Life In Prison For Long Branch Man Who Robbed Home, Fled Police And Crashed Car, Killing Woman

LONG BRANCH, NJ — A Long Branch man who robbed a home at gunpoint and then crashed his car while fleeing from police, killing a woman in the car with him, was sentenced to life in prison.

Altonia D. Williams, 47, was sentenced last week by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph Oxley.

He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years, for an armed home invasion and subsequent motor vehicle crash that resulted in a woman’s death a little more than two years ago.

A four-week trial held before Judge Oxley earlier this year resulted in guilty verdicts on all 18 charges filed against him, including first-degree armed robbery, felony murder, aggravated manslaughter while eluding and vehicular homicide.

Shortly before 4 a.m. August 14, 2023, Long Branch Police were dispatched to a home on Narragansett Avenue for a report of an armed home invasion involving a man later identified as Williams. He brandished a firearm and demanded money from the home’s residents.

Responding police located Williams in a white BMW leaving the area. Ignoring police orders to stop, he fled from the first-arriving officer, and less than a minute later, crashed into a second police patrol vehicle that had been responding to the scene.

Williams then got out of his car and fled on foot, leaving behind his front-seat passenger, Tracee Blount, 38, of Long Branch. Responding officers managed to extricate her from the heavily damaged and burning BMW, but she was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Williams was later found hiding in a bush nearby, in possession of a loaded handgun. The investigation later revealed he was intoxicated on marijuana at the time of the collision.

“The sentence imposed by the court was justified given this defendant’s utter disregard for the value of human life,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said Tuesday.

The case against Williams was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Ellyn Rajfer and Charles F. Clark, Jr. Williams was represented by Shane Paugh, a criminal defense attorney in Middletown.