City Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Pittman Park Murder

A Bloods gang member was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for robbing and killing a New Brunswick man. 

Kevin Vauters, 21, of New Brunswick, was found guilty on September 12 on 11 counts for the 2012 murder and armed robbery of Eugene Lockhart, 26, of New Brunswick.

Vauters has also been sentenced to a 16-year prison term for witness tampering, to run consecutively to the life prison term, according to a press release from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

He will not become eligible for parole, according to the release. 

Lockhart's body was found on Jan. 10, 2012 in Pittman Park by a passerby who called police.

Investigators determined that Lockhart had obtained a gun from Vauters for the purpose of committing a robbery. However, Vauters shot Lockhart after deciding that the money Lockhart had given him wasn't enough, according the Prosecutor's Office.

In addition to the charges of murder, armed robbery and a related count of felony murder, Vauters was also found guilty on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, hindering his own apprehension, hindering the investigation, three counts of witness tampering and attempted false incrimination by trying to blame another person for the killing, according to the Prosecutor's Office.