Murdered Rahway Woman Found By Family Hours After Police Search

Rahway, NJ -- Police are trying to find the killer of 35-year-old Yolanda Vega in her Rahway home, and now the woman’s teenage son is saying he came home Sunday night to find a man with a gun hiding in his mother’s closet. Also, family members claim they found her body in the basement hours after Rahway police dogs combed the home.

Shronda Grove Williams and her husband, Ray Williams, have lived next door to Vega’s home at 1908 Beacon Street for eight years. They said they were home Sunday evening when Vega’s teenage son came rushing in, screaming for help.

“He was banging on the door. He said, ‘Somebody’s in the house with a gun,’” Williams told NJ.com.

The son said he got home and found the door to his mother’s bedroom closet closed, which seemed odd. He opened it, and saw a masked man inside with a gun. He shut the door and ran to the Williams’ house.

Williams said she called 911, and her husband said he ran out barefoot and chased a man dressed all in black several hundred yards onto East Milton Street, and then onto Barrett Street. But then Williams said a police car arrived and the officer stopped to question him as the man in black escaped.

Raway police went to the house Sunday evening, but did not find Vega’s body, Williams said. Relatives thought Vega was missing.

“Her car was here, and we just waited for her. We filled out missing person’s report, we waited for her. They came, brought the search dogs, couldn’t find her,” Vega’s fiance Freddy Hernandez told CBS.

Another neighbor, Cary Jones, confirmed that: Rahway police put search dogs in the home, but did not find a body Sunday night, Jones told CBS.

Then overnight, a family member found Vega’s body behind a curtain in the basement, according to CBS.

Acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park says Rahway police received a 911 call at 4 a.m. Monday to come to the home for the body. Vega was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy was scheduled for later Monday.

Park’s office refused to answer whether Rahway police dogs searched the house Sunday, as Williams, Hernandez and Jones said.

Vega worked at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Union. In addition to her teenage son, she had another child.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of her killer. Anyone with information about Vega’s death is being urged to contact Homicide Task Force Sgt. Michael Manochio at 908-966-2287 or Detective Daniel Joy at 908-337-0832.

This is the fourth homicide in Rahway in 2015, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

The Union County Crime Stoppers also are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case; tips can be given anonymously by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477), via text message by texting “UCTIP” plus a message to 274637 (CRIMES), or online at www.uctip.org.