Lindenwold Man Convicted in Mount Laurel Hotel Murder
MOUNT HOLLY, NJ—After killing another person in cold blood, a New Jersey man used the dead man’s credit cards to satisfy his craving for pizza.
Today, a 32-year-old man from Lindenwold was found guilty of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, in a case involving the killing of a Camden man at a Mount Laurel hotel. After two hours of deliberation, the jury in the Superior Court in Mount Holly delivered the verdict against Jawaad Ali.
The conviction stems from an incident on May 8, 2020, at the Fairfield Inn on Century Parkway. According to the prosecution, Ali, along with co-defendants Asia Boone and Anthony Sermond-Guyton, orchestrated a plot to rob Samer Alhalayqa, 31, of Camden. Alhalayqa was lured to the hotel under false pretenses, suffocated in a third-floor room, and his body was left in the hallway.
Following the murder, the victim’s debit card was used for several transactions, including withdrawals from an ATM, purchases on Amazon.com, and pizza from Papa John’s.
Ali, who chose to represent himself during the trial, was also found guilty of first-degree robbery and kidnapping, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery and desecration of human remains, third-degree wrongful impersonation, and fourth-degree credit card theft. The Hon. Terrence R. Cook, P.J.Cr., has scheduled Ali’s sentencing for September 27.
Boone and Sermond-Guyton have already pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutors Nicole C. Lister and David Kras Bakardjiev, while Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Hutchinson handled the proceedings against the co-defendants.