In the late afternoon of Friday, July 8, 2022, gunshots shattered the daylight quiet of an Asbury Park, New Jersey, neighborhood. Responding to the reports of gunfire shortly after 5:45 p.m., officers from the Asbury Park Police Department arrived at the 100 block of Prospect Avenue, near the intersection with Atlantic Avenue, to a grim scene. There they found 19-year-old Dariel Vernet, a male resident of Asbury Park, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead about an hour later. An autopsy would later confirm that his death was a homicide.
The investigation into Vernet's killing was a joint effort between the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's Major Crimes Bureau and the Asbury Park Police Department. Their work quickly identified two local residents as the individuals responsible for the shooting. Just days after the incident, one of the suspects, Joseph N.
Argilagos, who was 16 years old at the time of the shooting, was taken into custody. The second suspect, Lydell Brown, then 19, remained at large for several months until he was located and arrested without incident in Toms River in May 2023 by a team that included the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.
In September 2023, the prosecution's motion to try Argilagos as an adult was granted, and a Monmouth County Grand Jury subsequently indicted both him and Brown on charges of first-degree murder and related weapons offenses. The case against them proceeded to trial, where evidence was presented that the two had followed Vernet with the intent to kill him. In December 2024, after a two-week trial, a jury found Joseph Argilagos guilty on all counts, including murder and weapons offenses. The same jury, however, was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the charges against Lydell Brown. Following this, Brown pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
The legal proceedings concluded with significant prison sentences for both men. In March 2025, Lydell Brown was sentenced to five years in state prison. The following month, Joseph Argilagos, then 19, was sentenced to 45 years in state prison for the murder of Dariel Vernet. Under the terms of his sentence, he will be required to serve at least 85 percent of his term before becoming eligible for parole. The judge noted during sentencing that the killing had been premeditated.
