Four Men Indicted in Murder of Red Bank Teacher

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By John Burton
FREEHOLD – A Monmouth County grand jury on Monday handed up an indictment for four men accused of murdering Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton nearly seven years ago.
The grand jury’s indictment was for nine counts against James M. Fair, 28, Ebenezer Byrd, 36, and Gregory A. Jean-Baptiste, 27, all of Asbury Park, and 38-year-old Keansburg resident Jerry J. Spraulding, who are charged in connection to the Sept 14, 2009 death of 33-year-old Jonelle Melton in her Neptune City apartment, according to Charles Webster, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Among the charges the four face are felony murder, first degree robbery, second degree burglary, second degree conspiracy, first degree tampering with a witness and weapons charges, according to Webster.
All four defendants are being held on $1.5 million cash-only bail, with a bail source hearing required before any of them can be released, according to law enforcement authorities.
Melton was a well-regarded veteran teacher at the Red Bank Middle School, where she was involved in numerous extracurricular programs as well as active in her church and its programs. She was lovingly remembered at a community event at Calvary Baptist Church in Red Bank at Christmas. 
Back on Sept. 14, 2009, school officials and family members became concerned because Melton failed to come to work, to answer phone calls or knocks on her apartment door by a family member. When Neptune City police were summoned they found Melton unresponsive in her West Sylvania Avenue apartments, with paramedics pronouncing her dead at the scene.
A joint investigation was conducted by detectives with the county prosecutor’s office and Neptune City department over a more than six-year period. Authorities alleged the defendants planned to burglarize an apartment in the complex but broke into the wrong one. When the men encountered Melton they allegedly beat her to death.
If convicted of felony murder, the four men face penalties of a minimum of 30 years in state prison, ineligible for parole, to a maximum of life imprisonment. The sentence would be subject to the state’s No Early Release Act, meaning they would have to serve a minimum of 85 percent of any sentence imposed of 30 years or more, before being considered for parole, according to authorities.
The other charges have penalties for conviction ranging from 10- to 20 years in state prison.