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JAMIE JONESThe mother of one of the suspects in the killing of Josephine Nuvolone is found and arrested near Chicago.
PORT RICHEY - Pasco sheriff's detectives didn't have a hard time finding the third suspect in the killing of a 67-year-old Port Richey woman.
Jolene Marie Elkin had gone home.
Detectives found the 33-year-old Port Richey woman at her father's house in the Chicago suburbs early Thursday morning and arrested her on a charge of first-degree murder. Elkin's 16-year-old son, David, also has been charged with murder.
The Sheriff's Office believes that Elkin, her son and Gary Lee Farrington, 19, killed Josephine Nuvolone while stealing a prescription painkiller, Dilaudid, from her condominium on Monday.
Detectives said the teenagers told them that Jolene Elkin had purchased Dilaudid from Nuvolone before and knew where she kept the pills. Jolene Elkin went to the door and after the woman answered, the teenagers pushed their way inside, detectives said.
The teens tied the woman with a dog leash while Jolene Elkin searched the condominium. Farrington told detectives that he wrapped his arm around the woman's throat. The three left with pills, two guns and a telephone, so that Nuvolone could not call for help, detectives said.
When Nuvolone did not show up for work in the county permitting department on Tuesday morning, two co-workers drove to her home and found Nuvolone dead in her living room.
Detectives expect to bring Elkin, of 8608 Frontier Trail, back from Chicago today. She will be booked at the Land O'Lakes jail without bail.
Farrington already is held there without bail, while David Elkin, a Hudson High student, is held at the juvenile assessment center.
Jolene Elkin's younger brother, Bill, who lives in Bolingbrook, Ill., said he was not surprised to hear about the arrest.
"She's probably the biggest loser on the planet," he said of his sister.
Jolene Elkin's siblings said she has long struggled with drug addiction and has had repeated brushes with the law.
Elkin's younger brother said she called their father earlier this week and said she needed to leave Florida immediately. Her father bought her a plane ticket to Chicago, Bill Elkin said.
He said his sister called him around dinner time on Wednesday after drinking a six pack of beer at their father's house. She sounded panicked and said her son had been arrested for murder. She said she had nothing to do with it.
Bill Elkin didn't believe her.
"I've been waiting for this to happen. . . . I don't believe for one second that she's anything but guilty," he said.
Jolene Elkin grew up in the Chicago suburbs, one of five children. Her father was in elevator construction; Her mother stayed home with the children, Bill Elkin said.
Jolene Elkin started smoking marijuana when she was 11 or 12 and quickly moved on to other drugs, he said. She dropped out of high school after her freshman year, he said.
The atmosphere inside the family home was not always peaceful, and the other four children looked for ways to escape, said Elkin's older sister, Diane.
But Jolene Elkin acted out, tried to shock her parents to get attention, Diane Elkin said.
She was placed in a mental health facility for a while, and attended schools for special needs students, Bill Elkin said.
Relatives said Jolene Elkin had a hard time fitting in.
"She might have been not quite right," said her sister, Diane. "She just wasn't like everybody else. She looked normal, but she didn't act normal."
Elkin had her first child, David, when she was 17. She had trouble raising him.
David went to live with Diane Elkin.
She said he was a sweet child, recalls him playing with Ninja Turtles, said he was good at wrestling and drawing.
His mother came back into his life several years ago, and the two became close.
About that time, David started doing drugs and getting into trouble, Diane Elkin said. About two years ago, he moved to Florida to live with his mother, she said.
Jolene Elkin had good periods and bad, her sister said.
When she was off drugs, she was witty, not afraid to laugh at herself, Diane Elkin said.
"She was the entertaining one," she said. "She could come in and entertain anyone with mannerisms, the way she would tell a story. She would do anything for you."
Jolene Elkin on drugs was a different person, her sister said.
"We didn't tolerate it," Diane Elkin said. "She was too vile to be around. She would just hurt you. Everything was a lie."
After David, Jolene Elkin had three more children, now living with relatives or in state custody, relatives said.
"We kind of gave up hope on Jolene," Diane Elkin said.
Sheriff's Detective Pete Weekes said he is still trying to determine how Jolene Elkin knew Josephine Nuvolone. He said he did not yet know for sure whether Nuvolone was selling drugs.
"That's what the bad guys are saying, but she's not here to defend herself," Weekes said.
The teens also said that Jolene Elkin had purchased drugs from Nuvolone's husband, Raymond, before he died of cancer in February.
Josephine Nuvolone's friends said they do not believe that the friendly, outgoing woman was selling drugs.
Meanwhile, Jolene Elkin's siblings said they are sorry about any pain their sister may have caused.
"We are so sorry about the people she hurt," Diane Elkin said. "I definitely think it's Jolene's fault. Everything that happens is Jolene's fault."
Farrington and David Elkin had their first court hearings in the case Thursday. The hearings were brief, just long enough for Pasco County Judge Marc Salton to read the charges, appoint lawyers and order the teens held without bail.
The judge appointed a public defender to represent Farrington. David Elkin, who told the judge he had $17 to his name, will be represented by a court-appointed private attorney, at public expense.
Prosecutors have not announced whether they will charge David Elkin as a juvenile or an adult. That decision will not be made until prosecutors review the evidence, said Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis.
- Staff writer Cary Davis contributed to this report. Jamie Jones covers crime in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. Her e-mail address is jjones@sptimes.com