NJ Serial Killer Who Murdered Montclair Student Sentenced To Jail

MONTCLAIR, NJ — An Orange resident who murdered three women in Essex County five years ago, including a college student from Montclair, was sentenced to 160 years in prison on Wednesday, authorities said.

The sentencing of Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 25, had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He has been incarcerated in Essex County since his December 2016 arrest, NorthJersey.com reported.

Wheeler-Weaver’s victims included Sarah Butler of Montclair, a 20-year-old college student at Jersey City University, Joanne Brown, a 33-year-old Newark resident, and Robin West, 19, a Philadelphia native who was living in Union Township. Read More: Jury Convicts Essex County Man Who Killed 3 Women

Prosecutors said that Wheeler-Weaver used dating apps to lure the women into sexual encounters, then attacked and strangled them. A fourth woman who survived an attack and testified at the trial said it changed her life, the Associated Press reported.

“My whole life is different,” she said during Wednesday’s sentencing. “I don’t wear makeup anymore; I don’t have friends. I’m always paranoid. But I’m happy to still be here.”

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. Her friends later used social media to help police find Wheeler-Weaver, gaining access to her accounts, setting up a fake profile and luring him to a meeting in Montclair.

• See related article: Montclair's Sarah Butler Strangled To Death; Police Make Arrest
• See related article: Fundraiser Started For Murdered NJ College Student

Authorities said Wheeler-Weaver killed Brown in October 2016. Her body was discovered in a vacant home in Orange that December.

• 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.

In 2019, an Essex County jury convicted him on three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Butler, West and Brown. The jury also convicted him of three counts of desecration of human remains and aggravated arson.

He was also found guilty of the kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder of his fourth victim, who survived the attack, prosecutors said.

Under the No Early Release Act (NERA), Wheeler-Weaver must serve 145 years before he is eligible for parole, prosecutors said Wednesday.

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