Officials discuss 2 suicide notes from road-rage suspect

Posted on Sat, Apr. 24, 2010

By Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writer

John A. Yannarell, the Gilbertsville man who took his life Thursday after he was accused of three road-rage incidents, left two suicide notes, law enforcement officials said Friday.

One was directed to his loved ones, said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. The second, she said, was directed at her - and rather than accepting responsibility for his violent acts on the highways, Yannarell blamed those he targeted.

Ferman said that in the first suicide note, Yannarell - who apparently killed himself with a drug overdose - professed his love to those close to him. Authorities were working to figure out who they were.

The district attorney declined to release a copy of the note directed to her. But, she said, "He was casting aspersions and making nasty comments about the people who were the victims."

Ferman said she was keeping the note private because she feared it might upset the victims. She emphasized that all the victims acted properly by reporting to authorities Yannarell's violent behavior.

The Montgomery County coroner ruled out a gunshot wound as the cause of death for Yannarell, 50. Ferman said that quantities of the painkillers Oxycontin and Percocet were found in Yannarell's possession.

An autopsy showed "no evidence of trauma on the body," said Coroner Walter Hofman. Law enforcement officials said Thursday that Yannarell might have turned a gun on himself.

"Quite a few" pill bottles were recovered by police from Yannarell's home, Hofman said, and "more likely than not," their contents caused his death.

Hofman said the substances would undergo extensive testing at a toxicology lab, and the results were expected back within 14 to 21 days.

Yannarell was a no-show at a preliminary hearing Thursday morning. Had he appeared, he would have faced a charge of attempted murder in the April 9 shooting of fellow commuter Elizabeth Cox of Pottstown on Route 422.

Cox told police she was driving east on 422 between Route 29 and Oaks when she saw Yannarell change lanes aggressively. As he passed her on the right shoulder, she said, she felt "a vibration and then a pain in my leg."

Thinking she had been sideswiped, she followed his car to get the tag number, Cox told police. Only later did she realize she had been shot in a leg and elbow.

Cox, whose phone is unlisted, could not be reached for comment. Her injuries were not life-threatening.

Yannarell was also due Thursday to be charged in two earlier incidents of alleged road rage. Last September, a prosecutor said, Yannarell cut off a car, narrowly avoiding a crash on Route 422, then lobbed a bottle of Gatorade at the driver.

On Jan. 26, a driver reported that Yannarell fired at him from the passenger-side window after the driver tried to merge to the right lane while going north on Route 100 in Upper Pottsgrove Township. The driver wasn't injured.

Ferman said police had received calls from people who said Yannarell was a "decent fellow." But, she said, "to people who encountered him on the road, he was a horrific menace."

"You are not dealing with a one-shot deal here," Ferman said. "Clearly, from the volume of information we received after the first incident, he had a problem" with anger management.

From: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100424_Officials_discuss_2_suicide_notes_from_road-rage_suspect.html