me like those slippers came off in a hurry, perhaps by accident; if she had removed them, they would be placed more carefully, more neatly, on the steps, and they're askew with one on its side.

My question here is, what's the state of the wall to the right of the stairs, and the stair railing? The assailant either struck Mrs Jabalee there in an attempt to incapacitate her (which I would assume might leave evidence on the wall or railing), or lifted her bodily out of the slippers - like in a bear hug - and carried or threw her into the garage, where he began stabbing her just as he'd done with Ron Sr.

When he thinks they're dead, or wounded badly enough that they cannot survive, the attacker starts to consider clean-up. If the attacker was a friend of Ron Jr's (perhaps a co-worker at the store?), he would have been made aware of the high level of cleanliness Mrs Jabalee lived by, which would make a good clean-up a necessity. As the police have said, the Jabalee's garage was a "perfect crime scene" because it was so well-kept; the evidence was easy to separate from the usual junk and debris that can be expected in your average home.

The attacker mops the area with the door closed, but realizes there's much more blood than he can easily clean, and doesn't want to track it into the house or out the door with himself. (Here's a thought: Someone here mentioned the killer would have to be covered in blood after such a brutal attack. Could he have removed an external layer of clothes and disposed of them there in the garage - say, a mechanic's jumpsuit?) It occurs to him to use the hose to flush the blood out of the garage. I don't know where the outdoor water access is - there's no photo available - but there's a chance the attacker opened the garage door to let the water flow out, and left his victims there while he went to turn on the water. He's not paying so much attention to the Jabalees anymore because he believes them to be severely wounded - dying, if not dead already.

He washes the floor around them, noticing as he does that Mrs Jabalee has attempted to leave a note for whoever might find them. While cleaning that area, he notices Ron Sr. is leaving the garage. They're not as near death as he'd hoped. He incapacitates Ron (either striking him or stabbing him again) and drags the man back into the garage.

I seem to recall mention being made of the fact that the hose was wound back onto its wheel before the killer left? I'm not sure if I'm remembering that right. At any rate, if it WAS, this could be a significant clue. Mrs Jabalee was obviously very insistent about keeping a clean house and a clean business.. so if it was the son, he may have felt compelled to put the hose "back in its place", even if the woman who taught him that message was dying on the floor behind him.

Obviously the killer didn't have time to cover all his tracks. Blood spatter remains; there's the imprint of Ron's attempted escape on the driveway. Those few letters, or portions of letters, under the back bumper of the Jeep. But he did a good enough job that it's taken until now for there to be an arrest.

Poor Mrs Jabalee. Without other samples of her handwriting (and even then, there's the fact that she was badly wounded, dying, with broken fingers), it's anyone's guess what that message said.

I think Ron Jr. hired someone to do the job. It's not professionally done - it's not clean, quick, or silent - but perhaps I just can't stomach the thought of a grown man intentionally murdering both of his parents in cold blood. Whether or not he was the man holding the knife, if he did hire someone to kill his parents, he's every bit as guilty as they are. Typical 'domestic homicide' motivators: resentment, rage, hurt, personal gain from insurance, inheritance, family business.

I'm looking forward to the trial, and I'm immensely relieved there's been an arrest. I hope her message gets decoded. She deserves at least that.

You guys have come up with some excellent theories, speculations, and bits of data yourselves. It's kind of embarrassing (but awesome) that I live in Michigan (in Macomb County, not far from New Baltimore) and I've been getting my "local crime" news from you guys.

 

[Burke]

By the way.. I know it's been bothering some people that the garage door was left wide open and nobody seemed to see or notice what was going on.

Here's the Jabalee family home on Google maps. (If the link is broken, search for 53355 Washington Street, New Baltimore, MI, 48047.)

You'll notice the house is just to the left of the intersection, so the garage, if open, would not be easily visible from the facing street, Andrew Circle.

The neighbor across the street has a home that appears to be slightly angled away from the intersection, or perhaps on a slight rise, so their visibility into the garage would also be limited.

The neighbor on the left is set further back from the street, so unless a person was walking towards the house from the street, they wouldn't be able to see inside the Jabalee's garage.

Keep in mind also that the crime likely occurred on a Friday evening.. neighbors might not have been home, or might have been accustomed to loud noise from their garage, if Mr Jabalee was regularly working on cars.

 

[Reannan]

I believe Ron Jr came over to his parents house after dinner and was in the garage talking to his father. Something happened during the conversation and it became heated and violent. It will be interesting to see if LE thinks this was premeditated or if it was a spur of the moment murder. In any case, I believe Mrs. Jabalee heard the argument and went into the garage - eating her cookie. I can't imagine the horror she must have felt as she saw Ron Jr. beating Mr. Jabalee with whatever weapon caused the "massive blunt force trauma to the head". Ron Sr. would have collapsed by now, and I believe that is when Ron Jr. turned his attention to his mother. I believe she was immediately hit in the head with whatever the weapon was. This would have caused her to fall from the stairs, and thus, the slippers would have slipped off. During the beating of Mrs. Jabelee, I believe Ron Sr. tried to crawl out of the garage. After Mrs. Jabalee was wounded enough to no longer be a threat, Ron Sr. was dragged back into the garage. Ron Jr. at this time was frustrated and alarmed that his father had crawled out of the garage, and that is what caused the decision to go into the kitchen and retrieve a knife and assure their death by stabbing them. Perhaps Mrs. Jabalee wrote the message while Ron Jr. was in the kitchen getting the knife. We do not know for sure that two knives were used, do we? There could have simply been an empty spot in the knife holder already. Upon returning to the garage from the kitchen, Ron Jr. saw the message his mother had written, and was probably furious that he was now going to have to clean up with a mop. If it had been a complete stranger that came to the house, I believe the stranger would have simply smeared the message rather than try to clean it up. The neat habbits that Mr. and Mrs. Jabalee had instilled in their children were deeply ingrained - right down to placing the hose back into it's rolled up position while cleaning up after their murder. Just a sad case, all the way around.

 

[Kimster]

Hi Burke!

to Websleuths! I learned a few things about this case from your posts! Thanks!

 

[Reannan]

Hey Burke! I didn't even notice that you were new to WS's. Welcome!!! Your post is excellent, and very well thought out. :clap: