16-YEAR-OLD ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH MURDER OF 40-YEAR-OLD STORMS AVENUE MAN

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez has released the following information:

A 16-year-old male has been charged in the death of a 40-year-old Jersey City man who was found deceased in his apartment last week following a welfare check.

The teen has been charged as a juvenile with Murder in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3A(1), a first-degree crime; Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(D), a third-degree crime; and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(D), a fourth-degree crime. The teen was arrested on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at approximately 3:30 p.m. at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, just after 1:30 a.m., members of the Jersey City Police Department responded on a welfare check to an apartment at 44 Storms Avenue, between Howard Place and Monticello Avenue. Responding officers found a lifeless 40-year-old male victim, later identified as Benjamin Stone, who was pronounced deceased at 2:01 a.m. The Regional Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma to the torso and the manner of death to be homicide.

The defendant has been transferred to the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center in Morris Township.

Prosecutor Suarez credited the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit and the Jersey City Police Department for the investigation and arrest.

The above charges are merely accusations and the juvenile is presumed innocent until proven guilty. R.P.C.3.6(b)(6).