Neighbors Say They Always Suspected Accused Elkridge Man In His Wife's 1991 Murder
ELKRIDGE, Md. (WJZ)-- New details about a 21-year-old murder case just cracked in Howard County. People who knew the missing woman and her accused husband say there was reason to suspect him all along.
Monique Griego has insight from their community.
Neighbors say they always thought Robert Jarrett had killed his wife Christine Jarrett. But without a body there wasn't much they or police could do.
A Howard County home with a disturbing secret hidden under a shed for 21 years. It would take help from Robert Jarrett's second wife to finally unravel the mystery of what happened to his first wife, Christine Jarrett, missing since 1991.
"She was a lot of fun. Very vivacious, full of life," Robert Jarrett's neighbor Cindy Fryer said.
Not long after Christine Jarrett disappeared, Cindy Fryer saw Robert Jarrett pouring concrete in the shed. But police never had enough evidence to get a search warrant. While the case went cold, neighbors' suspicions never did.
"I've had a difficult relationship with him over the years," Cindy Fryer said.
According to the charging documents, one determined detective never gave up hope. And when he found out Robert Jarrett had separated from his second wife and moved out of the house, detectives moved in and asked to search the shed. There they found Christine Jarrett's remains buried beneath floorboards and concrete.
By many accounts, the couple's two boys, who were 5 and 11 at the time, grew up surrounded by people who thought their father killed their mother. One of them now lives in an Elkridge neighborhood but we were unable to reach him for a comment.
"I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt but in the back of my mind, I kind of always thought it was a possibility," Jeremy Fryer, Robert Jarrett's neighbor, said.
Jeremy Fryer is still friends with Robert Jarrett's sons and says the boys are reliving the pain of losing their mother while trying to deal with the murder charges against their father.
"It's a really rough situation. I don't know how people can deal with that," he said.
Family members say they're still in the process of working out funeral arrangements for Christine Jarrett.
Robert Jarrett was arraigned on Friday and the judge in the case denied him bail. He remains in custody charged with first- and second-degree murder.
