SOMERSET, Pa. — The 23-year-old Meyersdale man accused of killing Justine Marie Jackson, 19, and dumping her body under the Keystone Viaduct along the Great Allegheny Passage trail in Larimer Township was arrested without incident at about dawn Wednesday in Jefferson Parish, La.
Jonathan William Beal, who is charged with criminal homicide in the death of Jackson, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The arrest was made in Marrero, a suburb of New Orleans.
Beal was found hiding in a bathroom, according to Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Ted Goins, the lead investigator in the case assigned to the Somerset barrack.
Beal was arrested after the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force acted on intelligence information that Beal was possibly at a female friend’s residence at 817 Avenue F in Marrero.
Police converged on the location at about 6 a.m. and made the arrest without incident.
Following the arrest, Beal was jailed at the Jefferson Parrish Correctional Center, according to Jefferson Parrish Sheriff Newell Normand.
Jackson’s body was found Sunday at 12:30 p.m. by a person walking the trail. She was a former resident of Ellerslie and a student at Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg. She graduated in 2010 from the Allegany County Center for Career and Technical Education as a graphics/communication student.
Positive identification of the body was announced by state police in a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Somerset barrack.
Police said Jackson died of homicide by ligature strangulation.
Latest news
Related Photos
-
JONATHAN BEAL
Police find accused Pa. killer in La.
Man, 23, wanted in connection with homicide near Somerset
- Latest news
-
-
U.S., Taliban to start talks on ending 12-year conflict
The Taliban and the U.S. said Tuesday they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, as the international coalition formally handed over control of the country’s security to the Afghan army and police.
-
Jury selected in Bedford County manslaughter case
A Bedford man charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a western Bedford County man he called his best friend will attempt to convince a jury that he should not be held responsible for his death.
-
Grim: ‘I want to see things through’
Mayor Brian Grim made it official Tuesday when he filed the required paperwork to seek a second term as mayor of Cumberland.
-
Canal Place authority pursuing plan to develop branding, marketing strategy
The Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority voted Tuesday to pursue a plan of action to develop a branding and marketing strategy for the tourism hub and surrounding Canal Place Heritage Area.
-
Historic bell to toll for West Virginia's 150th anniversary
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A bell that rang on June 20, 1863, to herald the news of West Virginia achieving statehood will ring again to mark the state’s 150th anniversary.
-
New York man injured in 40-foot fall from Gunter Hotel
FROSTBURG — A 53-year-old New York man was found unconscious on Main Street late Monday after he apparently fell from the third-floor balcony area of the Gunter Hotel, according to the Frostburg Police Department.
-
Local doctor named West Virginia’s most loyal
The West Virginia University School of Medicine Alumni Association has named a local physician as its 2013 Most Loyal West Virginia Physician.
-
Scouts reunite after 55 years
Eighteen boys left Cumberland on July 4, 1958, to travel by train to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M., for a two-week adventure of a lifetime. Fifty-five years later, 10 men of Explorer Post 10 reunited at the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg on April 27.
-
City police arrest suspect in gunshot incident
CUMBERLAND — Gunshots were heard early Sunday morning in the area of Furnace and Valley streets and Cumberland Police found a handgun nearby after taking Gerald Allen Moore, 23, of Cumberland into custody.
-
Hospitals release information for safety report
Maryland hospitals had fewer reports of serious adverse events in fiscal 2012 compared to the year before but an increase in suicides, according to the Office of Health Care Quality in Baltimore’s annual Hospital Patient Safety Report.
- More Latest news Headlines
-
U.S., Taliban to start talks on ending 12-year conflict
