Serial killer Khalil Wheeler-Weaver was sentenced to 160 years in prison for the strangulation deaths of three women and the attempted murder of a fourth woman.
Superior Court Judge Mark Ali sentenced Wheeler-Weaver on Wednesday in Essex County, New Jersey, according to NorthJersey.com. The 25-year-old will be eligible for parole in 140 years.
“The purpose of this sentence is that this defendant never walks free in society again,” Ali told the court.
Wheeler-Weaver killed three women and assaulted another during a crime spree in 2016. He used dating apps to find the women and arrange meetings for sex. When he would meet up with the women, he would sexually assault them, use their clothing to choke them and wrap their faces in tape. He typically targeted sex workers and unhoused women. Wheeler-Weaver was 20 years old when he committed his crimes.
His deceased victims are Sarah Butler, Robin West and Joanne Brown, 33.
West was 19 years old when she died in September 2016. After Wheeler-Weaver raped and murdered her, he dumped her body in an abandoned house and set the building on fire. She had to be identified using dental records, per NJ.com.
The following month, according to The Washington Post, Wheeler-Weaver met Brown, who was 33 and homeless. Her body was discovered six weeks after her death in an abandoned house with duct tape wrapped around her face and mouth.
Tiffany Taylor, Wheeler-Weaver’s third victim, survived their November 2016 encounter. They connected through a mutual friend and arranged to meet. After she picked him up, he asked to stop for a bathroom break.
“That was the last thing I remember,” she said during his sentencing. “Then I woke up in the back seat, and I was being choked out and raped from behind … and then he strangled me more … and I passed out.”
After he was done, Wheeler-Weaver handcuffed Taylor’s hands and wrapped her face in duct tape. She was able to get the tape off her mouth and freed one of her hands from the cuffs. She convinced her attacker to take her back to the motel she stayed in to get her cellphone. When she got there, she ran into the room and called the police. Wheeler-Weaver fled the scene. The incident was reported, but the police never followed up. Butler, 20, died a week later.
Butler never did sex work, but Wheeler-Weaver told her he’d pay $500 for sex. They arranged to meet on Tagged. Her body was later discovered in Eagle Rock Reservation, covered by branches. After Butler’s death, her family went through her social media and discovered Wheeler-Weaver. They made a fake profile and arranged to meet him at a Panera Bread. When he arrived, he was questioned by the police.
Their efforts and Taylor’s testimony helped implicate Wheeler-Weaver. He also left a trail of cellphone data, text messages and unusual Google searches that pointed to his crimes. He was convicted of murder, kidnapping, aggravated arson, attempted murder and desecration of human remains in 2019.
Despite the mountain of evidence, he maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.
“My heart goes out to the families…,” Wheeler-Weaver said during the sentencing hearing. “However, I was not the person who committed these crimes.”
