Murder-For-Hire Verdict In Brick Father's Slaying Reached

BRICK, NJ — A Brick Township man has been convicted of offering to pay a former cellmate to kill his father, who was found dead in their Brick Township home in September 2019, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Mark J. Austin, 34, was convicted on a charge of murder by a jury on Thursday following a five-week trial before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Mark Richard Austin, 55, of Brick, was found dead in his home in Cedar Bridge Manor on Sept. 7, 2019, when police were called to the home. Authorities later said he had been savagely beaten with a baseball bat, and on Sept. 13, 2019, arrested Mark J. Austin and Jeray K. Melton, 34, of Salem City.

"Justice was served today," Billhimer said Thursday. "This defendant orchestrated a calculated and cold-blooded plot to take the life of another human being — his own father."

"We are grateful to the jury for arriving at the truth and holding Austin accountable for his actions. And we are hopeful this verdict delivers a level of peace and justice to the loved ones of Mark Richard Austin," Billhimer said.

"In rendering its verdict, the jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Austin procured the commission of his father’s murder by payment or promise of payment of anything of monetary value," the prosecutor's office said. That is an aggravating factor that requires Austin be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole eligibility, the prosecutor's office said.

Austin's family believes he is innocent, the Asbury Park Press reported, and his defense attorneys allege Melton killed the elder Austin to steal heroin from him.

"Family and friends have supported Mark throughout the process and will continue to do so,'' said Oleg Nekritin told the Asbury Park Press. "We are all firmly convinced of his innocence and will continue to fight with every ounce of our being to clear his name.''

Prosecutors filed the murder-for-hire charge in 2021, alleging Austin agreed to pay Melton to kill his father.

Melton, who shared a cell at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility with Austin when both were serving unrelated sentences, testified against Austin during the trial. He said Austin agreed to pay him $50,000, the Asbury Park Press reported. He initially told authorities that Austin put a gun to his head and forced him to beat the elder Austin to death with the baseball bat, the Press reported, and admitted during the trial that he repeatedly lied to investigators.

Melton pleaded guilty Feb. 25, 2020, to aggravated manslaughter in the case and was being held in the Monmouth County Jail, Billhimer has said.

Among the evidence presented were text messages and cellphone GPS data, including a text from Austin to his father asking his dad if he wanted a cheesesteak; authorities said the text was sent well after the elder Austin was already dead.

Austin, who also was found guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon, is scheduled to be sentenced by Ryan on Dec. 12. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Melton also faces sentencing but the prosecutor's office did not announce a sentencing date.