Four New Jersey teens allegedly stole a $220,000 luxury SUV and led police on a predawn chase that ended in a head-on crash killing a grandmother and her longtime partner.
Nayshaun Brown, 18, and three unnamed minors swiped a 2024 Mercedes-Benz G Wagon around 3:40 a.m. Saturday in Longport, authorities said. The joyride stretched across Atlantic County for more than four hours before the vehicle slammed into a Hyundai sedan near Route 50 and Third Street in Mays Landing shortly before 8 a.m.
The stolen G Wagon was speeding down the wrong side of the road when it struck the sedan and sent it careening into a nearby gas station, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The crash killed the sedan’s two occupants, Robert Barr, Jr., 54, and Alice Stilwell, 67, both of Egg Harbor Township, prosecutors said. Stilwell was identified as a beloved mother and grandmother, and Barr as her longtime partner, according to a GoFundMe campaign established to help cover funeral expenses.
The teens escaped the wreck largely unscathed and attempted to flee on foot, but were quickly arrested by responding officers, authorities said.
Police had first encountered the stolen vehicle in Longport when it blasted past a local officer who attempted to pull it over. Eagle-eyed cops in Hamilton Township then spotted the G Wagon and gave chase around 7:45 a.m., though officers had lost sight of it mere minutes before the fatal collision, prosecutors said.
Brown and the three minors were charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, joyriding and eluding police, according to records. It remains unclear which of the four teens was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Information regarding legal representation for Brown and the three other teens was not immediately available.
In the viral moment that preceded the deadly wreck, the teens allegedly stole the high-end vehicle in the early morning hours and led multiple police departments on a prolonged pursuit through southern New Jersey. The chase spanned from Longport through Hamilton Township before the final, fatal moments in Mays Landing, where the stolen SUV’s wrong-way rush ended two lives and shattered a family.
