Suspect Confessed To Shooting Brick Man Found Dead In Park: Report

BRICK, NJ — An Ocean Township man reportedly confessed to shooting a Brick Township man whose body was found in Shark River Park in Wall last month, according to a report.

The Asbury Park Press reported that Joseph C. Villani, 20, of Ocean, has been ordered held in jail following a detention hearing before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman on Thursday.

Trupal Patel, 29, of Brick, was found Feb. 22 along the side of Gully Road and down a slight slope by a Monmouth County park ranger who was collecting litter in the area, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said. The park ranger reported the discovery at 8:37 a.m., and officers from the Wall Township Police Department were dispatched to the area and confirmed the presence of a deceased male. Patel's identity was confirmed quickly, and investigators discovered he had been reported missing to the Asbury Park Police Department by a friend on Feb. 9, the prosecutor's office said.

A car Patel had been driving before he disappeared was discovered abandoned on an Asbury Park street on Feb. 9, the prosecutor's office said.

Villani, who was arrested Feb. 25, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

He is accused of shooting and killing Patel in the garage of Villani's home in Ocean Township, according to the Press report.

The Press report said Villani was identified after an acquaintance of his contacted authorities about the car, assistant prosecutor Christopher Decker told the judge at the detention hearing. Decker said Villani's best friend told them Villani had told the best friend planned to rob Patel of money and marijuana, according to the report.

When authorities confronted Villani he confessed to the killing, and Patel's blood was found in Villani's home when they confronted him, Decker said, according to the report.

Read more details of the detenion hearing here.

Patel had been arrested twice in the last 18 months and charged with drug distribution. In May 2016, Patel was charged with distributing marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms after investigators seized psilocybin mushrooms, 4.6 pounds of marijuana and $61,000 in cash after an investigation into distribution in Brick and Point Pleasant.

And he was arrested in Wall Township in 2015 on marijuana distribution charges after police found 938 grams — about 33 ounces — of marijuana in his possession.

Trupal Patel, photo via Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office