JAMESBURG – A 24-year-old man was sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison for fatally stabbing his father and another man at a residence in Jamesburg in 2019, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone.
Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Buck, sitting in New Brunswick, sentenced Jaree Kitchen on Oct. 28 to 60 years pursuant to the No Early Release Act for the two counts of murder and 10 years for the charge of aggravated arson, to run consecutively, for a total of 70 years, according to a press release through the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
On Nov. 6, 2019, at approximately 3:19 a.m., Jamesburg Police officers responded to 7 Sheridan Street in Jamesburg for a report of a house fire. Upon arrival, officers observed visible flames exiting the structure of the house. The Jamesburg Fire Department arrived on scene and extinguished the fire.
Police Sgt. Kevin Wilson, Detective Sgt. Jason Muller and Detective Jim Dennis of the Jamesburg Police Department and Sgt. Deon McCall of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, through a subsequent investigation, found that Kitchen had recently returned to Jamesburg from Georgia to live with his father, Clifford Kitchen Jr., but soon after his
arrival the father and son began having significant issues, according to the press release.
This erupted into a physical altercation that resulted in Jaree Kitchen fatally stabbing both his father and another resident of the home, Gregory Fisher, on Nov. 4, 2019. On Nov. 6, 2019, in an effort to destroy and cover up the murders that occurred within the home, the younger Kitchen set the Sheridan Street residence on fire.
Jaree Kitchen was subsequently indicted for two counts of first-degree murder, second degree aggravated arson, two counts second-degree desecrating human remains, two counts of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, two counts of fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and two counts of fourth-degree tampering with evidence, according to the press release.
Following the presentation of evidence by Assistant Prosecutors Amber Gibbs and Caitlin Lavery, a jury convicted Kitchen of the murders on June 1.
