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Omar Rivera-Rojas, 33, and his nephew, Alberto Rojas-Hernandez, 21, both of Lakewood, were sentenced to 22 and 20 years in New Jersey State Prison, respectively on Tuesday, May 16, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago.
Each must serve at least 85 percent of their prison terms before the possibility of parole
Members of the Howell Township Police Department responded to a 911 call shortly after 3:45 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2019, on a report of an unconscious male laying prone in Hurley Pond Road, just east of County Route 547.
A man later identified as 33-year-old Domingo Merino-Rafael of Lakewood was found dead at the scene, Santiago said.
Initially suspected to be a hit-and-run fatality, Investigators from the Serious Collison Analysis Response Team responded but determined that the victim’s injuries were inconsistent with a motor-vehicle collision and were the result of a homicide, Santiago said.
The autopsy confirmed the manner of death to be homicide and the cause of death identified as multiple chop wounds, Santiago said.
A joint investigation by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Howell Township Police Department determined that Rivera-Rojas, Rojas-Hernandez, and Merino-Rafael had traveled from Lakewood to Middlesex County on the evening of Oct. 17, 2019.
The men were returning to Lakewood early the next morning when they got into an argument that culminated with the uncle and nephew killing Merino-Rafael, Santiago said.
During a plea hearing in September 2022, both men admitted that they each took a turn striking the victim in the back of the head with a machete, pleading guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter.
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