PHILADELPHIA, July 17 (UPI) -- A fired security guard decided to kill his neighbor in a Philadelphia rooming house because he thought the young woman had money, police said.
Jeremiah Jakson, 22, was charged Wednesday with the murder of Laura Araujo, 23. Araujo's body was found early Monday stuffed in a duffel bag and dumped on front of an abandoned house in North Philadelphia while her car, a Toyota Rav4, was set on fire in South Philadelphia.
Jakson was arrested at a hospital where he was being treated for burns.
AlliedBarton Security Services said Jakson was fired last month for poor performance. Investigators said he apparently believed Araujo had money because of her car.
Her brother, Lorenzo Araujo, said the car was a gift from her parents.
"She never had money because she didn't believe in it. She called herself a minimalist. She just had enough to get by," he told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Araujo was a recent graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia. She had a degree in fashion marketing but her father said the devout Christian was still searching for something she "absolutely loved."
Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Jakson was not thinking straight.
"Why do you think someone who is living in a rooming house like you has money? When someone is so callous about life, it's unbelievable, no matter how long you have been doing this," he said.
