Updated:  Court Records Reveal More About Jeep Wrangler in Attorney Hit and Run Case

A search warrant reveals a possible suspect in the hit and run death of Roanoke attorney Tom Farrell, who police in Floyd County know very well.

The warrant, on file in Roanoke City Circuit Court, names Jeffrey Martin Young as the possible driver of a 1998 white Jeep Wrangler investigators impounded Monday afternoon.

Young is accused of running down and beating a woman in a supermarket parking lot in Floyd January 30th.

Police have not ruled out the fact Young being near the Farrell hit and run scene as being a complete coincidence.

The search warrant reveals Roanoke County police received several calls about a white Jeep over a period of several days prior to Farrell being hit.

One tipster mentioned the driver of the Jeep might have been involved in some sort of altercation with a jogger.

Another person told police they saw the Jeep at a nearby convenience store the morning Farrell was hit.  The caller reported seeing front end damage to the Jeep, according to the search warrant.

The warrant reads Young was driving a different vehicle when he is accused of hitting the woman in Floyd, but Floyd County sheriff’s deputies told Roanoke County they did know him to drive a white Jeep Wrangler.
 
Investigators state in the warrant they are unable to account for Young’s whereabouts around the time Farrell was struck.

A police officer found Young sitting in the Jeep in the parking lot of the Country Store at the corner of Starkey Road and Penn Forest at 3 AM January 28th, about two and a half hours before Farrell was hit.

Since Young was not committing a crime, Roanoke County police had no reason to detain him.

Officers in the area started noticing Young and his white Jeep as early as January 25th.

Some eyewitnesses started calling 911 about Young’s alleged erratic driving and behavior in the area around that same date.
 
Employees at the Country Store called police on January 28th about four hours after Farrell was hit after saying Young was “acting creepy” in the store parking lot.

They noticed front end damage to his Jeep and by that time knew about what happened to Farrell.

Around 9 AM on that day, employees say Young left for about ten minutes in a cab.

They took the opportunity to be detectives.

“We decided to go check the Jeep out so we sort of went around there and looked,“ recalls store employee Patricia Scruggs.

One of the employees wrote down the license plate number, JEC-8971, the same one police announced they were looking for Monday afternoon.

The store manager recalls seeing Young still in his Jeep when she left work around 5 PM on January 28th.

A day later, in the parking lot of Source 4, a local printing business, the warehouse manager noticed a white Jeep in the employee parking area.

The business sits beside the Country Store.  Employees share the same parking lot.

No one was around.

He immediately called a tow truck, Robert Young’s Towing.

Robert Young’s Towing took the Jeep to its Roanoke garage.

On February 4th, county police started calling various tow services in the Roanoke area and found the Jeep in question at Robert Young’s Towing.

An investigator noticed front end damage and “reddish orange” marks on the front of the vehicle, according to the warrant.

Farrell was wearing an orange vest at the time he was hit.

Police have not called Young a “suspect.“

Investigators are waiting for forensic tests on the Jeep to come back from a lab which could reveal more information about a possible connection to the Farrell hit and run.

The tests could also reveal no connection to the crime.

Investigators could not say with any certainty when they thought those test results would come back.

Young has been moved from the New River Valley Regional Jail to Central State Hospital after psychologists evaluated him and issued an emergency protective order.
 
His next court appearance is not scheduled until March.