Slain Woman’s Loved Ones Use Social Media To Lure New Jersey Serial Killer Suspect
‘You’re not a serial killer, right?’ she allegedly texted before her death.
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver (Photo: Patti Sapone/NJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)
A man stands accused of killing three women and attempting to murder a fourth after a victim’s loved ones used social media to lure him to a sting disguised as a date, authorities allege.
According to the Washington Post, Sara Butler, 20, was on Thanksgiving break from New Jersey City University when she arranged to meet Khalil Wheeler-Weaver on Nov. 22, 2016.
The two allegedly met online. After backing out of a previous date with him, she agreed to see him after he offered her $500 for sex, authorities said.
Before the appointment, Butler allegedly texted Wheeler-Weaver, saying, “You’re not a serial killer, right?”
The college student’s body was reportedly discovered 10 days later at the 400-acre Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange.
In the wake of the slaying, Butler’s parents, sister, and a friend reportedly dug into Butler’s social media accounts to find who she communicated with before her death.
When the group discovered messages Butler allegedly exchanged with Wheeler-Weaver, they set up a fake profile, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells said in court, according to The North New Jersey Record.
In what Wells dubbed a “fatal mistake” for Wheeler-Weaver, the amateur sleuths allegedly used the phony account to lure the suspect to a meeting. But, instead of meeting a woman, Wheeler-Weaver was greeted by the police, according to Wells.
“Sarah’s friends and family are the heroes of this case,” the prosecutor said.
Authorities also accuse Wheeler-Weaver, 23, in the cold case slayings of killing Robin West, 19, and Joanne Brown, 33.
On Sept. 1, 2016, authorities reportedly found West's charred body in a vacant Orange home that someone set ablaze. According to the prosecutor, location tracking on Wheeler-Weaver’s phone shows he was at the abandoned property before the blaze ignited and allegedly returned later to watch it burn.
In December 2016, less than two months after she disappeared, authorities reportedly found Brown's body at another vacant property in Orange. Investigators allege tape covered her mouth and nose. Like Butler, a medical examiner determined she had been strangled.
According to Wells, West and Brown were sex workers targeted because they “wouldn’t be missed” if they suddenly vanished, the Washington Post reported.
“They were viewed as somehow less than human, less valuable,” he told the jury in October.
Authorities also accuse Wheeler-Weaver of attempted murder in the case of a fourth woman — identified only in legal documents as “T.T.” She reportedly testified she barely escaped Wheeler-Weaver when he held her captive. According to testimony, the now-37-year-old woman allegedly planned to cheat Wheeler-Weaver out of cash after he allegedly arranged to meet for sex via an online ad on Nov. 15, 2016.
During the alleged meeting, she testified, Wheeler-Weaver, wearing a ski mask, put duct tape over her mouth and handcuffed her before sexually assaulting her in his car. She testified he strangled her several times until she lost consciousness. During the ordeal, she said, she came up with a plan to escape by saying she needed to get her cellphone from her motel. When the two arrived at her room, she locked him out and called 911, she testified.
“If I’m not thinking about it in the daytime, it haunts me in my sleep,” the woman said in court, according to NJ.com.
At the time of the slayings, authorities allege Wheeler-Weaver searched online for answers to troubling questions, including: “How to make homemade poisons to kill humans” and “What chemical could you put on a rag and hold to someone’s face to make them go to sleep immediately.”
In February 2017, a grand jury indicted Wheeler-Weaver on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. He also reportedly faces charges of aggravated arson, desecration of human remains, and aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. He entered not guilty pleas, and his trial is ongoing.
Wheeler-Weaver's public defender, Deirdre McMahon, reportedly said her client cooperated with authorities during the investigations and never denied being with the women before their disappearances.
“That is not the conduct of a guilty individual,” McMahon said in court, according to NorthJersey.com.
During a 2017 interview with WHYY-FM Radio, Robin West's father, Leroy West, 56, said he was still searching for answers.
“I need to know what happened to him, what caused him to snap like this,” Leroy West said. “I’ve been face-to-face with him in court, and I’m looking at a handsome young man, and I’m thinking: ‘Why would you need to go out and track these young women and murder them?’ Nobody wants to relive and hear the details. But I want to know why he killed my daughter…”
