FREEHOLD, NJ – The sentencing of two relatives involved in the 2019 machete killing of Domingo Merino-Rafael was announced by Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago on Thursday. Omar Rivera-Rojas, 33, and his nephew, Alberto Rojas-Hernandez, 21, both of Lakewood, were sentenced to 22 and 20 years in state prison, respectively.
Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc C. LeMieux presided over the sentencing hearing held last Tuesday. Rivera-Rojas and Rojas-Hernandez will serve at least 85 percent of their terms before the possibility of parole under the provisions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act (NERA).
The incident occurred on Friday, October 18, 2019. Howell Township Police Department responded to a 911 call shortly after 3:45 a.m. Merino-Rafael, a 33-year-old resident of Lakewood, was found unresponsive on Hurley Pond Road. Initially suspected as a hit-and-run incident, the nature of injuries led investigators to categorize the incident as a homicide. The post-mortem examination confirmed the manner of death to be homicide, with multiple chop wounds identified as the cause.
Rivera-Rojas and Rojas-Hernandez were arrested following a joint investigation by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Howell Township Police Department. Both men admitted during a September 2022 plea hearing that they had each struck the victim in the back of the head with a machete.