Black New Jersey Woman Found Dead After Asking Alleged Murderer ‘You’re Not A Serial Killer, Right?’

Source: Tim Robberts / Getty

New Jersey Woman Found Dead 10 Days After Asking Khalil Wheeler-Weaver If He’s A Serial Killer

This. Is. Scary.

The trial of an alleged serial killer accused of targeting black women and women with mental health issues has taken an even darker turn. NJ.com reports that Khalil Wheeler-Weaver is accused of killing Sarah Butler, 20, Joanne Browne, 33, and Robin West, 19, between August and November 2016.

Another woman whose identity is being protected actually survived and escaped an attack from the alleged serial killer and is helping with the trial. One of the victims, Sarah Butler, told her mom she was meeting a friend and texted him, “You’re not a serial killer, right?” Ten days later, the 20-year-old college student was found strangled to death, her body covered with leaves and left in a nature reserve.

Prosecutors believe that Wheeler-Weaver, a black man, chose his victims intentionally and “targeted young black women who turned to sex work while coping with mental health issues or homelessness.”

They blatantly said he did this because he thought that “no one would care if they went missing.”

“They were viewed as somehow less than human, less valuable,” said Essex County assistant prosecutor Adam Wells. “That maybe they wouldn’t be missed.”

The chilling texts that Sarah Butler sent to the alleged murderer, a YMCA lifeguard in his early twenties, were made public during the trial’s opening statements this week.

The Washington Post is also covering the story and reporting that the family of Sarah Butler actually cracked the case for the police with a sting operation. These brave heroes created a fake profile on a site Wheeler-Weaver used, using the promise of sex to lure him in. When the man went to meet the alleged sex work, he found himself face-to-face with the police.

The alleged serial killer’s public defender claims that he’s cooperated with authorities and admitted that he’d seen all three women before their deaths but denied the murders.

“Mr. Wheeler-Weaver, he wasn’t just cooperative, he told the police that he had met them,” said Deirdre McMahon, a public defender. “He told police where he had last seen them and that they were alive and safe. What happened to them afterwards is not at the hands of Mr. Wheeler-Weaver.”

SURE.

This trial is ongoing, we will keep you posted on details.

Please be safe ladies, keep your phone’s tracking on and stay alert—-this case is especially chilling considering all the reports of crimes against women and trafficking we’ve been seeing.