Navy veteran stabbed to death in home

Carson veteran found stabbed to death had kicked drugs, cleaned up his life
Press Telegraph
By Sandy Mazza
Staff Writer
Posted: 09/16/2012

Darrell Rolen's violent death happened on one of the happiest days of his life, and allegedly at the hands of a woman he loved.

It was in his new apartment - the first one the 54-year-old U.S. Navy veteran from Carson had ever rented.

It was done with one of the kitchen knives he had proudly showed off to friends in a cellphone video tour of his one-bedroom place, in which he bragged about his new couch, bed, hats, shoes and cookware.

Like Rolen, his suspected attacker had been homeless and drug-addicted for years. But, unlike him, his friends say, she didn't want to change.

"He got himself all good and cleaned up and living again, and unfortunately the new girl he met was his demise," said Rolen's younger brother, Jimmy Strattion Jr.
read more here