A 16-year-old male has been charged in the death of a 40-year-old Jersey City man who was found dead in his apartment last week following a welfare check.
Friends and family of the victim, Benjamin Stone, have identified him as a well-known commercial photographer.
NBC News quoted a friend, Michael Barbieri as saying that he was “Very shocked..he is a well-loved, amazing person. He’s probably one of the best photographers I’ve ever met.” He said Stone had done work for Ralph Lauren and Vogue. “We don’t know of any disputes, we don’t know of any confrontations he’s had with people.”
A GoFund Me page has already raised $16,750.
The teen has been charged as a juvenile with Murder, Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon. The teen was arrested on Thursday, May 6, 2021 at approximately 3:30 p.m. at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, just after 1:30 a.m., members of the Jersey City Police Department responded on a welfare check to an apartment at 44 Storms Avenue, between Howard Place and Monticello Avenue in the Bergen Lafayette neighborhood.
Responding officers found a lifeless 40-year-old male victim, later identified as Stone, who was pronounced dead at 2:01 a.m. The Regional Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma to the torso and the manner of death to be homicide.
The defendant has been transferred to the Morris County Juvenile Detention Center in Morris Township.
Prosecutor Suarez credited the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit and the Jersey City Police Department for the investigation and arrest.
The above charges are merely accusations and the juvenile is presumed innocent until proven guilty.