Second Suspect Identified in Teenager’s Strangulation
The Santa Monica Police Department has named a second suspect in the strangulation of a 14-year-old girl whose blanket-wrapped body was found in the basement of an abandoned building, officials said.
The police are looking for a 23-year-old man who goes by the name Jimmy Ronald Turner, or by the nickname Linus, said Lt. Gary Gallinot. )
Turner is described as a white male, 6-foot-1, with brown eyes and hair, he said, and has a band tattoo on his left biceps and a tattoo of eyes on his chest. He may be wearing prescription glasses with one cracked lens, police said.
“The suspect is known to frequent areas where runaways stay and congregate,” Gallinot said.
The body of Shevawn Geoghegan, a ninth-grader at North Hills Preparatory School, was found Feb. 26 in a deserted mental health clinic on Euclid Avenue. She had been missing from her home for two days.
The first suspect, Jason Allen Ballis, 22, a transient from Florida who had threatened Shevawn in the past, is being held on $1 million bail.
“We believe both men participated in the murder,” Gallinot said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
