Update: Teen arrested in 2021 murder of 78-year-old Vallejo woman
VALLEJO -- Homicide investigators have arrested a 19-year-old for the August 2021 killing of a 78-year-old Vallejo woman.
Since April, police have been searching for the suspect, Elijah Pulealii, after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
During the police investigation, evidence identified Pulealii as the suspect responsible for the murder of Linda Tyrrell.
She was found on dead in a residence on the 200 block of University Ave. An autopsy performed on Tyrrell determined she died as a result of an assault.
In April, Vallejo police detectives presented the case to the Solano County District Attorney's Office, which filed homicide charges against Pulealii.
This week, the U.S. Marshals Office agreed to assist with the search and apprehension of the suspect.
On Wednesday, he was located and arrested in Brisbane and transported and booked into the Solano County Jail.
In a town plagued by gun violence, Tyrrell's death put local residents on edge. She was a small and frail elderly woman who lived alone and was killed in her home. Neighbors say she was found dead in her bathtub after being beaten.
After news of her death emerged, social media erupted with worries that a cold-blooded killer could be on the loose in the Vallejo.
The silence about the murder from Vallejo police left some in town fearful that someone especially violent was living among them.
Neighbors say the suspect appeared to have gained entry to her house via a dining room window. It appeared that her home had been burglarized as well. Vallejo police have not released details of her case outside of a Facebook post on Aug. 13, 2021, describing her death as "suspicious."
Tyrrell had a small but loyal circle of friends, many of which she had met down at the Vallejo waterfront, where she liked to sit and chat with people. It was there that her friends held a memorial for her after her death; now her friends only have a photo of her taken in that same spot at the Marina before she was killed, a knit hat on her head and a terrier in her lap, smiling.
