Crime, Regional Interest

Prosecutor: Pair Pleads Guilty to 2022 Double Homicide

The two men charged in connection with a 2022 shooting that left a man and woman dead in Neptune Township have both pleaded guilty to their roles in the killings, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Friday.

Gabriel J. Brathwaite, 20, of Keansburg, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and a related weapons offense, admitting that he fatally shot 18-year-old Samore Edwards, of Plainfield, and 19-year-old Isaiah Williams, of New Brunswick. 

Braithwaite’s codefendant, 24-year-old Jeron D. Dearin, of the Cliffwood section of Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy to commit aggravated assault in connection with the incident.

The pleas were entered during a hearing on Thursday before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc C. Lemieux.  

The case background …

Shortly before 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, Neptune Township police responded to the 1300 block of Washington Avenue on a report of a shooting. There, officers found the two victims in a parked vehicle.

Edwards was pronounced dead at the scene, while Williams was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

An investigation involving members of the MCPO Major Crimes Bureau, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, and the Neptune Township Police and the Keansburg police departments resulted in Braithwaite and Dearin being identified as suspects in the case. 

The pair ultimately were arrested without incident less than a month after the shooting. They have remained in custody at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) since.

Sentencing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 7, before Judge Lemieux, at which time the state intends to recommend terms of 45 and 10 years, respectively, for Brathwaite and Dearin, with 85 percent of each sentence to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).

The pleas being announced today were negotiated and agreed to after consulting with the victims’ families.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office