Four New Jersey teenagers are accused of stealing a $220,000 luxury SUV and setting off a police pursuit that ended in a deadly head-on crash, killing a grandmother and her longtime partner, authorities said.
The group allegedly took a 2024 Mercedes-Benz G Wagon early Saturday and drove it for hours before the joyride turned fatal shortly before 8 a.m., when the SUV collided with a Hyundai sedan as the teens tried to evade police, NJ.com reported.
According to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, the stolen SUV was traveling at high speed on the wrong side of the road near Route 50 and Third Street in Mays Landing when it struck the sedan, sending the car careening into a nearby gas station.
The two people inside the Hyundai — Robert Barr Jr., 54, and Alice Stilwell, 67, both of Egg Harbor Township — were killed in the crash, prosecutors said.
A GoFundMe created to help with funeral costs described Stilwell as a cherished mother and grandmother and identified Barr as her longtime partner.
Authorities said the teens survived the wreck with little to no serious injury and tried to run from the scene, but they were taken into custody shortly afterward.
Police had been tracking the stolen G Wagon since about 3:40 a.m. in nearby Longport, where it allegedly sped past an officer who attempted to stop it.
Officers in Hamilton Township later spotted the vehicle around 7:45 a.m. and pursued it, though prosecutors said police had lost sight of the SUV minutes before the fatal crash.
Nayshaun Brown, 18, and three other teens — whose names were not released because they are minors — were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, joyriding and eluding police after the deadly wreck, according to records.
It’s not clear which one of the teens was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Information regarding a lawyer representing Brown and the three other teens was not immediately available.
