Convicted serial killer, rapist says cops got the wrong guy before judge sentences him to 160 years in prison
Updated: Oct. 06, 2021, 5:03 p.m. | Published: Oct. 06, 2021, 2:57 p.m.
Authorities allege Khalil Wheeler-Weaver killed (l-r) Joanne Browne, Robin West, and Sarah Butler. (Photos courtesy of Facebook, Instagram)
By Rebecca Panico | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, a 25-year-old convicted serial killer, spoke for the first time Wednesday before a judge sentenced him to 160 years for murdering three women in 2016, desecrating their remains and brutally raping another victim who escaped.
“My heart goes out to the families...,” said Weaver as he stood in Superior Court of Essex County before a judge, at times his voice barely discernable. “However I was not the person who committed these crimes.”
“I was set up, I was lied on and framed by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.”
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver who was convicted of killing three women and raping a fourth, arrives at court where he was sentenced to 165 years in jail by Essex County Superior Court Judge Mark Ali, in Newark, N.J. October, 6, 2021
The sole surviving victim, Tiffany Taylor, begged to differ. She sat just feet away from him in the Newark courtroom on Wednesday and during her hours-long testimony during trial two years ago, when she described in harrowing details how he raped her and attempted to strangle her to death.
“As far him saying that he still didn’t do it, it makes me feel like he has no type of remorse about it at all,” said Taylor, who granted NJ Advance Media permission to identify her despite being a victim of sexual assault. “Like, he hasn’t even shed a tear about anything. So he’s not sorry at all about what he did. I’m over 100 percent sure it was him.”
Tiffany Taylor looks up at prosecutors after making her statement during the victim impact statements in the sentencing of Khalil Wheeler-Weaver. Wheeler-Weaver who was convicted of killing three women and raping a fourth, was sentenced to 165 years in jail by Essex County Superior Court Judge Mark Ali, in Newark, N.J. October, 6, 2021
Wheeler-Weaver, who was living in Orange at the time of the murders, intends to file an appeal of his conviction.
But on Wednesday, for the time being, there was no more debating his innocence. A jury in 2019 found him guilty on all 11 charges he went up against, including three counts of murder and desecration of human remains, attempted murder, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated arson and kidnapping.
His victims were all women, most of them marginalized by society.
They were Sarah Butler, 20, Robin West, 19, and Joanne Brown, 33. Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells previously said West, Brown and Taylor would do sex work for money in order to survive and were all homeless at one point.
The mother of West knew a different version of her daughter that may have not been emphasized during trial. She remembered her daughter dancing and singing in church before she started going down a different path as a teen.
“She will forever be and is my middle child,” said Anita Mason. “She loved music, loved to dance, loved to sing, loved her family, loved little children, loved elderly people, she loved dogs and all living in things. Early in life, she expressed the desire to join the air force because she loved planes - or to be a veterinarian because she loved dogs.”
West had to be identified by dental records after Wheeler-Weaver burned her body in an abandoned Orange home, prosecutors said during the trial.
“Robin Daphne Michele West did not — and I repeat — did not deserve to be strangled to death and set on fire to be left in a house, weighing over a little 60 pounds due to the destruction of that fire,” West’s mom continued. “Questions in my head: Was she alive? Did she fight? What were her last words?”
Updated: Oct. 06, 2021, 5:03 p.m. | Published: Oct. 06, 2021, 2:57 p.m.
Authorities allege Khalil Wheeler-Weaver killed (l-r) Joanne Browne, Robin West, and Sarah Butler. (Photos courtesy of Facebook, Instagram)
By Rebecca Panico | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, a 25-year-old convicted serial killer, spoke for the first time Wednesday before a judge sentenced him to 160 years for murdering three women in 2016, desecrating their remains and brutally raping another victim who escaped.
“My heart goes out to the families...,” said Weaver as he stood in Superior Court of Essex County before a judge, at times his voice barely discernable. “However I was not the person who committed these crimes.”
“I was set up, I was lied on and framed by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.”
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver who was convicted of killing three women and raping a fourth, arrives at court where he was sentenced to 165 years in jail by Essex County Superior Court Judge Mark Ali, in Newark, N.J. October, 6, 2021
The sole surviving victim, Tiffany Taylor, begged to differ. She sat just feet away from him in the Newark courtroom on Wednesday and during her hours-long testimony during trial two years ago, when she described in harrowing details how he raped her and attempted to strangle her to death.
“As far him saying that he still didn’t do it, it makes me feel like he has no type of remorse about it at all,” said Taylor, who granted NJ Advance Media permission to identify her despite being a victim of sexual assault. “Like, he hasn’t even shed a tear about anything. So he’s not sorry at all about what he did. I’m over 100 percent sure it was him.”
Tiffany Taylor looks up at prosecutors after making her statement during the victim impact statements in the sentencing of Khalil Wheeler-Weaver. Wheeler-Weaver who was convicted of killing three women and raping a fourth, was sentenced to 165 years in jail by Essex County Superior Court Judge Mark Ali, in Newark, N.J. October, 6, 2021
Wheeler-Weaver, who was living in Orange at the time of the murders, intends to file an appeal of his conviction.
But on Wednesday, for the time being, there was no more debating his innocence. A jury in 2019 found him guilty on all 11 charges he went up against, including three counts of murder and desecration of human remains, attempted murder, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated arson and kidnapping.
His victims were all women, most of them marginalized by society.
They were Sarah Butler, 20, Robin West, 19, and Joanne Brown, 33. Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells previously said West, Brown and Taylor would do sex work for money in order to survive and were all homeless at one point.
The mother of West knew a different version of her daughter that may have not been emphasized during trial. She remembered her daughter dancing and singing in church before she started going down a different path as a teen.
“She will forever be and is my middle child,” said Anita Mason. “She loved music, loved to dance, loved to sing, loved her family, loved little children, loved elderly people, she loved dogs and all living in things. Early in life, she expressed the desire to join the air force because she loved planes - or to be a veterinarian because she loved dogs.”
West had to be identified by dental records after Wheeler-Weaver burned her body in an abandoned Orange home, prosecutors said during the trial.
“Robin Daphne Michele West did not — and I repeat — did not deserve to be strangled to death and set on fire to be left in a house, weighing over a little 60 pounds due to the destruction of that fire,” West’s mom continued. “Questions in my head: Was she alive? Did she fight? What were her last words?”
