Man sought in killings arrested
Published 11:07 am Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The man sought in the triple homicide here last week has been arrested in Florida on a drug trafficking warrant.
Paul J. Balmer, 47, of 3407 Back Road, Franklin Furnace, was apprehended by Clay County Sheriff’s office in Green Cove Springs, Fla., on Sunday, according to a release from Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini.
Donini had called Balmer a “person of interest” in the shooting deaths of Ed Mollett, 46, Juanita Mollett, 43, and their daughter, Christina Mollett, 20, at the couple’s trailer on Snook Road on Dec. 22.
The 6-year-old grandson of the older couple and nephew of Christina Mollett had witnessed the shooting, according to authorities. The young boy ran to neighbors for help.
When sheriff’s deputies and detectives arrived at the trailer, they found the bodies of Juanita and Christina Mollett in the living room and the body of Ed Mollett in the kitchen.
Later that night Kara M. Garvin, 29, whom the sheriff’s office calls Balmer’s live-in girlfriend, turned herself in to authorities. She has been charged with three counts of aggravated murder and is lodged in Scioto County Jail on a million and a half dollar bond.
The victims and Garvin appear to have known each other, according to Donini, who called the murders “a crime of opportunity.”
A preliminary hearing is set for Garvin at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Portsmouth Municipal Court.
Currently, Balmer is lodged in the Clay County Jail.