BRENDAN TEVLIN - 19 yo (6/14) - / Charged: Ali Muhammad Brown, Jeremy Villagran, Eric Williams - West Orange, NJ

Fourth person may be at large in killing of Livingston teen, prosecutor says

Eric Williams is placed in the transport van after pleading non guilty in the murder of Brendan Tevlin at the Essex County Court House in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, August 6, 2014.

(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)


By Dan Ivers | NJ Advance Media, for NJ.com
 
on August 07, 2014 at 6:45 AM, updated August 07, 2014 at 10:05 AM


NEWARK — Two days after announcing the arrests of three men in connection with the June slaying of a 19-year-old college student from Livingston, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said yesterday a fourth person may be at large.

At a news conference on Monday announcing arrests in the unrelated shooting death of Brendan Tevlin on Northfield Avenue in West Orange, and Cheyenne Bond of Irvington, who was shot execution-style on a Newark street, acting Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray said only one person remained at large — a man who took part in the robbery and murder of Bond, 17.

But in describing the sequence of events in the slaying of Tevlin, Murray referred to a total of four men at the scene — two who had fled on foot, and two others who left in the two vehicles.

The three charged in connection with the slaying were identified as Ali Muhammad Brown, who is accused of firing the fatal shots before driving away in Tevlin’s car; Jeremy Villagran, who allegedly took part in the robbery and fled on foot; and Eric Williams, who is believed to have been behind the wheel of the car that pulled up behind Tevlin before the murder.

A reporter pressed Murray, asking if there were any others who had yet to be apprehended.

"Is there anyone else at large in the Tevlin case?" the reporter asked, "Or right now it’s just one suspect in the Bond case, is at large. Anyone else you’re looking for?"

"One at large," Murray replied, declining to provide further details.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Murray’s office said it was possible a fourth person present during the murder may have eluded authorities.

"There may be a fourth person at large," the spokeswoman, Katherine Carter, said in an email, though she did not say what role, if any, the person might have played.

Carter added: "This is an ongoing investigation. Other changes may or may not be forthcoming against current defendants or others. At this time, we do not believe that there is any reason for the public to be alarmed."

Michael Tevlin, the father of the slain teenager, declined to comment when asked about the possibility of another person’s involvement in his son’s murder.

It was not the first misunderstanding in the case.

In the days after the shooting, Anthony Ambrose, the chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, described Tevlin as having been targeted, largely because of the number of times he was shot and the overall brutality of the crime.

The characterization left the impression that Tevlin knew his assailants.

But the authorities subsequently tempered the description, and on Monday they characterized the incident as an apparently random robbery that quickly escalated into a brief and violent confrontation.

In comments to reporters following the announcement of the arrests on Monday, Tevlin’s father and mother, Allison Tevlin, thanked the prosecutor’s office and other law enforcement agencies for their hard work, but also took issue with the initial characterization following the arrests, calling it "entirely untrue."

"Brendan was the innocent victim … of a random, senseless murder," Allison Tevlin said. "It was perpetrated by one or more strangers, which occurred while he was doing nothing more than driving home from a friend’s house."

Brown, who authorities say had been on the run since allegedly killing two men in Seattle on June 1, appears to have been in New Jersey for weeks before being found living in a makeshift tent in a wooded area in West Orange less than a mile from where Tevlin’s body was found.

Brown, Villagran and Williams all pleaded not guilty to their roles in the slaying during an appearance in Essex County Superior Court yesterday.


http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/08/fourth_person_may_be_at_large_in_killing_of_livingston_teen_prosecutor_says.html

UR student Brendan Tevlin murdered in ‘bloody crusade’ to punish US

Posted 5:35 pm, August 21, 2014, by Web Staff, Updated at 01:00am, August 22, 2014

NEWARK, N.J. — Prosecutors say the man accused of killing a University of Richmond student Brendan Tevlin in New Jersey, in June, was on a “bloody crusade” to punish the United States government.

WCBS reports that 29-year old Ali Muhammad Brown is a strict Muslim and was seeking revenge for the government’s role in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

Brown says U.S. intervention led to deaths of innocent children and civilians.

He is charged with shooting and killing 19-year-old Brendan Tevlin when he was stopped at a West Orange traffic light in June.

Ali Muhammad Brown

Both the passenger and driver’s seat windows of the Land Rover driven by Tevlin had been shattered,reports WCBS. Friends said that he had been playing video games with them shortly before the shooting. He had just texted his mom to say he was headed home.

Tevlin recently finished his freshmen year at the University of Richmond. Prior to college he was a student at Seton Hall Prep School, where he played lacrosse. He was a Eucharistic minister, a bagpipe player and a surfer,according to reports.

Brendan Tevlin (SOURCE: WCBS)

Prosecutors say Brown also killed three other people, in Seattle.

He is being held on $5 million bail.


http://wtvr.com/2014/08/21/ur-student-brendan-tevlin-murdered-in-bloody-crusade-to-punish-us/