Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced the return of a Twenty Six count indictment against Sevon Hill, 25, of Toms River and Shakar Barksdale, a.k.a. “Anthony” Barksdale, 24, of Seaside Heights. The charges listed in the indictment can be found on the next page.
The indictment stems from the investigation into the death of Steven Stallworth, which was conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crimes Unit, the Toms River Police Department, the Ocean County Sherriff’s Department Criminalistics Investigation Unit, New Jersey State Police, the Manchester Police Department, the Lacey Police Department, the Seaside Heights Police Department, and the Brick Police Department.
On March 5, 2018, at approximately 2119 hours, the Toms River Police Department responded to a 9-1-1 call reporting the discovery of an unresponsive male just outside the doorstep of an apartment located at 26 James Street, the Hampton Gardens apartment complex, located in Toms River. Patrol officers from the Toms River Police Department responded to the scene to find, a black male, later identified as Steven Stallworth, unresponsive with an apparent gunshot wound. Stallworth was pronounced dead at 10:34 pm, by Dr. Torres of Newark Beth Israel Hospital via telemetry. On March 6, 2018, after a post mortem examination of the decedent’s body at Community Medical Center, the cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
During the course of the investigation two suspects were developed, Sevon Hill and Shakar Barksdale, a.k.a. “Anthony” Barksdale. Both suspects were residing at a local hotel prior to the murder. During a search of the suspects’ hotel room on the night of the murder, a large quantity of cocaine and heroin were discovered. Through further investigation, it was determined that Sevon Hill and Anthony Barksdale entered into a conspiracy and did commit the murder of Steven Stallworth. During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that the suspects had relocated to a separate local hotel, upon searching that hotel, the suspects were again found to be in possession of quantities of cocaine and heroin, and were charged accordingly.
Both suspects currently remain incarcerated in the Ocean County Jail. Lead investigators in the case were Detective John Carroll of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit and Detective Lou Santora of the Toms River Police Department, with assistance from the OC Sheriff’s CIU. Supervising Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Michael R. Weatherstone is prosecuting the case.