New Jersey Serial Killer Who Used Dating Apps To Lure Women Gets Lengthy Sentence
A New Jersey man who used dating apps to meet and kill women, has been sentenced.
According to the Associated Press, Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 25, was sentenced to 160 years in prison ater being convicted of three murders, one attempted murder and other counts including kidnapping, aggravated arson and desecration of human remains.
The trial and sentencing comes after friends of one of the victims did their own detective work on social media in tracking down the suspect. Wheeler-Weaver showed no emotion as the judge gave him his sentence in Newark. The sentencing was preceded by emotional statements by family members of victims Sarah Butler and Robin West.
Prior to the family members’ statements, Wheeler-Weaver told Superior Court Judge Mark S. Ali that he was framed and denied responsibility for the slayings.
The Essex County, N.J., prosecutor’s office credited friends of Butler with using social media to help police find Wheeler-Weaver by setting up a fake account and luring him to a meeting.
At Wednesday’s (October 6) sentencing, Tiffany Taylor, a survivor of one of Wheeler-Weaver’s attacks, described how it changed her life.
“My whole life is different; I don’t wear makeup anymore; I don’t have friends. I’m always paranoid. But I’m happy to still be here,” she said. “I hope you don’t show him any remorse, because he’s not showing any remorse.”
During the trial, investigators presented evidence from Wheeler-Weaver’s cell phone that placed him where the victims disappeared and where their bodies were found.
“The defendant believed these victims were disposable. They were killed and then he went on about his day as if nothing had happened,” Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Adam Wells said, according to the AP. “But each of these women’s lives mattered.”
