NJ Man, 85, Sentenced After Killing Romantic Rival With SUV

ASBURY PARK, NJ - An 85-year-old man from Asbury Park was sentenced this week for killing his neighbor with his vehicle days before Christmas in 2018, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said.

Johnny Westbrook was sentenced Monday by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor. The 85-year-old had pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter in July. During the plea hearing, he admitted that on Dec. 21, 2018, he drove his 1998 Ford Explorer to a local store to follow 63-year old Daniel Rivera, a fellow tenant in his building.

Westbrook then waited outside the store in his vehicle for several minutes. When Rivera left the store, he drove along a sidewalk, struck the victim and dragged him several feet before leaving Rivera in the roadway, prosecutors said.

An investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Asbury Park Police Department found that Westbrook and the victim had been involved in a physical altercation around a month before the incident due to Westbrook’s jealousy over the victim’s friendship with a woman.

According to prosecutors, Westbrook fled the scene after fatally striking Rivera with his vehicle and returned to his apartment. Police ultimately discovered Westbrook’s SUV parked a few hundred feet from the crime scene, with the victim’s blood and hair recovered from under the vehicle.

Westbrook must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, under the terms of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.