Jury Convicts Essex County Man Who Raped, Killed 3 Women

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Essex County man accused of raping and killing three women in 2016 was convicted Thursday of 11 charges, including murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, a report says.

The victims of Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 23, included Sarah Butler, a 20-year-old college student from Montclair, Joanne Brown, a 33-year-old Newark resident and Robin West, 19, of Philadelphia.

After a two-month trial, an Essex County jury also convicted Wheeler-Weaver of desecrating human remains and aggravated arson in addition to the above charges, NorthJersey.com reported. Read the full article.

Prosecutors had accused Khalil Wheeler-Weaver of arranging sexual encounters with the three women, then attacking and strangling them. A fourth, unidentified victim reportedly woke up in the back seat of a car to find Wheeler-Weaver with his hands around her neck, but escaped the encounter when she convinced him to return to a motel room in Elizabeth, locked herself inside and called police.

Authorities found Butler's body in Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange in December 2016 after the Jersey City University student was reported missing a week earlier.

• See related article: Montclair's Sarah Butler Strangled To Death; Police Make Arrest
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Authorities had accused Wheeler-Weaver of killing Brown in October 2016. Brown's body was discovered in a vacant home in Orange that December, prosecutors said.

• See related article: Accused Killer Of N.J. College Student Charged With 2nd Murder

Prosecutors said that Wheeler-Weaver killed West in Orange, then set fire to the vacant home. At the time of her murder, the 19-year-old was living in Union Township; she was reported missing in September, authorities said.

Wheeler-Weaver pleaded not guilty to the killings in 2017.

Bail for Wheeler-Weaver was revoked and he was ordered to remain in prison until his sentencing date. The former security guard from Orange faces a potential five life sentences plus 80 years, NorthJersey.com reported.

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