“Ive fallen for a girl, her name is jessica scholl and i wouldnt want it any other way for the rest of my life i wanna be with her, also love soccer and working :P”
Those words remained on Jarod Lane’s Facebook page the day that he is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend and setting her house on fire.
Jessica Scholl, 17, was violently attacked in her home the morning of May 25, just a week after she broke off a two-year relationship with Lane, 19, according to court documents. King County prosecutors in Scholl’s death.
Friends of the two teens say Lane took the breakup especially hard, according to court documents.
Brian Hanson, a “good friend” of Scholl’s parents, who also worked with Lane, told police that Lane spoke of getting back together with Scholl, of a gold necklace with a flower motif and diamond that he’d recently bought to give her. Hanson also reported that Lane claimed to have cut himself following the breakup and was “talking about killing himself.”
Close friends of both reported that Lane “had not reacted well to the breakup and was distraught and depressed.” Lane’s friends said they saw cut marks on his arms during the week leading to Scholl’s killing, and Lane later said “he cut himself due to the breakup.”
Scholl, who attended Lindbergh High School, knew Lane was having trouble after she ended the relationship. On May 16, she told a former boyfriend, Aundre Ruth, whom she’d recently re-connected with via text, that Lane had taken the breakup hard, according to a probable cause statement from a Renton police detective.
Court documents lay out the last hours of Scholl’s and Lane’s relationship.
A friend of Scholl’s, Haley Barnes, told investigators that around 2 p.m. on May 24, Lane had called her to say he planned to visit Scholl on Friday afternoon. Barnes said Lane seemed “very upset,” and she got the impression that he was hoping to “win Jessica back.”
Instead of visiting on Friday afternoon, Lane arrived at Scholl’s home early in the morning just after her parents left but before the start of school.
Scholl then turned to her former boyfriend, Ruth, for help at about 6:15 a.m., asking him to speak with Lane because “Jarod won’t leave me alone.” Around 6:20 a.m., Ruth said he called Lane, who was crying and said he was outside Scholl’s house and “wanted to see her face one last time.” Lane told Ruth that if he could see Scholl, he’d leave her alone. Ruth then called Scholl and told her to call police, according to the court documents. But Scholl said she believed Lane would “just go away” if she opened the door and yelled at him. Ruth didn’t hear from either one of the teens for about 30 minutes.
A 16-year-old Lindbergh student told police later that he’d seen Lane and Scholl yelling at each other on the front porch of Scholl’s home at 6:40 a.m. as he walked to campus Friday morning.
At 7:30 a.m., Lane called Ruth and said in a very calm voice something along the lines of, “…maybe you should ask her out again, she needs someone, hey you should ask her out.”
Firefighters were called at 7:54 a.m. to a fire at Scholl’s home. As they searched the home, they found Scholl lying on the kitchen floor with numerous injuries.
According to court documents, the King County Medical Examiner concluded that Scholl’s death was the result of multiple stab wounds, blunt force injuries and potential strangulation, and that she likely died before the fire started. Police found multiple weapons used in the attack, including broken kitchen knives, a dented frying pan with the handle snapped off and an “apparent fireplace tool.”
Lane, who was arrested Monday in Oklahoma City, told several people, including his mother, that he killed Scholl, according to court documents.
Prior to Lane’s capture, police hinted at the possibility of domestic violence at a candlelight memorial for Scholl last Sunday.
Memorial Service Set for Jessica Scholl
, 16426 128th Ave Southeast, Renton, WA 98058, on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 1:00 pm.
The familiy asks that in lieu of flowers, remembrances be made to the “Jessica Scholl Benevolent Fund," which has been set up at BECU. A portion will be donated to support domestic or teen violence victim programs in Renton. Sympathy cards may be sent to Douglas and Stephanie Scholl at P.O. Box 1942; Auburn, WA 98071-1942.
