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New Jersey Serial Killer Khalil Wheeler-Weaver Convicted Of Murdering 3 Women, Attempting To Kill 4th Victim

December 23, 2019 / 10:34 PM EST / CBS New York

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ESSEX COUNTY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A 23-year-old New Jersey serial killer, charged in the murders of three women and the attempted murder of a fourth, has been convicted on all counts.

An Essex County jury deliberated for just two hours last Thursday before convicting Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, who now faces a potential sentence of life plus 80 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Wheeler-Weaver, of Orange, killed 20-year-old Sarah Butler, 33-year-old Joanne Brown, and 19-year-old Robin West in 2016. They also accuse him of trying to kill another woman that year after connecting with the women using a social media app.

Wheeler-Weaver was convicted of murder, desecrating human remains, kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, and aggravated arson.

"Wheeler-Weaver mistakenly believed that they were anonymous people, people on the margins, whose disappearance and ultimately their death would not matter, this team assembled here today proved otherwise," Ted Stephens, the acting Essex County Prosecutor said.

Wheeler-Weaver's public defenders confirmed that their client had arranged sexual encounters with the women but said he dropped them off safely at the end of each encounter and didn't harm anyone.