A few weeks ago, a woman from Massachusetts began to sense something scary about her new Facebook friend.
She'd been chatting with Arnell Yearwood, a 26-year-old New Jersey drifter, but had never met him in the "real world." And when he sent her messages that seemed suspicious, she started searching the internet, police say.
That's when she read about the death of Diane Zaleski, a sweet and gregarious 54-year-old woman who was killed in her Union Township home in November 2010. Zaleski's slaying was so gruesome a medical examiner couldn't determine how she died, just that her killer had inflicted "wounds upon wounds upon wounds" with more than one weapon.
The woman from Massachusetts put two-and-two together and phoned detectives in New Jersey. They immediately drove to New England to see her and, they now say, unraveled one of the most brutal and perplexing homicides Union County has seen in recent years.
Investigators had cleared some 100 suspects during their year-long investigation, but when they heard about the Facebook messages, they knew Yearwood "clearly was the murderer," Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said at a news conference Monday announcing the man's arrest. He would not elaborate.
It took cops several weeks to capture Yearwood, who they say bounces from sofa to sofa and isn't easy to pin down. But, with the help of the State Police, the county's homicide task force tracked Yearwood to a Vauxhall Avenue house in Union Township where he was removing carpets. He was arrested Saturday as he left the home.
He is now charged with murder and is being held on $1 million bail at the Union County jail. A thin and short man with a scruffy black beard, Yearwood was led from the prosecutor's office Monday afternoon in handcuffs and beige jail uniform. He wore a stern look as three police officers led him to a black sedan and past journalists who'd been at the news conference.
The Zaleski family reacted with relief after Yearwood's arrest was announced. They've been living through hell since her death, said her niece Marisa Iannarone, who spoke at the news conference as her family crowded around her.
"Diane was such a loving, caring, generous and beautiful woman, and was depended on by so many. Today's news has been long awaited. Although Diane is not with us, justice will finally be served. His inconceivable actions have been haunting us endlessly," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Now we can turn our focus to the courts and ensure he never sees the light of day again."
This is the second arrest the Union County Prosecutor's Office has made in the past week involving a cold case. Both, it turns out, share a chilling trait: The alleged killers lived or stayed near the victim's home.
Family of murder victim Diane Zaleski find justice Family of murder victim Diane Zaleski speak at a press conference with Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow who announced a break in the case. Zalesk's family including niece Marisa Iannarone, who made a brief statement, joined Romankow and law enforcement to announced the arrest of Arnell Yearwood, who has been charged in the murder. (Video by Jennifer Brown /The Star-Ledger) Watch video Last Tuesday, Romankow announced the arrest of a 51-year-old man charged with the 1976 slaying of Lena Triano, a secretary found raped, beaten, strangled and stabbed to death in her Westfield home. The prosecutor said he could not publicly name the man under the juvenile law that existed in 1976. But The Star-Ledger learned through law enforcement sources the suspect is Carlton R. Franklin, who lived directly behind Triano and was 15 at the time of her death.
In the Zaleski case, it turned out Yearwood had been staying with his mother on Laurana Road — the same short, dead-end street where the victim lived. It's still a mystery what motive he had and whether the two had ever met, the prosecutor said.
Yearwood's family did not reveal that he had been staying there when they spoke to police after the killing, Romankow said, adding he does not know whether it was an innocent omission or something left out intentionally. No one answered the door at the mother's home Monday.
"If we had known a little sooner about this fellow being over at his mom's house, it might have helped," he said. "Fortunately, we don't believe he did any other type of crime of this sort in between."
The friend from Massachusetts told police Yearwood was planning to meet another Facebook friend in Chicago. The woman, who Romankow did not identify, warned the woman about what she'd found. Romankow would not reveal what information Yearwood had shared with the woman from Massachusetts, but he called it "incriminating."
He also wouldn't specifically say what other evidence led to the arrest, but noted the Union County Sheriff's Office had recovered forensic evidence that was processed by the county's crime laboratory. Those agencies played a key a role in Yearwood being charged with murder, he said.
Related coverage:
• One year after brutal Union Township murder, authorities still look for suspects
• Friends anxiously await answers in Union woman's murder
• Police say Union Twp. woman found dead in home was killed
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