YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A second suspect was charged today with felony murder in the kidnapping and killing of a Fort Lee high-rise tenant and three others with lying to investigators, Bergen County, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced this afternoon.
Robert R. Martinez, 26, of Worcester, MA joined the first suspect arrested in the case — 25-year-old Andre Jamal “Boogie” Thompson — in luring 24-year-old Jordan Johnson to an apartment that Thompson sometimes used in Fort Lee where he was killed and his keys and cellphone taken on Jan. 14, Molinelli said.
Jordan Johnson / Carriage House, Fort Lee
Johnson’s phone was used send text messages to his girlfriend, luring her from the 12th-floor high-rise apartment at the Carriage House on 15th Street that she shared with him to a supposed meeting in Harlem, the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, Martinez and Thompson fled the state, he said.
The girlfriend, Megan Faulkner, called police after she returned to find the apartment ransacked and jewelry, cash and other valuables missing.
Fort Lee police then issued an alert for Johnson and his car.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT was the first to report that Johnson’s black 2013 BMW 550 Gran Turismo was found at 1:35 p.m. the next day in the Bronx, with his body in the trunk, after a police license plate reader registered a hit on the missing vehicle.
Johnson had been strangled, authorities said.
Andre Jamal “Boogie” Thompson (MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR)
Law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that detectives were exploring an ID theft ring’s relationship to Johnson. They released a surveillance video of a person wanted in connection with Johnson’s killing.
Timestamped at 2:45 a.m. the day he was found, it shows the person in a blue, fur-lined hooded jacket, gray jeans and dark-colored sneakers holding something and looking back while walking away from Johnson’s car on East 211 Street and Tryon Avenue.
Authorities arrested Thompson on Feb. 4. He has remained in custody at Prince George’s County Correctional Center in Maryland pending extradition.
Martinez was located and interviewed by detectives in Worcester, MA on Feb. 4, Molinelli said today. His investigators subsequently learned that he “was not truthful in his account” to them, the prosecutor said.
A judge ordered Martinez held on $2 million bail in the Worcester County House of Corrections in Massachusetts pending extradition to New Jersey on charges of felony murder, robbery, burglary and hindering.
NYPD VIDEO IMAGE
Arrest warrants also were executed today on Courtney Evelyn, 30, Dyrol Evelyn, 25 and 24-year-old Diana Escotto, all of New York City, Molinelli said.
Courtney and Dyrol are brother and sister, he said.
All three were interviewed at different times during the investigation going back to Jan. 20, Molinelli said.
Based on their accounts, they were charged with hindering apprehension, he said.
All three will be held by the New York City Department of Corrections pending extradition to New Jersey.
Assistance to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit was provided by Fort Lee police, the NYPD, the FBI, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and police in Worcester and Southbridge, MA, Molinelli said.
MUGSHOTS (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): Robert R. Martinez, Dyrol Evelyn, Diana Escotto, Courtney Evelyn (Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR)
