TOMS RIVER — An 18-year-old Lake Hiawatha man was charged Wednesday with vehicular homicide and assault by auto for a Memorial Day weekend crash that killed a Toms River woman and injured her husband, Ocean County authorities said.
Investigators allege Abel Mathukutty was driving 76 mph in a 50-mph zone when his Infiniti sedan struck a Mercedes on Route 37 eastbound around 7:25 p.m. May 24, prosecutors said. The impact forced the Mercedes into a utility pole, fatally injuring driver Deborah Barone, 59. Her husband, Michael Barone, 64, was treated for serious injuries at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and later released.
Mathukutty allegedly fled over the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge but was stopped about 30 minutes later in Seaside Park after officers spotted an Infiniti with heavy passenger-side damage and deployed airbags, authorities said. He was initially charged that night with leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death and serious bodily injury, and was released from the Ocean County Jail under New Jersey’s bail-reform guidelines.
Additional charges were filed Wednesday after the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office vehicular-homicide squad determined the car’s speed at the time of impact, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. Mathukutty was served with summonses at Toms River police headquarters and awaits a Superior Court appearance.
The investigation involved the prosecutor’s vehicular-homicide squad, Toms River police, Seaside Park police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s crime-scene unit.
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