Authorities say a woman in New Jersey was sentenced to nearly 100 years behind bars for killing her girlfriend after arranging a botched hit on her life nd then burying her body in her backyard.
Jennifer Sweeney, 38, of Tinton Falls, was ordered to serve 95 years in prison on Friday for the murder of Tyrita Julius, 41, of Linden, said Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey in a statement Saturday, PEOPLE reported.
Sweeney was sentenced to 75 years in prison for the murder of Julius and 20 years in prison for the attempted ‘contract hit’, according to Linskey’s statement.
According to the prosecutor, Sweeney will not be eligible for release until she is more than 100 years old.
According to the prosecutor, Sweeney will not be eligible for release until she is well over 100 years old.
Under the requirements of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, she will spend at least 85 percent of both the 75-year life sentence for the homicide and the 20-year term for the shooting.
“This sentencing is a fitting outcome to the prosecution of genuinely monstrous crimes,” Linskey said in the statement. “This defendant’s actions were callous, calculated, and vicious, and ended the life of a woman beloved by her family and friends. I sincerely thank the detectives and assistant prosecutors who worked so diligently over so many years to see that justice was done in this case.”
Suspicious behavior was discovered on November 24, 2015, at 7:15 p.m., when officers of the Linden Police Department reacted to a complaint of a shooting, according to the prosecutor’s statement. Officers discovered Julius unconscious in the driver’s seat of her automobile, which had collided with a utility pole near her house, according to the prosecutor.
Julius was shot eight times. Her teen daughter, who was in the front passenger seat, had also been shot. They both survived.
Julius’ mother reported her missing to police in Linden and Long Branch on March 9, 2016, while the shooting investigation was still ongoing.
“Authorities were told at that time that Tyrita had been spending time with a female friend in Tinton Falls the day before, but failed to return home later that evening,” the prosecutor said in the statement.
Five months later, on Aug. 16, 2016, investigators searching the Long Branch house of 38-year-old Andre Harris, the shooter in the November 2015 shooting, uncovered Julius’ corpse, according to the prosecution.
Julius’ body was found buried in the backyard, covered in two waste bags, with an electric cable around her neck,” according to the statement.
Sweeney and Harris were detained and charged afterwards, with a Monmouth County grand jury indicting both in December 2016.
Harris later entered into a plea bargain and testified in court at Sweeney’s trial.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison last Friday. He will spend 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, as part of his plea agreement.
According to NJ.com and the Asbury Park Press, Harris testified against Sweeney as part of his plea deal, saying she suspected Julius of cheating on her.
