A Georgia widower has been charged with murdering his wife nearly 20 years ago — after their live-in nanny admitted having an affair with him that later saw them setting up home together overseas, according to authorities.
Father of three Jon Worrell, now 57, had reported finding his wife Doris Worrell, 39, after she was shot and killed in 2006 in “Jon’s Sports Park,” the recreation business they ran together in Douglas.
“Many believed he was a grieving husband and his wife was the victim of a robbery gone wrong,” said Jason Seacrist, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
However, “information was provided that implicated Jon” in his wife’s death — including the fact that the couple “were having marital issues,” the GBI said in announcing his arrest last week.
That “included Jon’s relationship with their live-in nanny, Paola Yarberry,” which left the cheating husband “concerned that a divorce from Doris would result in him losing his children,” the bureau said.
“Jon then began looking for someone to kill Doris,” the bureau alleged.
After the murder, the nanny was deported to Venezuela — but eventually moved to Costa Rica, where she set up home with the widower.
“They lived together as a couple and raised Jon and Doris’s children,” the GBI said.
Detectives eventually learned that they split, and the widower had returned to the US. Investigators traveled to Costa Rica, where Yarberry “eventually cooperated,” the GBI said.
Worrell was arrested in his Missouri home and extradited to Coffee County jail Thursday to be charged with malice murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated battery for the killing of his wife, prosecutors said.
Doris Worrell’s sister, LeAnn Tuggle, thanked investigators for their persistence.
She recalled her sister as a gifted artist and loving mother who had agreed to let the nanny live at her home because the young woman had nowhere else to stay.
“Sometimes she was too kind for her own good,” Tuggle said. “Her being kind is ultimately what caused her death.”
Two employees of the sports park owned by the Worrells — Glidden Rodriguez and Brandon Cage — had been arrested in 2008 for conspiracy to murder Doris, but the charges later dropped.
In 2008, two employees of the sports park owned by the Worrells, Glidden Rodriguez and Brandon Cage, were arrested for conspiracy to murder Doris — but charges were dropped after investigators found a lack of evidence, according to prosecutors. Rodriguez has since died.
Authorities are still trying to determine who pulled the trigger and fatally shot Doris Worrell, allegedly at her husband’s behest.
Worrell was denied bond during his first court appearance Friday. The sheriff said Worrell had no attorney at the hearing, but told a judge he planned to hire one.
With Post wires
