Son Is Charged With Murder Of His Elderly Father In Hazlet: Prosecutor

FREEHOLD, NJ – A Hazlet man has been charged with the murder of his 77-year-old father after breaking into his father’s Hazlet home Wednesday, attacking him and injuring his aunt, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said.

Ernest K. Kotey, 43, is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree burglary, and second-degree domestic violence strangulation in connection with the death of his father, Nikoi Kotey, 77, and neck injuries sustained by his 67-year-old aunt who was at the home, the prosecutor's office said Thursday.

The incident happened shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Aug. 17, the prosecutor's office said. An affidavit in the matter indicated the younger Kotey also had an argument with his father two days earlier and was "ordered from the house."

The Hazlet Police were called to the home Aug. 17 on the 300 block of Middle Road and found Nikoi Kotey unresponsive in a bedroom. He was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. According to the affidavit in the case, the father had a "brain bleed and bleeding and swelling to the left side of his face."

Ernest Kotey had broken into the home through a rear entrance, confronted his father, and physically attacked him, causing fatal injuries, an investigation by the prosecutor's office Major Crimes Bureau and the Hazlet Police Department determined.

Ernest Kotey then returned downstairs where his aunt was. His aunt was not named by authorities. The prosecutor's office said the younger Kotey grabbed her by the throat. She managed to free herself and escape the house and go to a neighbor's house so police could be called.

According to an affidavit regarding the incident, Ernest Kotey had been "sent to live" with his aunt, his father's sister-in-law, who lived out of state, for several months earlier. The aunt had driven to the Kotey home earlier in the week to visit her sister, the affidavit said.

But earlier in the week, on Aug. 15, according to the affidavit, the father and son had a "verbal confrontation." The younger Kotey was "ordered from the residence and forbidden from returning"

"Victim Kotey noted to (his sister-in-law) his fear of his son."

After police responded to the incident Wednesday, Kotey was arrested at the scene and later transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold, pending a detention hearing to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court, the prosecutor's office said.

This case has been assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano. Information on Kotey’s legal representation was not immediately available.

Anyone with any information about this matter is urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Brian Migliorisi at 800-533-7443 or Hazlet Police Department Detective Tristao at 732-264-6565.