A retired Army captain missing for more than a month has been declared dead — and authorities have arrested her ex-husband on suspicion of murder.
Julia Jacobson, a 37-year-old Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq, was last seen on Sept. 2 and was reported missing to police in San Diego, where she lived. A subsequent investigation led police roughly 100 miles away to Ontario, Calif., where detectives believe she was murdered based on a forensic analysis of her car, according to the Ontario Police Department.
Police have not recovered Jacobson’s body or the remains of her dog, a Wheaten Terrier named Boogie who was with her when she disappeared. Investigators haven’t revealed a possible motive either.
Jacobson’s ex-husband, Dalen Larry Ware, was arrested Friday at his home in Laveen, Ariz., and will be transferred to San Bernardino County sometime this week to face murder charges, Ontario police said.
Jacobson, who worked in 7-Eleven’s corporate offices, was last seen at 8 p.m. on Sept. 2 in Ontario, roughly 90 minutes before a friend received a text message from Jacobson saying she was planning to travel to Big Bear Lake, a mountain resort town. Her abandoned and unlocked SUV — which still had the keys inside — was found five days later in San Diego, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Jacobson’s relatives said “words cannot express the pain and anguish.”
“The loss of Julia is beyond words,” the family’s Facebook post reads. “There will be no more birthday parties, backyard gatherings, holiday celebrations or other family activities to share. The laughter, hugs, guidance and our sense of security are forever gone and our family’s hearts will be forever broken.”
Chad Kuntz, Jacobson’s brother-in-law, said her disappearance was especially tough on her family after her mother died in February from breast cancer.
“She started calling her father daily after her mother passed to make sure he was doing OK and just to chat and give him someone to talk to and those calls just stopped,” Kuntz told The Dickinson Press last month.