United States Marshals arrested Elijah Pulealii, 19, in Brisbane, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2022. Pulealii is suspected of killing Linda Tyrrell, 78, in Vallejo on Aug. 13, 2021. (Vallejo Police Department via Bay City News)
VALLEJO, Calif. - A 19-year-old man has been arrested for the brutal killing of a 78-year-old woman in Vallejo last year, police announced Thursday after a year-long investigation.
Elijah Pulealli, 19, was identified as the suspect in Linda Tyrrell's death and the Vallejo Police Department along with the U.S. Marshals Office took him into custody Wednesday.
Pulealli is being held without bail and the Solano County District Attorney's Office has charged him with murder, according to Vallejo police.
In a town plagued by gun violence, the death of Tyrrell in Vallejo that was discovered on Aug. 13, 2021 set the city especially on edge. Tyrrell was a small and frail elderly woman who lived alone and was killed in her home on University Avenue -- neighbors say she was found dead in her bathtub after being beaten. Pulealli stands 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 210 pounds, according to the jail booking log.
After news of her death emerged, social media erupted with worries that a cold-blooded killer could be on the loose in the Vallejo; how else to describe the murder of a woman her friends said was the kindest, gentlest person you'd ever want to meet and who neighbors described as an anchor in her Tennessee Manor neighborhood.
The silence about the murder from Vallejo police left some in town fearful that someone especially violent was living among them.
The Vallejo Police Officers' Association (VPOA) increased fear and speculation around her death when they responded to a department tweet reporting another homicide by tweeting, "Have they provided any updates to the suspicious death from the 13th that is also a murder? A woman murdered in her own home on the east side of town. Selective transparency?"
The VPOA has been a frequent critic of then-Police Chief Shawny Williams, who abruptly resigned from the department last month.
Neighbors say the suspect appeared to have gained entry to her house via a dining room window. It appeared that her home had been burglarized as well. Vallejo police have not released details of her case outside of a Facebook post on Aug. 13, 2021, describing her death as "suspicious."
Tyrrell had a small but loyal circle of friends, many of which she had met down at the Vallejo waterfront, where she liked to sit and chat with people. It was there that her friends held a memorial for her after her death; now her friends only have a photo of her taken in that same spot at the Marina before she was killed, a knit hat on her head and a terrier in her lap, smiling.
The Vallejo Police Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry about this case.