Crime & Safety

Accused Wife Killer Called 'Normal Working Man'

What is known about Robert Jarrett, charged with killing his wife and burying her body under his shed.


Robert Jarrett, who is  in Elkridge, burying her body and concealing the death for 21 years, was described by a neighbor as a regular guy who worked as a tradesman.

Jarrett was deemed a flight risk by a Howard County judge Friday, reported The Baltimore Sun, due to the severity of the charges. He is being held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center on first and second-degree murder charges.

After reporting his wife, Christine, missing in January 1991, Jarrett continued living in the home at 6050 Claire Drive in Elkridge, which he still owns, with his two sons.

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Jarrett told police that his wife left after a dispute over money, according to charging documents. But, according to police, the body of his wife and his sons' mother lay buried in the back yard for 21 years.

Said one neighbor: "He was a normal working man."

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Two weeks after Christine was reported missing, Jarrett poured fresh concrete inside a shed behind the Elkridge house, a relative told The Baltimore Sun.

On Wednesday, Howard County investigators unearthed the remains of Christine Ann Jarrett in the concrete.

“She was very fun, very vivacious, full of life,” Cindy Fryer, the Jarretts' next-door neighbor, told WJZ.

Robert Jarrett is estranged from his current wife, who is living at the house on Claire Drive and granted police permission to search the property.

Jarrett had been living in Prince Frederick, where he was arrested Wednesday on a traffic stop. On arrest, he showed no emotion, according to WBAL. He told police that he still lived at the Claire Drive home, according to charging documents. He was living with another woman in Prince Frederick, reported the Howard County Times.

This is his second time behind bars this year. Jarrett received a DUI on Route 97 in Anne Arundel County last May.

He's been employed at the same company as a steamfitter since 1989, reported The Baltimore Sun, but indicated he wasn't sure whether he still had a job since he is incarcerated.

As of Friday, the operator at W.E. Bowers, a Beltsville-based HVAC and construction company, told Patch that "Bob" Jarrett is still employed there, as is one of his sons.


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