19-year-old charged in murder of college student found shot in the head, burned on NYC train tracks
A 19-year-old man has been arrested in the savage murder of a college student who was found shot in the head and burned on freight train tracks in Brooklyn back in February.
Isiah Baez, from Brooklyn, was taken into custody at 10:30 p.m. Thursday and charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence in the killing of DeAndre Matthews.
A week earlier, 24-year-old Remy McPrecia was arrested in Brooklyn on counts of concealment of a human corpse and tampering with evidence in this case.
So far, no motive for Matthews’ killing has been revealed.
The victim’s mother, Danielle Matthews, slammed Baez as “evil” and said that she cannot and will not forgive him for taking her only son away from her.
“He deserves any- and everything that he gets,” the woman told News 12 the Bronx after his arrest. “He deserves every day to rot in that jail.”
Matthews, who lived on East 56th Street near Linden Boulevard in East Flatbush, was reported missing on Feb. 6.
The following day, police found him dead from a gunshot wound to the head, with “significant burn wounds throughout his body,” lying on train tracks on Nostrand Avenue — just steps away from Brooklyn College.
Matthews also showed signs of smoke inhalation, police said.
Family members said Matthews studied criminal justice at SUNY Broome Community College and hoped to become a social worker.
To put himself through college, the teen, known to his loved ones as Dre, had recently taken a job at the detail shop Buggy TLC in Crown Heights.
On the day of his disappearance, he left work and went home to borrow his mother’s car to go out. He walked out the door around 5:45 p.m., never to be seen alive again.
His mother’s Jeep Cherokee was found burned a few minutes away on Troy Avenue the next day, leading to the discovery of his body.
“I want justice for my son,” his mom told CBS New York at the time.
His sister, Dajanae Gillespie, told the outlet that her brother was not in a gang and was not a violent person.
“Like, my brother didn’t do anything to nobody, and I can really say that,” she said. “He wasn’t a bad kid. You know what I’m saying? He stayed in the house.”
