Authorities have arrested a 20-year-old Orange man and charged him with the murder of a Montclair college student whose body was found in Eagle Rock Reservation last week, according to a press release.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Montclair Police Chief Todd Conforti announced that detectives arrested Khalil Wheeler-Weaver Tuesday in the murder of Sarah Butler, age 20. Wheeler-Weaver was charged with one count of murder and one count of disturbing of human remains.
On November 23, Butler’s family reported her as missing to the Montclair Police Department. Law enforcement officers discovered her body on December 1 in Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange. After an autopsy determined that Butler died as a result of compression of the neck, her death was ruled a homicide and an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force led to Wheeler-Weaver’s arrest, said Murray and Conforti.
Sarah Butler (screenshot, NJ.com)
Butler, a freshman at New Jersey City University in Jersey City who lived on campus and was home for the Thanksgiving break when she was killed, was slightly acquainted with Wheeler-Weaver and they encountered each other in Orange Nov. 22, according to an article in NJ.com. The two met at several unspecified locations in the city that night.
Butler was last seen the night before her body was discovered and her 2007 Dodge Caravan was discovered abandoned in Orange. The Essex County Sheriff’s office had announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the killing.
Acting Prosecutor Murray commended the Montclair Police Department and the detectives and assistant prosecutors of the Homicide Task Force for their work on the investigation. Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura said there had been “an outpouring of support from the community” and many leads in the case, said NJ.com.
Wheeler-Weaver is being held in the Essex County Correctional Facility and bail has been set at $1,000,000. He will be arraigned in Essex County Superior Court at a later date.
