On Wednesday, November 19, 2025, the Honorable Nesle A. Rodriguez sentenced a Bayonne man to 30 years in New Jersey State Prison in connection with the 2020 death of Crystal Ojeda.
According to Acting Hudson County Prosecutor Wayne Mello, 37-year old Erick Acosta previously pled guilty to one count of aggravated manslaughter. The State was represented at sentencing by Hudson County Assistant Prosecutors David Feldman and John Caruso.
According to a press release from the Prosecutor’s Office, the incident happened on October 9, 2020, shortly before 1 p.m. Members of the Bayonne Police Department responded to 30 Lord Avenue to perform a welfare check of a resident. Upon arrival, responding officers found an unresponsive female with visible trauma. The victim, later identified as 40-year old Crystal Ojeda of Bayonne, was pronounced dead at approximately 1:55 p.m. The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and body and the manner of death to be homicide.