On a Sunday afternoon in Irvington, New Jersey, Amit Patel, a 28-year-old Indian-American man, was working at his family's business, Roseway Liquors. On February 15, 2015, his life was tragically cut short when a man entered the store on Lyons Avenue, forced him to the floor, and fatally shot him in the head at close range. Patel was pronounced dead at the scene.
He had been married for just one year.
The investigation into the death of the male victim quickly revealed that this was not a simple robbery gone wrong. Authorities determined the motive was far more sinister. The man responsible for the shooting was identified as Rick King, a then 33-year-old from the nearby city of Newark. The reason for the cold-blooded killing was to prevent Amit Patel from testifying against King in an upcoming trial. Patel had been the sole witness to an armed robbery that King had committed at the very same liquor store on Halloween in 2013. In an attempt to silence the only person who could identify him, King returned to the store and ended Patel's life.
Following a thorough investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office and the Irvington Police Department, Rick King was arrested. He was charged with a multitude of offenses, including murder, witness tampering, armed robbery, and various weapons charges related to both the 2013 robbery and the 2015 murder. In December 2017, after a two-month trial where prosecutors were able to use statements Patel had made before his death, an Essex County jury found King guilty on all counts. In February 2018, the suspect was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder. He also received an additional consecutive 40-year sentence for the earlier robbery, ensuring he would be held accountable for the string of crimes that ended in a senseless tragedy.
