In the early morning hours of November 3, 2019, a dispute that began inside a bustling sports bar in the Town of Wallkill, New York, tragically ended a young man's life. Matthew H. Napoleoni, a 23-year-old male from nearby Middletown, was fatally shot outside the Made in Puerto Rico Latin Cuisine and Sports Bar.
The ensuing investigation by the New York State Police quickly identified a suspect in the shooting: 26-year-old Jamaad Murphy, also from Middletown.
However, by the time authorities had a name, Murphy had already fled the area, sparking an extensive 14-month manhunt that would involve multiple law enforcement agencies across several states. An Orange County Grand Jury indicted Murphy in absentia for second-degree murder on December 17, 2019. The FBI joined the search, offering a reward for information leading to his capture and noting that he had ties to North Carolina and Georgia.
The long and intensive search for Murphy concluded in January 2021, not in a distant state, but in neighboring Rockland County. Acting on intelligence gathered by the FBI's Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the New York State Police, authorities located and arrested Murphy at a residence in the Town of Ramapo. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Orange County Jail, where he was held without bail.
Faced with the evidence against him, Jamaad Murphy ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in November 2021. In his plea, Murphy admitted to shooting and killing Matthew Napoleoni. In December 2021, he was sentenced to a prison term of 20 years to life, bringing a legal conclusion to a case that had left a community in mourning and a fugitive on the run for over a year.
