'My Daughter Is More Than Just A Victim': Police Make Arrest In Connection With Mysterious 2017 Homicide

PENN HILLS (KDKA) -- The family of a young Penn Hills mother has been desperately seeking justice for her after she was found dead in 2017.

Now, more than two years later, there is an arrest in connection with the death of Jessica Vecchiola.

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Her estranged husband, Antonio Vecchiola, has been arrested in connection with her mysterious murder.

Jessica, a mother of two little boys, then ages 3 and 10, was found dead, her neck snapped, inside her Loretta Drive home in Penn Hills on Feb. 6, 2017.

Jessica's death remained a mystery, in part, because a week before she was found dead, she had been involved in a road rage incident.

"They exited their vehicles and there was a physical assault of Jessica," said Insp. Andrew Schurman of the Allegheny County Police Department.

"She told me that she was pulled over and she pulled over in the parking lot so they could pass her. The vehicle pulled on after her, banging on her window," said Elizabeth Arrington, Jessica's mother.

Jessica suffered a sprained neck in that road rage incident, but according to the criminal complaint, she told police two women assaulted her and demanded she leave "Tony," Jessica's husband, alone.

KDKA's Brenda Waters Reports:

The criminal complaint also states Jessica had a protection from abuse order against her estranged husband, the two were going through a divorce as well as selling their home. The court documents also state police had been to Vecchiola's home at least twelve times previously.

There was never a definitive connection made between the road rage incident and Jessica's death a week later, but the medical examiner states in the police documents that the injury she sustained upon her death could not have been the result of the road rage incident, she could not have survived that type of injury, according to the medical examiner.

For more than two years, Jessica's mom and family have been seeking justice for her.

"My daughter is more than just a name and more than just a victim. She had a life, she had two sons that loved her very very much," Arrington said.

Also, in the extensive criminal complaint, there is information about both Jessica and Antonio Vecchiola's cell phone data, as well as a review of cell tower data.

The documents state that Antonio's cell phone appears to have been hitting the tower near their residence the night before Jessica was found dead.

Antonio was arrested at a Monroeville strip mall, and is in the Allegheny County Jail arraigned on homicide charges.