MIDDLESEX/GLOUCESTER — A Middlesex County grand jury today indicted two men in connection with unrelated murders, one involving a woman stabbed inside her home and the other involving a high school student shot in front of his home. In the first case, Warren Burkey Jr., 32, was charged with stabbing Theresa Wysokowski, 48, to death in her Monroe home...
Warren Burkey, charged with the murder of his landlady's daughter in Monroe, is arraigned at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick. MIDDLESEX/GLOUCESTER — A Middlesex County grand jury today indicted two men in connection with unrelated murders, one involving a woman stabbed inside her home and the other involving a high school student shot in front of his home.
In the first case, Warren Burkey Jr., 32, was charged with stabbing Theresa Wysokowski, 48, to death in her Monroe home May 7. He is also charged with attempted sexual assault on a child.
The indictment charges Burkey with murder, attempted aggravated sexual assault, burglary, theft, felony murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and hindering his own apprehension or prosecution.
The second indictment charges Edward Burton, 20, of Carteret, with murdering Devon Mbachu, a 19-year-old Carteret High School senior, who was shot in front of his borough home June 22. Burton is also indicted for the attempted murder of a 17-year-old youth who was with Mbachu and was also shot.
Authorities in May called the attack on Wysokowski "extremely brutal."
"The victim had more than 20 (stab) wounds," said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Mannion when Burkey had his first court appearance.
Ms. Isilma Samuel (not pictured), the mother of Devon Mbachu, holds a picture of her deceased son. She estimated the picture to be seven or nine years old. Mbachu, 19, was killed on June 22, 2010.Authorities said Burkey, a warehouse worker, lived at 1656 Perrineville Road, where he rented a room from Frances Cutrone, 72, Wysokowski’s mother, who lived next door to her daughter. Police received a 911 call at 5:43 a.m. on May 7 and found the victim dead in her bedroom.
Neighbors said her husband, Walter Wysokowski, worked the third shift at the Nestle plant in Freehold and returned home about 9 a.m. to find police at the house. That’s when he learned his wife had been killed.
Authorities said Burkey was arrested about 15 minutes after officers found the woman’s body, but was not charged with her murder until about 18 hours later.
Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch said the Carteret attack on Mbachu and his friend was "not a random act," at Burton’s first court appearance, but Sewitch would not provide any more details.
The day after Mbachu was shot, Carteret Mayor Daniel Reiman said both shooting victims were known members of the Crips gang and that Mbachu had recently been charged with pulling a gun on another person. However, Sewitch said investigators do not believe the shootings were gang-related.
Previous coverage:
• Neighbor charged in killing of Monroe woman
• Monroe man pleads not guilty to allegedly stabbing landlady's daughter to death
• Carteret man pleads not guilty to fatally shooting one teenager, injuring another
• Teens shot in front of Carteret home were Crips gang members, officials say