Photo Courtesy of Dept. of Public Safety
New Jersey’s Jeremy Arrington was sentenced to 375 years for murdering a family over a Facebook post in 2016.
Arrington was convicted of three counts of murder and attempted murder in Essex County Superior Court. On Friday (April 8), Judge Ronald D. Wigler sentenced Arrington, 31, to three consecutive life sentences telling the defendant that he had committed “perhaps the most horrific, heinous, cruel, and depraved murders this county has ever seen.”
According to Law and Crime, Arrington will be eligible for parole after serving 281 years of his sentence.
As previously reported, Arrington broke into the home and tied everyone up in the house on Hidden Terrace.
He shot Syasia McBurroughs, 23, to death and fatally stabbed two children, Al-Jahon Whitehurst, 11, and his sister, 8-year-old Ariel Whitehurst, with kitchen knives.
Arrington also stabbed 13-year-old twins and a 29-year-old woman, who all survived. The 29-year-old woman is reportedly the mother of the siblings who were killed.
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Prosecutors said the attack happened after one of the victims posted a warning about Arrington on Facebook. Arrington had been a suspect in a sexual assault case where someone was shot.
McBurroughs was pronounced dead at the scene. However, according to the acting prosecutor of Essex County, Theodore N. Stephens II, another child hid in a closet during the attack and was able to alert the police.
“Police were able to respond before more lives were lost as a result of a young girl with autism who escaped and called for help from her phone in a closet,” said Stephens. “The proofs revealed Arrington (then) proceeded to torture them by stabbing them with kitchen knives. The attack was apparently prompted by a comment on Facebook.”
The police later caught Arrington after a standoff at a Pomona Avenue home. Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab released a statement noting how courageous the survivors of the attack were while testifying and thanked investigators.
Joanna Belcher set up a GoFundMe campaign to support surviving family members.
Syasia’s grieving mother, Trenace McBurroughs, created a separate GoFundMe campaign.