LAKEWOOD, NJ –
A Lakewood man and his nephew have pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter charges following the 2019 murder of a Lakewood Township man with a machete and Howell.
Omar Rivera-Rojas (also known as Juan Carlos Rivera-Rojas) and his nephew Alberto Rojas-Hernandez each admitted to slashing Domingo Merino-Rafael, 33, also of Lakewood, with a machete, killing him in the early morning hours of October 18, 2019.
According to court records, police responded to a 911 call at about 3:46 a.m. on that date, reporting an unconscious male lying in the road on Hurley Pond Road just east of Route 547.
“Upon arrival, a male was located lying face down in the roadway. The incident was initially investigated as a fatal hit and run motor vehicle incident,” police reported. “However, upon the arrival of SCART investigators, it was quickly determined that his death was not the result of a hit and run event.”
An investigation by the Monmouth County prosecutor’s office and Howell Township Police Department found that the three men had driven together in a car from Lakewood to Middlesex County that night. At some point, the three men got into an argument that culminated with the uncle and nephew killing Merino-Rafael.
Both men admitted that they each struck the victim in the back of the head with a machete, killing him.
Sentencing for both Rivera-Rojas and Rojas-Hernandez is scheduled for March 3, 2023, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc C. LeMieux.