18-Year-Old Indicted In High-Speed Route 37 Crash That Killed Toms River Woman, Injured Husband

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Morris County teenager has been indicted in a May high-speed crash on Route 37 that killed a Toms River woman and injured her husband, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Abel B. Mathukutty, 18, of Lake Hiawatha, was indicted Thursday on charges of vehicular homicide, assault by auto, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing serious bodily injury in the crash that killed Deborah Barone, 59, and injured her husband, Michael Barone, 64, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Mathukutty was driving 76 mph on Route 37 at the time of the crash, which happened about 7:25 p.m. on May 24 on the eastbound lanes of Route 37, just west of the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge into Seaside Heights, authorities have said. The speed limit on Route 37 is 50 mph.

Investigators found Mathukutty was driving an Infiniti sedan and hit the driver's side of a Mercedes sedan. The impact caused the Mercedes to hit a utility pole, seriously injuring the Barones, who were taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, authorities said. Deborah Barone succumbed to her injuries there, authorities said. Michael Barone was transferred to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and he was later released from the hospital.

After hitting the Barones' car, Mathukutty took off over the bridge into Seaside Heights, the prosecutor's office said.

A description of the Infiniti was broadcast to surrounding towns, the prosecutor's office said, and Seaside Park police officers pulled over one matching the description about 8 p.m. Seaside Park police noted the vehicle had sustained heavy passenger-side damage and that the airbags in the vehicle had inflated, and determined it was the Infiniti that had been involved in the Route 37 crash, the prosecutor's office said.

Mathukutty was arrested after the crash and taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River but later released under New Jersey Bail Reform rules. He was served with additional charges in June on a summons, authorities said then.

According to the criminal complaint and probable cause affidavit filed at the time of Mathukutty's initial arrest, he made admissions to investigators about the crash.