THE REAL CRIMINALS
Khayri Williams-Clark, 18, and an unidentified 17-year-old, both of Summit, were arrested Wednesday on manslaughter charges. Williams-Clark pleaded not guilty to the charge Friday.
Now they’re charged with murder, along with Nigel Dumas, 19, of Morristown. A spokesman for the public defender’s office, which is representing Williams-Clark and the 17-year-old, declined to comment Tuesday and said the office hadn’t yet received an application to represent Dumas.
The 17-year-old is being held in the Union County juvenile detention center, while Williams-Clark is being held at the Union County jail on $100,000 bail, prosecutors said. Bail for Dumas, at the same jail, has been set at $250,000. Authorities wouldn’t say how many teens were in the group or whether there would be more charges. They also weren’t discussing theories on the motive for the beating — whether it was Mazaniego’s background, a thrill killing or some other reason.
But it apparently wasn’t an attempt to get the $640 in cash that Mazaniego was carrying.
Police found the victim after the beating and took him to the hospital, where, officials say, nurse Stephan Randolph, 39, of Flemington, took the money out of the unconscious victim’s wallet.
Family members noticed the missing money and told authorities, who charged Randolph with third-degree theft Monday, six days after Mazaniego died.
