Victims In Route 37 Hit-And-Run Identified; Driver Faces More Charges

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Morris County man has been charged with vehicular homicide in a Route 37 hit-and-run crash that killed a Toms River woman on May 24 due to the speed he was driving, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

Abel Mathukutty, 18, of Lake Hiawatha, also has been charged with assault by auto in the crash that killed Deborah Barone, 59, and seriously injured Michael Barone, 64, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Mathukutty, who was initially charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death and with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing serious bodily injury, was driving 76 mph on Route 37 at the time of the crash, Billhimer said. The speed limit on Route 37 is 50 mph.

The crash happened on the eastbound lanes of Route 37 just west of the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge into Seaside Heights.

Investigators found Mathukutty was driving an Infiniti sedan and hit the driver's side of a Mercedes sedan. The impact caused the Mercedes to hit a utility pole, authorities said, and Mathukutty took off over the bridge into Seaside Heights, the prosecutor's office said.

Deborah Barone, who was driving, and Michael Barone were both seriously injured and taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where Deborah Barone succumbed to her injuries, the prosecutor's office said. Michael was transferred to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; he has since been released from the hospital, the prosecutor's office said.

A description of the Infiniti was broadcast to surrounding towns, the prosecutor's office said, and Seaside Park police officers pulled over one matching the description about 8 p.m.
Seaside Park police noted the vehicle had sustained heavy passenger-side damage and that the airbags in the vehicle had inflated, and determined it was the Infiniti that had been involved in the Route 37 crash, the prosecutor's office said.

Mathukutty was arrested without incident and taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River. He was initially being held but has since been released according to jail records. He was served with the new charges at Toms River police headquarters on a summons, the prosecutor's office said.