Hudson County Man, 23, Charged With Murder After Robbery Victim Dies: Prosecutor

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — After a Hudson County robbery victim died last Wednesday, charges against the 23-year-old suspect have been upgraded to murder, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Isaiah Grey, 23, who has been incarcerated since the Nov. 16 robbery of Moctezuma Espinoza, 79, in Union City, was charged on Monday with first-degree murder, said the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Tuesday.

Prosecutors said that on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, shortly after 3 a.m., members of the Union City Police Department located an unresponsive man in the area of 37th Street and Bergenline Avenue. He was later identified as Espinoza, a Union City resident.

Espinoza was taken to Jersey City Medical Center with injuries to the upper body.

Hours later, the Union City Police Department arrested Grey and charged him with attempted murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and endangering an injured victim, prosecutors said.

This past Wednesday, Nov. 22, Espinoza was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy conducted by the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be blunt impact injuries to the head and the manner to be homicide, prosecutors said.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit then arrested Grey, who was already in jail, on the new murder charges, as well as first-degree murder during the commission of a robbery, prosecutors said.