Two Men Get Life Sentences In 2010 Stabbing Murders Of Freehold Siblings

Two New York City men were sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday in the 2010 double murder of siblings from Freehold who owned a restaurant in the borough, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.

Zeng Liang Chen, 25, a Chinese national, was found guilty of several charges, including murder and felony murder, on Feb. 5 in the stabbing deaths of Yao Chen, 28, and his sister, Yun Juan Chen, 39. Yao Chen was found bleeding from 74 stab wounds in the street in front of the siblings’ South Street home. Yun Juan Chen was found dead inside the home later. Authorities said she had been stabbed 80 times.

The other man, Dong Biao Lin, 27, of New York, pleaded guilty on Jan. 8, to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder, and agreed to testify against Zeng Liang Chen, who is not related to the murder victims, Charles Webster, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said.

Chen was found guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree felony murder, first-degree armed robbery, second-degree armed burglary, second-degree conspiracy to commit armed burglary and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Webster said.

Zeng Liang Chen and Dong Biao Lin were sentenced by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci, to life in prison, and must serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed, or 63 years and 9 months, before becoming eligible for parole under the No Early Release Act. They will also be under parole supervision for an additional five years following any release from state prison, he said.

The slayings happened June 16, 2010. At about 5 p.m., Freehold Borough Police responded to a call from a motorist reporting an injured man on South Street. Yao Chen in the street, conscious and attempting to move although is hands were bound. He was bleeding profusely from multiple knife injuries to his body, including severe injuries to his neck and abdomen. Chen was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, where he died.

While tending to Chen, police received a report of two young Asian males on Main Street in Freehold Borough who appeared to have recently been involved in an altercation. A description of them was broadcast over police radio and, a short time later, the Freehold Township police located them near Route 9 where they were taken into custody. The two men were later identified as Zeng Liang Chen and Lin, Webster said.

A search Yao Chen’s home then revealed the lifeless body of Yun Juan Chen.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Freehold Borough Police Department immediately launched a joint investigation into the double homicide with the assistance of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and Freehold Township, Tinton Falls and Piscataway police departments.

The investigation revealed Lin previously worked in a Freehold-area restaurant owned by the Chen family. The two men broke into the home while Mr. Chen and Mrs. Chen were inside, believing a significant quantity of cash was within the residence. Other members of the Chen family, who resided in the home, were working at a nearby family-owned restaurant at the time of the break-in. Lin and Chen attacked the victims inside the home before fleeing, and Yao Chen made his way outside and to the street where he was seen by the passerby who contacted police, Webster said.

Lin testified at Zeng Liang Chen’s trial that Chen participated in the planning of the crime, tying Yao Cheb to a bed and holding him captive while Lin searched the home for money and other valuables. Lin, who admitted he inflicted the fatal knife wounds on both victims, testified that Zeng Liang Chen also brandished the knife during the attack. Chen himself admitted to the police that he beat the male victim with brass knuckles after tying him to the bed.