Dating App Serial Killer In Essex County Indicted On New Murder Charge

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Khalil Wheeler-Weaver is already on the hook for 160 years in prison after he murdered three women and tried to slay a fourth. Now, the convicted Essex County serial killer has been officially indicted for yet another murder – this time involving a 15-year-old Newark girl, authorities announced Thursday.

According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, in addition to murder, Wheeler-Weaver is also facing new charges of attempted sexual assault of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and desecration of human remains.

Prosecutors said that the investigation into the latest murder charge against Wheeler-Weaver began in April 2019, when police discovered the remains of a young woman in a vacant building in Orange. After an “extensive investigation,” the victim was identified as a 15-year-old Newark resident. An autopsy showed that she was strangled to death – the same way the three other women died.

Wheeler-Weaver has now been indicted in connection with this new murder investigation, which was initially announced in March, authorities said. Read More: Essex County Serial Killer Accused Of 4th Murder

After a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Wheeler Weaver was sentenced to 160 years in prison last year. He has been incarcerated since his arrest in December 2016.

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.

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.

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