LOGAN — Four months to the day the badly decomposed body of Tiffany Britt Jarmon was identified, family members learned of a possible break in the case.
Her mother said Friday she was "relieved and elated" to hear of an arrest in connection with her daughter's death.
Robert Warren Ferretti, 42, was arrested in Pueblo, Colo., Friday and booked into jail for investigation of murder. Cache County sheriff's deputies arrived in Colorado late Friday to continue their investigation, and they hope to extradite Ferretti to Logan.
"This case has spread far and wide for us," Cache County Sheriff's Lt. Matt Bilodeau said. "We can't express enough gratitude for the help we received from so many agencies."
Jarmon's body was found in Logan Canyon in early November, and investigators believe she had been dead for up to two weeks. Bilodeau called the investigation into the death an extremely complex and grueling case but said that after a lot of hard work "we got a little bit of a break."
During a news conference Friday, Bilodeau said Jarmon and Ferretti were acquaintances, but a search warrant filed in 3rd District Court in February provides additional details.
In the warrant, used to seize a former SUV Ferretti owned, a former roommate of Jarmon told investigators to "look into" Ferretti, who she said was Jarmon's ex-boyfriend and that he "was the father of Tiffany's last child that she gave up for adoption," the search warrant said.
When questioned about Jarmon's death, Ferretti told investigators "it's possible" that her blood would be found in his vehicle, because Jarmon rarely wore shoes and she could have bled from common "cuts on her hands and feet," the warrant states.
Ferretti's red Toyota 4 Runner was found at a salvage yard in the Salt Lake area and the man who originally collected it "stated the passenger seat was gone when he picked it up," according to the warrant.
The detective wrote that he "saw a dark pool of possible dried blood in one of the recesses of the door panel," and some dark stains in other places. Carpet on the passenger side of the vehicle had been removed, the warrant states.
In late February, detectives told the Deseret News that in an effort to solve the killing sooner, they had hired a private company to examine some of its DNA evidence.
Speaking by phone from Denver, Jarmon's mother Becky Jarmon remembered her daughter as "one of the kindest, softest souls on earth."
"I have got a hole in my heart where my daughter used to be," she said.
As the Cache County Sherriff's Office continues to gather evidence and speak with possible witnesses in this case, Bilodeau acknowledged that there are still many unanswered questions. The weapon used in Jarmon's death has not yet been recovered, and it is unclear exactly how long Jarmon had been dead before her body was discovered. Because of the temperature, moisture and condition of the body, they are also uncertain whether she was shot in the face or in the back of the head.
Detectives are likewise unsure whether Jarmon was killed in the canyon or was taken to Birch Glen after she was died.
"It is not like 'CSI,' " Bilodeau said. "There are lots of parts of this we're still trying to wrap up."
Bilodeau said that Ferretti is one of as many as five persons of interest in this case.
Although Ferretti's arrest will not bring back Becky Jarmon's daughter, it does give her some closure in what she describes as a "nightmare."
"I don't want anyone like that on the street," she said of Ferretti.
E-mail: hellojenniferc@msn.com; jhancock@desnews.com