NJ Serial Killer Sentenced for Murder of 3 Women, Attempt on 4th

A man convicted of killing three women and attempting to kill a fourth was sentenced Wednesday to 160 years in prison.

Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 25, will not be eligible for parole.

The Orange resident was convicted in December 2019 on three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of 20-year-old Sarah Butler, 19-year-old Robin West, and 33-year-old Joanne Brown. He was also found guilty of the kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder of Tiffany Taylor, as well as three counts of desecration of human remains and aggravated arson.

The murders and attempted murder occurred between August 2016 and November 2016, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

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“The sentence today sends a clear and unequivocal message that each of these young women mattered," said Acting County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens. "This defendant mistakenly believed that he could kill them and dump their bodies, and no one would care. He miscalculated."

Butler, a Montclair resident who was attending Jersey City University, was murdered on Nov. 22, 2016, the prosecutor's office said. Her body was found in Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange nine days later.

Brown, of Newark, was murdered on Oct. 22, 2016. Her body was found in a vacant home in Orange in December.

West, a native of Philadelphia who was living in Union Township, was murdered on Sept. 1, 2016 in Orange. Wheeler-Weaver set fire to her body and then torched the vacant home, the prosecutor's office said.

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NJ teachers and educators caught in sex crime busts

Over the past few years, state lawmakers have taken on the challenge of dealing with accused child predators among the ranks of teachers and educators.

In 2018, the so-called “pass the trash” law went into effect, requiring stricter New Jersey school background checks related to child abuse and sexual misconduct.

The follow individuals were arrested over the past several years. Some have been convicted and sentenced to prison, while others have accepted plea deals for probation.

Others cases are still pending, including some court delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.