John Peyton Scott III Alabama man arrested in Helena double murders of his girlfriend, Sharon Tarwater Whited and her father, Chester ‘Chuck’ Tarwater Jr.
An Alabama man wanted in the double murders of his girlfriend and her 75-year-old father last week in Helena, was captured Monday in Florida.
John Peyton Scott III, 41, was taken into custody in St. Johns County, St Augustine, early Monday afternoon.
The wanted man’s arrest followed investigators with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, receiving information Scott could be traveling in the area AL.com reported.
Deputies located the suspect’s vehicle and performed a PIT maneuver in the area of IGP and I-95 where the wanted man immediately surrendered.
Scott is being held in the St. Johns County Jail.
Suspect lived in the same house as murder victims
Detectives with the Helena Police Department and the task force were making travel arrangements for Scott to be brought back to Shelby County according to the Shelby Counter Reporter.
Scott was charged with capital murder in the Jan. 19 deaths of Chester ‘Chuck’ Tarwater Jr. and 40-year-old Sharon Tarwater Whited.
The father and daughter, who Scott dated, were found slain Wednesday afternoon by Tarwater’s 12-year-old grandson inside their Piney Woods Road home in Helena. Tarwater was found in the hallway and Whited in another room in the house.
Authorities declined to say how the father and daughter were killed.
Scott was Tarwater Whited’s boyfriend and lived at the home with the family. At the time of the slayings, police described Scott as armed and dangerous.
He was listed in the BOLO as a capital murder suspect and according to a weekend twitter post was described as likely to be armed with a long gun and a handgun.
According to the BOLO, Scott was to be considered armed and to be approached with caution. The alert said Scott is known to take antipsychotic and antidepressant medications and known to experience hallucinations.
Suspect didn’t have prior criminal history
The bulletins also said evidence found at the murder scene led them to believe Scott may have been injured.
Of note, Scott did not have a prior criminal history. No known motive for the slayings was given.
The Tarwater family moved to Helena after their home in western Jefferson County was destroyed in the 2011 tornado outbreak. The family was initially from the Pleasant Grove area.
Tarwater Whited was the mother of two daughters, who were with their father at the time of the slayings, but she was also helping to raise to her two nephews after the death of their father, who was her brother.
Tarwater’s wife, who suffers dementia, was home at the time of the killings but unharmed.
The Shelby County Major Crimes Task Force is assisting in the investigation. The task force includes detectives from Pelham, Alabaster, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Hoover and Montevallo.
