A New Jersey man was sentenced to 190 years in prison for murdering two of his ex-lovers and one of their current flames in front of their young children, reports said.
Jeffrey Holland, 30, was found guilty by an Essex County jury for the January 2016 slayings in Newark and was sentenced to 60 years for each death on Tuesday, plus an additional 10 years for having a weapon and being a convicted felon, ABC 7 reported.
Holland was found guilty of strangling and drowning his ex-girlfriend Tiniquah Rouse inside her apartment while her 5-month-old child was in the home. Holland stashed the baby in a closet, covered him with clothes and fled. The baby was unharmed.
Rouse’s body, which prosecutors said was “desecrated,” was found by a family friend shortly after.
Fresh from Rouse’s slaying, Holland headed to the home of another ex-lover, 23-year-old Ashley Jones, the next day and shot and killed her and her boyfriend, Jarrell Marshall, in front of two of Holland’s children and one of Marshall’s kids.
Holland’s children, whom he shared with Jones, were a 1-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. Marshall’s daughter was 3 years old and came from a previous relationship.
“We heard six to eight gunshots, and then after the gunshots were finished, that little girl said, ‘Where’s my mommy? Where’s my mommy?'” neighbor Vernice Cromer told ABC in 2016.
During a lengthy trial, Assistant Prosecutor Justin Edwab said Holland took cellphone pictures of Rouse’s dead body in the bathtub and had been researching state murder laws and what type of evidence was needed for a conviction.
Following the sentencing, Edwab said he was grateful the case has come to a close.
“The sheer depravity and violence that occurred in this case is incomprehensible. This defendant brutally killed three innocent people and in the case of Rouse desecrated her body. His crimes are even more cruel because they were carried out in the presence of very young children, including two of his own children,” Edwab said in a statement.
“After almost three years of waiting, the Rouse, Jones and Marshall families finally have justice for the horrific murders of Tiniquah, Ashley and Jarrell … this defendant will no longer be a threat to society.’’