Three charged with murder in home-invasion killing of N.J. prosecutor’s office detective, authorities say

Three people have been charged with murder in the home-invasion killing of a detective with the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, authorities said Monday.

Jarred D. Brown, 31, of Bridgeton; Richard B. Willis, 32, of Gloucester City; and Nyshawn Mutcherson, 29, of Vineland, face first-degree murder charges in the Oct. 15 slaying of Sgt. Monica Mosley, 51. They were being held in Cumberland County Jail.

“This is a significant step toward justice for Detective Sergeant Monica Mosley and her family,” Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland said in a statement. “We are resolute in our commitment to ensuring that those responsible for this horrific act are held accountable.”

Brown and Willis were also charged with hindering their own apprehension and the apprehension of others and with tampering with physical evidence, court records show.

Cyndia Pimentel, 38, of Paulsboro, was charged with driving a vehicle used in the commission of a crime when authorities say she drove the getaway car used by the three men who killed Mosley from Paulsboro into Philadelphia in an effort to hide the vehicle from law enforcement. The car, a black Chevy Equinox, was registered in her name, records show.

Pimentel drove someone whose name was redacted from court records from Paulsboro to a garage in Philadelphia, where they left the Chevy and got into another car, records show.

Officials from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, which is leading the investigation rather than prosecutors in Cumberland County because Mosley had worked for that office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the arrests. Attorneys for Brown, Willis, and Pimentel could not be immediately reached. It was unclear if Mutcherson had hired an attorney.

Around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 15, authorities responded to a report of several people trying to kick in the front door of a residence on the 600 block of Buckshutem Road in Bridgeton. When officers arrived at the house, they found Mosley suffering from a gunshot wound, authorities said.

She died from her injuries at the scene, authorities said.

Investigators later learned Brown and Willis picked Mutcherson up in Millville on the day of Mosley’s murder, and all three traveled to an address on the 100 block of South Avenue in Bridgeton, where they changed into dark-colored clothing, according to the probable cause affidavit for their arrests.

They then went to Mosley’s home, less than two miles away, broke in, and shot her, court documents show. In a last act of self-defense, Mosley shot Mutcherson in the chest before succumbing to her injuries, records show.

The three men then fled the scene and dropped Mutcherson off at Inspira Health Center Bridgeton in Bridgeton, where Mutcherson was treated for his wound, the affidavits show. Brown and Willis then drove back to the South Avenue address in the Chevy Equinox, where they changed out of the clothes they had worn to commit the murder, and dispersed, according to the affidavits.

In the days that followed Mosley’s killing, Brown, Willis, and Pimentel tried to get rid of evidence of the three men’s crime, according to the affidavits.

Mosley was a detective for more than a decade, and started her career as a paralegal in the Cumberland County Prosecuctor’s Office in 2006. She became a county detective in 2009, and served on a number of special units in the prosecutor’s office, including the special victims unit and internal affairs, where she was a unit supervisor.

Pimentel was being held at the Salem County Correctional Facility.