Local man charged in Pa. killing

Jamesburg man taken into custody.

By: Leon Tovey
   JAMESBURG — A preliminary trial has been scheduled for Dec. 21 in the case of a Jamesburg man accused of killing his 31-year-old girlfriend at her apartment in Bensalem, Pa., Bucks County Assistant District Attorney Robin Campbell said.
   Christopher Grasso, 33, of Cherry Street will face charges of criminal homicide in the Dec. 9 death of Understanding Yearwood. Ms. Campbell said an autopsy showed Ms. Yearwood died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.
   According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Grasso was taken into custody at his Jamesburg home after telling Jamesburg police he had assaulted Ms. Yearwood. Mr. Grasso told police he and Ms. Yearwood had fought after he overheard her talking on the phone to another man, according to the complaint.
   Ms. Campbell said Bensalem police found Ms. Yearwood’s body in the bedroom of her apartment at around 10 a.m., when they responded to a call from Jamesburg police.
   Mr. Grasso was transferred to the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown, Pa., from the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility in North Brunswick on the evening of Dec. 13 after waiving his right to an extradition hearing earlier that day, Ms. Campbell said.
   Mr. Grasso was arraigned at 8 p.m. that night, Ms. Campbell said. He was denied bail by District Justice Joseph P. Falcone due to the nature of the charges, Ms. Campbell said.
   Ms. Campbell said the investigation is ongoing and refused to comment on details of the case, but according to the complaint, Mr. Grasso told police that "he threw (Ms. Yearwood) down and placed his forearm across (her) throat and held it there until she stopped struggling."
   The complaint also stated that police found blood smears, a broken ceramic lamp and a frying pan with its handle broken off in Ms. Yearwood’s apartment.
   Ms. Campbell said Ms. Yearwood had lived in Bensalem for the past several months, but would not comment on media reports that she was a former Jamesburg resident.