New murder charge in Randolph killing:
There’s been a major development in the ongoing story of Jonathan Zarate. To sum up 18-year-old Zarate killed 16-year-old Jennifer Parks, dismembered her body, hid her body in a trunk, hid the trunk in his dad’s Jeep for 24 hours, then tried dumping her body in the Passaic River. Now his 15-year-old brother known only as “J.Z.” has now been charged with helping his brothers commit the murder. Originally “J.Z.” was only charged with unlawful disposal of human remains and hindering apprehension…
This afternoon, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office served him with a complaint that charges him with being a principal or accomplice to the July 30 beating and stabbing death of the 16-year-old Parks girl.
Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Amirata would not give many specifics on the reasons for the first-degree charge against the juvenile, but acknowledged it is at least in part based on statements provided by a 16-year-old Clifton youth, who helped the teen and 18-year-old Jonathan Zarate try to throw a steamer trunk containing the girl’s corpse over a bridge into the Passaic River. The disposal attempt was thwarted when police passed by.
At a hearing tomorrow, prosecutors are going to ask the judge to let them try “J.Z.” as an adult.
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