JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND — Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino, Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy, and Colonel Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, announced on Tuesday the arrests of two individuals including a Jersey City man in connection with the unsolved murders of five Newark teens in 1978.
Laurino said Philander Hampton, 53, of Jersey City and Lee Anthony Evans, 56, of Irvington were arrested Monday night and were charged with five counts of murder and arson. The arrests were made by detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Newark Police Department, and the New Jersey State Police.
According to Laurino, the two men, along with a third person, Maurice Woody-Olds, 48, of Newark, who died in March of 2008, are suspects in the murders of Randy Johnson, 16, Melvin Pittman,17, Ernest Taylor, 17, and Alvin Turner, 16, all of Newark; and Michael McDowell, 16, of East Orange. All five were last seen Aug. 20, 1978 when witnesses saw them entering Evans’ pickup truck.
Laurino said the boys were allegedly led to an unoccupied Newark home that one of the men rented. The boys were allegedly corralled at gunpoint and restrained. It is further alleged that the home was then set on fire and the boys perished in the blaze.
Laurino said the case was reopened 18 months ago after an individual came forward and gave information on the case. Laurino along with McCarthy and Fuentes praised the efforts of the investigators in solving the case.
“For years their families wondered what happened on that August day,” Laurino said. “Today, we believe, that question has been answered.’’
Bail has been set at $5 million for both of the accused by Essex County Superior Judge Peter J. Vazquez, JCP. They are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at 10 a.m. before Judge Vazquez at the Veterans Court House in Newark. The two suspects are being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility. – RK
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