Brick Township, NJ, Man Sentenced to Life for Father’s Murder

More than six years after his father's death, an Ocean County man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors said 34-year-old Mark J. Austin of Brick Township learned his fate on Thursday after being convicted of murdering his father, Mark Richard Austin, following a nearly five-week jury trial that ended in a guilty verdict.

According to authorities, on September 7th, 2019, officers from the Brick Township Police Department were called to a home on Acorn Drive, and they discovered the victim's lifeless body with apparent blunt force trauma.

Murder-for-hire Plot Uncovered

Following an investigation, it was determined that Mark J. Austin and 34-year-old Jeray Melton of Salem had conspired to kill Mark Richard Austin. The two were charged accordingly and taken into custody on September 13th of that year and have been incarcerated since.

A subsequent investigation determined that Austin agreed to pay Melton in exchange for killing his father.

On February 25th, 2020, Melton pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter and is pending sentencing.

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Prosecutor Calls Crime Calculated and Merciless

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement, "This sentence underscores the calculated and merciless nature of Austin’s crimes. By orchestrating the murder of his own father, Austin forfeited any right to now ask the Court for mercy."

Billhimer also thanked the numerous law enforcement agencies that worked on this case, including the Brick Township, Salem, Manchester Township, Millville, and Bayonne Police Departments; the Port Authority Police of New York and New Jersey; New Jersey State Police; the Ocean County Sheriff's Office; the Salem County Prosecutor's Office; New Jersey Department of Corrections; and the FBI.