Ohio teen found guilty of bludgeoning 94-year-old woman to death with torch after attempting rape

An 18-year-old boy in Ohio is facing life in prison after he attacked and killed his nonagenarian neighbour. Jacob LaRosa was found guilty of the attempted rape and murder of 94-year-old Marie Belcastro at her home in Lafayette Avenue, Niles in 2015.

According to court documents, LaRosa pleaded no contest to charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and attempted rape. His sentencing hearing is expected to take place on 5 April.

Assistant county prosecutor Chris Becker told Judge W Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court that the suspect, 15 at the time of the murder, used a Mag torch to beat the victim to death. The teen later revealed to his fellow inmates at the Juvenile Justice Center that he had also attempted to rape Belcastro.

"This was just a horrific, horrific crime scene and a horrific bludgeoning of a woman that, by all accounts, was a wonderful woman. Certainly no one, let alone Mrs Belcastro, deserved the ending that she got to her life," Becker said in court.

WKBN reported that LaRosa was a neighbour of the victim and used to mow her lawn. A security camera also caught the suspect near Belcastro's home, the day of the attack.

The investigation report claimed that blood spatter and bloody footprints were located throughout the victim's home. Police later traced LaRosa back to his home where he was found with blood on his hands and underwear. He was vomiting in the bathroom at the time.

Court documents claim the incoherent young man was taken to a hospital after being identified as intoxicated.

Prior to the April sentencing, Judge McKay will hear additional arguments from both lawyers and review a report by the adult probation department regarding LaRosa. In the meanwhile, he ordered that the man be removed from juvenile detention and placed at Trumbull County Jail.