Slaying suspects to be tried in Adams County

RED CLOUD, Neb. (AP) - A mother and her son charged with killing a 68-year-old southern Nebraska woman will be tried in Adams County.

A Webster County judge on Tuesday ordered the change of venue for Shelley and Andrew Casterline, the Hastings Tribune said (https://bit.ly/11KCE3E ). They’ve pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the slaying of Virginia Barone.

Court filings say Shelley Casterline wanted her trial moved because the Webster County Courthouse doesn’t have adequate facilities to accommodate jurors, witnesses and lawyers for a first-degree murder trial.

The Casterlines are accused of stabbing Barone to death on Oct. 4. Her body was found partially covered by boards in her Guide Rock home the next day. An autopsy showed she’d been stabbed twice in the back and 20 times in the chest and torso.

Barone’s son, Ronald Jamilowski, was Shelley Casterline’s live-in boyfriend. Investigators have said Casterline, 41, acknowledged that she’d killed Barone after the older woman had made comments that enraged her.

Andrew Casterline, 23, told an investigator he’d been present when his mother stabbed Barone. The investigator said he suspected Andrew Casterline also had stabbed Barone because the young man had cuts on his hands consistent with someone wielding a knife.

The Casterlines were arrested Oct. 5 in Newton, Iowa. Police said the two had been traveling in a sport utility vehicle stolen in Cass County, Neb., earlier that day.

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Information from: Hastings Tribune, https://www.hastingstribune.com