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Washington County sheriff's deputies found Jacqueline Bell dead in her Cedar Mill home Oct. 5. By nightfall, investigators were processing her home for evidence.
(Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian)
Jacqueline Bell, 71, was found dead on her bedroom floor in Cedar Mill, her hair matted with blood, her body wrapped in sheets. A sledgehammer was nearby.
Court documents unsealed this week contain details of the homicide investigation that were not previously released.
Bell's great-grandson, Joda Cain, 17, and his cousin, Micus Ward, 19, face charges of aggravated murder in her death. Oregon State Police began pursuing the teens Oct. 5, after they were spotted in Bell's 2006 green Lexus traveling through eastern Oregon at speeds exceeding 130 mph. The sedan was stopped near La Grande.
According to court records, investigators found blood in both the driver and passenger sides of the car. Ward was arrested wearing a bloody shirt and pants.
The following details and statements to authorities come from court records:
Joda Cain
Cain's statements
Cain, who was driving Bell's car, identified himself to police, records say.
He knew Ward from when they both lived in Kansas City, Mo., he said. Cain told police that he’d learned earlier in the week that Ward was dying. He wanted to see Ward one last time, so he had his great-grandmother buy Ward a plane ticket. Ward arrived in Portland on Friday, Oct. 4.
In the early morning hours, Cain was at Bell’s home, where he was eating burritos with his cousin and a friend.
Ward left the two and went upstairs. Cain then heard his great-grandmother screaming for him, and he ran to help her. His friend took off.
In Bell’s bedroom, Cain said, he found Ward kneeling over her, gripping a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other. Ward reportedly told Cain to get out.
Cain noticed Ward was wearing his football gloves, which he told police they’d find in the trunk of the vehicle.
Cain left the room and said he thought he heard Ward strike Bell.
Soon after, Ward dropped the hammer and left the room. Cain said he followed Ward's instructions to drive them away from the house.
That night, Washington County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at Bell's home. In a clothes hamper in Cain's bedroom, they found a shirt with blood spatter across the front and blood smears in the fabric. The shirt appeared to be the right size for Cain, who jail records list as 5-foot-5 and 200 pounds.
Micus Ward
Ward's statements
Ward initially ran from the vehicle, records say. He was found soon after but initially refused to talk. State troopers identified him through fingerprints. Police noted his clothes appeared to be blood-stained.
Ward told police he was asleep before Cain woke him and said they should take Bell’s car for a drive.
Ward said Cain had sent him a text message days earlier saying Bell “was worth 7 million dollars and he wanted her dead.”
Ward denied touching a hammer or going into Bell’s room.
The investigation
Deputies documented Bell’s death at 9:21 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The first hint that something was wrong came about six hours earlier.
At 2:55 a.m. that day, an 18-year-old called police. He didn’t know where he was, but he’d just left his friend’s house after he heard screaming.
Through cellphone towers, dispatch determined the teen was calling from around Northwest 107th Avenue and Northwest Leahy Road.
He had heard screams and yelling about money, court records say. He didn’t know if weapons were involved. Deputies found the teen and gave him a ride back to his home in Aloha.
A little more than five hours later, court records say, the teen’s mother called police. She couldn’t reach Bell, and she was concerned. Deputies were dispatched to check on Bell at 8:16 a.m.
Another deputy went to speak to the caller and her son – the friend who reportedly fled Bell’s home after he heard screams.
Cain's friend told the deputy that he and Cain had met Ward at the Portland airport on Oct. 4. They went back to Bell's house, where Cain was living. The friend fell asleep and woke later to find five other people were hanging out at the house.
At about 1 a.m., Oct. 5, the five others left. The friend remained and again fell asleep.
The friend said he woke at about 2 a.m. to the sound of screaming. He saw Cain running upstairs. He estimated the screaming continued for two minutes before he fully woke up, grabbed his phone and left.
When deputies knocked on Bell’s door and no one answered, they spoke to neighbors. By 9:15 a.m., they were preparing to enter the house through an unlocked back door. At the same time, state police also requested a welfare check on Bell because the speeding vehicle they’d stopped near La Grande was registered to her; Cain and Ward were in custody.
Deputies noticed a shovel by the back door of Bell’s home. In the master bedroom, they found her, wrapped in sheets, near a large amount of blood. She was pale. She was cold to the touch. A deputy noted clear signs of blunt-force trauma.
“He later wondered whether the perpetrator contemplated burying the victim using the shovel he had seen,” says an affidavit for search warrant.
Investigators found what appeared to be blood, according to the search warrant return, on the floor of the bedroom, hall, entryway, basement, kitchen and garage. There was blood on a pillow and pillowcase. A yellow and black sledgehammer was found on Bell’s bedroom floor, leaning against the bed.
-- Emily E. Smith