New Jersey man murders ex-girlfriend's brother and grandmother, holds her hostage and live-streams high-speed police chase
Police have arrested and charged a New Jersey man accused of murdering his girlfriend's younger brother and grandmother, holding his girlfriend against her will, and then leading authorities on a high-speed chase which he live-streamed on Facebook.
The accused, 23-year-old Terrance J. Matthews of Willingboro, was apprehended on Thursday, June 20, in connection with the brutal killings and hostage situation, announced Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Willingboro Public Safety Director Kinamo Lomon in a press release.
The investigation into Matthews was launched just after 10 am on Wednesday, June 19, after Westhampton Township police officers were dispatched to a Wawa store on Springside Road on a report of a woman in distress.
On reaching the scene, they uncovered that after Matthews and his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Krissida Williams, had entered the store, the latter told one of the employees that he had killed her family. Matthews had subsequently fled the store, and Willingboro Township police officers were sent to a house in the 100 block of Eastbrook Lane to conduct a wellness check on the occupants.
Inside the residence, which was also home to Matthews, they discovered the bodies of 68-year-old Jennifer Vassell, Williams' grandmother, and nine-year-old Ishon Mathiln Jr., Williams' younger brother. Both had been stabbed multiple times, and authorities said Ishon appeared to have been drowned in a bathtub.
Investigators said the motive for the killing appeared to stem from an argument Matthews and Williams had during a telephone call the previous day, Wednesday, June 20, and that the pair had been murdered while Williams was at work that evening.
When she arrived at the residence after work, Matthews was still at the scene of the crime and held her against her will through the night. Williams told officers that he threatened and poked her with two pocket knives through the entire ordeal, according to the Daily Mail. She also said he was smoking K2, a synthetic marijuana product that's known for its psychoactive side effects, and that she managed to escape after they drove to a Westhampton Wawa convenience store and she alerted an employee to her plight.
Matthews was arrested the next day at approximately 2 pm by the Camden County Police Department following a high-speed chase, the entirety of which he live-streamed on Facebook, that ended when he crashed his vehicle into a pole.
He was treated and released from a medical facility before being transported to the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly. The 23-year-old has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree kidnapping, one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and one count of fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon. He made his first appearance in Superior Court on Friday, June 21.