TOMS RIVER, N.J. – A Brick Township man convicted of arranging the killing of his father in 2019 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced Thursday.
Mark J. Austin, 34, received the sentence from Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan following his October conviction on charges of murder and unlawful possession of a weapon. Prosecutors said Austin conspired with 34-year-old Jeray Melton of Salem City to kill his father, Mark Richard Austin, at the victim’s home on Acorn Drive in Brick Township.
Police responded to the residence on September 7, 2019, and found the elder Austin dead from apparent blunt force trauma. After an investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Major Crime Unit, the Brick Township Police Detective Bureau, and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, both Austin and Melton were arrested six days later and charged with murder.
Authorities determined that Austin agreed to pay Melton in exchange for carrying out the killing. A grand jury later indicted Austin in 2021 on multiple counts, including murder and weapons offenses. Melton pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in 2020 and is awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutor Billhimer called the crime “calculated and merciless,” saying the sentence ensures Austin “will never again have the opportunity to harm another human being.”