Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton was slain in her Netpune City apartment in 2009.
By JOHN T. WARD
Almost a decade after the death of Red Bank Middle School teacher Jonelle Melton, three men were found guilty Tuesday of her vicious torture and murder.
A jury in Freehold found the trio guilty of all charges in the case, according to a Twitter announcement early Tuesday afternoon from the office of Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
Family members and friends from throughout Monmouth County gathered at Calvary Baptist Church in Red Bank Friday evening to remember slain borough teacher Jonelle Melton. Organizers also spotlighted law enforcement officials who investigated and recently charged three men in the her 2009 slaying. Though the case is not yet closed, police and prosecutors deserved to be recognized for “keeping their word and doing something positive,” said co-organizer Linda Clark. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Family members and friends from throughout the community will gather at Calvary Baptist Church Friday evening to remember slain Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton.
It’s being framed by Calvary Baptist Church as “A Night to Remember” — an opportunity for both somber reflection and the season’s rejoicing, rooted in a community’s shared tragedy, but setting its sights on the star of peace and healing.
When Rev. Dr. Kenneth McGhee Jr. and the congregation of the River Street church open their doors to all members of the Red Bank community this Friday evening, the occasion will be a special pre-Christmas celebration of fellowship and Yuletide spirit — one that incorporates a tribute to Red Bank Middle School Jonelle Melton, and an expression of support for her family.
Broken glass littered the porch of the Bank Street house where Larry Yarbrough Jr., below, was murdered in 2011. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank man was sentenced to 14 years in state prison for stabbing death of another borough resident three years ago.
Four months after he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault, Jose Olivares-Palma, 26, was sentenced Wednesday for killing Larry Yarborough, 39, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in a prepared statement released Thursday morning.
Larry Yarbrough Sr., with a picture of his son, also shown below, who was stabbed to death in Red Bank early Sunday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
As investigators continue to look into the stabbing death of a Red Bank man and the critical wounding of another early Sunday, little information remains available about the incident, and the victim’s father says he’s as in the dark about it as everybody else.
Friends and other family, too, are looking for answers in the death of one of Red Bank’s own, a fun-loving man who, despite a checkered past, was on the up and up and proud of his progress as a worker and father to a young daughter, they say.
Now is not the time to get caught in the negativity or the tension surrounding the death of Larry Yarbrough Jr., they said Wednesday night at the bimonthly meeting of the borough council. It’s the time to come together as a community.