Man Found Not Guilty of Killing Five Newark Teens

Lee Evans, the man accused of killing five teenage boys who disappeared in Newark more than 30 years ago, was acquitted Wednesday on 10 murder counts.

The jury in state Superior Court in Newark found Evans, 58, not guilty on five counts of murder and five counts of felony murder in the deaths of 16-year-olds Michael McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner and 17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, according to Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors alleged Evans, who represented himself at trial, was the mastermind behind the 1978 killings. Authorities charged him and his cousin, Philander Hampton, with the murders in March 2010. Hampton, 54, confessed to the crime in November 2008 and pleaded guilty to felony murder, according to Carter.

For nearly 33 years, the case stumped police in New Jersey's largest city, and it wasn't until recently police began to investigate the missing teenagers as a homicide.

During the three week-long trial, Hampton testified against Evans in exchange for a 10-year sentence and $15,000 in relocation fees for his safety. He said Evans lured the kids into a closet in a vacant Newark house, locked the door and set the home ablaze. No bodies were found.

Prosecutors tried to prove Evans planned to kill the teenagers as payback for stealing a pound of marijuana.

But Evans and the court-appointed attorney assisting him, Olubukola Adetula, chipped away Hampton's credibility, pointing out his criminal background of drug offenses and thefts.

Carter said the jury deliberated for roughly 12 hours before reaching a verdict.

— Staff reports