Murder suspect behind bars for 2023 homicide now linked to killing of his then-girlfriend in 2007

A man already jailed in connection with a 2023 homicide has been charged with the 2007 murder of his then-girlfriend at their northeast Houston apartment, resolving a cold case that went unsolved for nearly two decades, police said.Zachary Harper, 47, who has been held in the Harris County Jail since his April arrest for the murder of 26-year-old Armin Mirazimi, was charged on Tuesday in the strangulation death of Yosheka Jarmon. Harper was denied bond and remains in custody.Investigators said Harper was linked to the 2007 crime scene by witness statements and physical evidence, though initial testing yielded inconclusive results because “her fingerprints and his were mixed together,” the victim’s brother, Terance Jarmon, told ABC13 Houston. The murder occurred nearly 20 years ago when neighbors spotted Yosheka Jarmon’s two young children left alone outside her apartment. Terance Jarmon told ABC13 Houston that he went to check on his sister and discovered her body hidden inside a closet. Police confirmed that she had been strangled with an electrical cord and suffered a slash wound to one of her arms.Zachary Harper, a 47-year-old man already jailed in connection with a 2023 homicide, has been charged with the 2007 murder of his then-girlfriend at their northeast Houston apartment, resolving a cold case that went unsolved for nearly two decades, police say (Houston Police Department)In the days following the killing, witnesses reported seeing a man matching Harper’s description near the apartment, and officers later located the victim’s car parked near a site where Harper was staying. Terance Jarmon noted that Harper’s absence immediately after the murder raised concerns for the family.“He ain't come back home, and then the next day he ain’t call to check up on the kids or nothing,” Terance Jarmon told ABC13 Houston.Despite the early suspicions, authorities lacked sufficient evidence to file charges at the time. Detectives reopened the case and ordered additional evidence testing following Harper’s arrest in April for the 2023 killing of Mirazimi.The 2023 case stemmed from an 8:50 a.m. “person down” call in Houston’s historic Fifth Ward neighborhood, where police officers found Mirazimi unresponsive inside a vehicle parked in a vacant lot at 1809 Saint Elmo Street. Paramedics pronounced Mirazimi dead from a gunshot wound. Police identified Harper as a suspect after a 2000s gray Mercury Grand Marquis with a black vinyl roof over the backseat was witnessed leaving the scene.Police said that Harper had a history of domestic violence against Yosheka Jarmon prior to her death.“I didn’t find out this ’til after it was all over with,” Terance Jarmon told ABC13 Houston. “He used to beat on her and stuff like that, but she never did - he didn't do nothing to the face.” Court records indicate that in the years following the 2007 homicide, Harper accumulated at least five additional criminal charges, including unlawful weapon possession, drug possession and terroristic threat for threatening an ex-girlfriend.