Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray along with Newark Police Director Eugene Venable and West Orange Chief of Police James P. Abbott have announced that three suspects have been arrested in connection with the June 25 murder of 19-year-old Brendan Tevlin of Livingston.
A registered sex offender and a suspect in two Seattle homicides, Ali Muhammad Brown, 29, of Seattle, Washington, has been charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Also charged in connection with the Tevlin murder are Jeremy Villagran, 19, and Eric Williams, 18, both of West Orange. Both men have been charged with felony murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Tevlin was fatally shot in the vicinity of Northfield Avenue and Walker Road in West Orange on June 25. He was found dead in a Jeep Liberty in the parking lot of 275 Northfield Avenue in West Orange.
Villagran is a resident of the apartment complex where Tevlin’s body was found.
Brown was linked to the crime when it was learned that the weapon used to kill Tevlin is the same weapon used in two murders in Seattle, Washington. Brown was also charged in a June 29, robbery and attempted carjacking in Point Pleasant.
On July 18, members of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide /Major Crimes Task Force and the West Orange Police Department canvassed a wooded area in the Township and found Brown living in a makeshift camp area. Brown was subsequently taken into custody.
The investigation is active and ongoing.
All three men are currently being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark.
The Honorable Ronald D. Wigler, Presiding Judge of the Essex County Criminal Division, set bail for Brown at $5 million and bail for Williams and Villagran at $1 million.
All three are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Wednesday, August 6, before Judge Wigler. ...
