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A West Philly resident who allegedly killed a housemate and torched her car in Grays Ferry will have a formal arraignment next month.
On Sept. 17, Jeremiah Jakson, 22, had his first day in court since his July 16 arrest for supposedly strangling 23-year-old Laura Araujo. At the preliminary hearing, authorities discussed a video-statement through which they contend Jakson said a female friend killed the recent Art Institute of Philadelphia graduate July 13 and that he assisted with the robbery of her laptop computer and camcorder, helped to dump her body in a North Philly lot and aided in the torching of her 2011 Toyota RAV4. Law enforcement agents located the automobile on the 1600 block of South Bambrey Street July 14.
Jakson and Araujo lived in the same rooming house in the Mantua section of Philadelphia, with police, using the detained individual’s supposed confession, saying the slaying occurred there. The medical examiner’s report noted someone had tied the victim’s ankles, neck, torso and wrists with cords and divulged strangulation as the cause of death. The document added Araujo’s face suffered from blunt-impact-trauma wounds, her head had swelling and a hand featured puncture wounds.
The search for answers led police to Jakson, who, they said, sought treatment at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for burns to his forearms and abdomen shortly after the discovery of the burning vehicle. At his hearing, Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni ordered Jakson to stand trial for abuse of a corpse, murder, robbery and related charges. Court records have his formal arraignment set for Oct. 8.
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