Jenna Farrey’s Return to Texas to Take Longer Than Thought

The former St. Charles resident and mother of a 5-month-old boy whose lifeless body was found buried in the New Mexico desert Wednesday probably will not return home to face charges as quickly as indicated in previous media reports.

Jenna Farrey, 20, remains in the Delta County Jail in Escanaba, Mich., where she has been held since authorities found her and husband Jeffrey Farrey and their 17-month-old son Blake in an Escanaba motel on Nov. 17 after they were reported missing from their home in West El Paso, Texas on Nov. 15.

She was arrested on a Texas warrant for probation violations and waived extradition on Wednesday. Authorities in Escanaba expected she would return to El Paso by the end of this week.

But officials with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office say 10 business days is the norm for the return of suspects who are captured out of state.

By contrast, Farrey’s husband, Jeffrey, 22, a specialist in the Army assigned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, was turned over to military authorities with an absent without leave warrant on Tuesday. He was returned to El Paso on Wednesday, and was charged with injury to child by omission.

As an arm of the federal government, the military likely has less red tape to jump through when transferring soldiers charged with a crime from one jurisdiction to another.

But for civilians, there are protocols to follow, even after a suspect has waived extradition, as Jenna Farrey did Wednesday. Had she chosen to fight extradition, her transfer back to Texas could have been stalled for some time.

An official with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, which generally is responsible for extraditing its out-of-state suspects back to El Paso for trial, said once the decision is made, it typically takes 10 business days and occasionally longer to make the transfer, he told the El Paso Times.

During those 19 days, the official said, flights are being arranged for deputies and the suspect, as are accommodations should an overnight stay be required.

When she returns to El Paso, at the very least Jenna Farrey will have to answer to a judge for violating her probation. It also is possible that she will face charges in connection with Jackson Farrey’s death.

The El Paso attorney representing Jeffrey Farrey already appears to be preparing a defense that will cast her in a bad light and Jeffrey in a more favorable one. Joe Spencer on Friday told the El Paso Times that Jenna is manipulative toward her husband, and described his client as being as much a victim as his dead son.

The very warrant being used to bring her back to El Paso is based on a conviction that indicates a history of child endangerment/abandonment by Jenna while husband Jeffrey was on a tour overseas.

El Paso TV station KFOX 14 reported that in that case, Jenna admitted to leaving then 3-month-old Blake alone on several occasions.

According to the El Paso Times, authorities arrested Jenna in July 2012, long before Jackson’s birth. She was charged with abandonment or endangering the life of a child with intent to return. The indictment accused her of leaving then-3-month-old Blake Farrey alone in an apartment for several hours.

Jenna pleaded guilty in January 2013 and was sentenced to five years’  probation.

Jenna and Jeffrey Farrey are both from St. Charles, Ill. They married in El Paso in 2011.