Johnny Jones III. (Essex County Correctional Facility)
NEWARK — An Essex County jury Friday found a 32-year-old man from Georgia guilty of murder in the 2011 stabbing death of an Irvington go-go dancer.
Johnny Jones III was the second man charged in connection with the slaying of Denise Ramsey, whose body was found in an empty lot in East Orange on Jan. 3, 2012.
He now faces a maximum of life in prison, according to the office of Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray.
Jones’ co-conspirator, Brian Love, 43, previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Ramsey’s death.
Prosecutors say Ramsey, 33, was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 2011, leaving the Dollhouse go-go bar in Irvington with Jones and Love. On Jan. 3, 2012, two days after her sister reported her missing, Ramsey’s body was found in an empty lot in East Orange.
Brian Love. (Essex County Correctional Facility)
Authorities found she had died from multiple stab wounds, and ruled her death a homicide. Prosecutors say detectives later traveled to Georgia to take a DNA sample from Jones, which matched that found on Ramsey’s body.
Jones, who fled shortly after providing the DNA sample, was later arrested in Miami, Florida and extradited to New Jersey.
In a statement Friday, Assistant Prosecutor Naazneen Khan, who tried the case with Assistant Prosecutor Jason Alterbaum, said she was “thankful for the guilty verdict and hopes that today’s verdict brings some sense of closure to the family of Denise Ramsey.”
Another Georgia resident, Corey Fallen of Atlanta, previously filed a lawsuit against New Jersey State Police, the City of Newark and several individual detectives in the case in connection with what he says was his wrongful arrest in October 2012 in connection with Ramsey’s death.
Fallen was jailed until April 2013, when investigators determined he wasn’t in New Jersey the night of Ramsey’s disappearance.
The city and state have made several attempts to have Fallen’s civil case dismissed, but federal court records showed the lawsuit remained pending against both the individual detectives and the city as of Friday.
Jones is scheduled to be sentenced March 20 in front of Judge Michael L. Ravin, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. A sentencing date for Love was not immediately available Friday.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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