A New Jersey man arrested and charged in connection with the brutal 2016 killings of two minors and a woman was on Friday sentenced to 375 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of the offense.
According to NJ.com, 32-year-old Jeremy Arrington is said to have tied up a total of nine people at an apartment in Newark before subjecting them to torture and mutilation. The deceased victims were identified as seven-year-old Ariel Little Whitehurst, Al-Jahon Whitehurst, 11, and Syasia McBurroughs, 23. The convicted man allegedly stabbed the two deceased minors several times. He also fatally shot McBurroughs in the head.
Authorities said Arrington had initially been named as a person of interest in connection with a shooting and sexual assault incident. But he became outraged after Ariel and Al-Jahon’s mother commented on a Facebook post about police searching for him. Arrington, who knew the family, then forced his way into their home with a gun before tying up the people inside and attacking them.
RELATED STORIES
The other victims Arrington stabbed while he was in the home were Ariel and Al-Jahon’s 29-year-old mother and 13-year-old twin siblings. Those three victims, fortunately, survived the attack.
Essex County Deputy Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab labeled Arrington’s actions as “pure evil.” He said the convicted man handled the apartment like an “amusement park” as he took turns in repeatedly stabbing the victims.
“He caused as much pain as he could to that family,” Edwab said.
A child who was hiding in the closet during the attack ultimately got in touch with a family member who contacted the police, NJ.com reported. Authorities took Arrington into custody the day after the attack. But that was after he engaged in a standoff with the police.
“You committed perhaps the most horrific, heinous, cruel, and depraved murders this county has ever seen,” Essex County Superior Court Judge Ronald D. Wigler told Arrington. “…This case may be the worst I’ve ever seen.”
The charges brought against Arrington included three counts of murder, attempted murder, burglary, criminal restraint, and weapons offenses. He received three 75-year sentences for the killings and three 50-year sentences for the attempted murder charges.
He’ll be eligible for parole in 281 years.
