Matt Gray

Woodbury

Matt Gray is a reporter for NJ Advance Media. You can find his reporting in the South Jersey Times and on https://t.co/AJ59lU8URG.

Articles

N.J. boy, 10, fatally shot in the head IDed as community raises money for family

5 days ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

Two fundraisers have been created to help the family of a 10-year-old Gloucester County boy who died of a gunshot wound to the head on Tuesday. The boy — identified in a GoFundMe fundraiser as Elijah Rodriguez — was alone in his family’s home when he was shot and no one is being sought in connection with the incident, a law enforcement source said earlier this week. The boy’s death remains under investigation and police have not said if the shooting was accidental.
$5K reward extended for tips about woman who vanished on N.J. camping trip

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A missing persons organization has extended the deadline to claim a reward for information leading to the discovery of a New Jersey woman who disappeared during a camping trip in the Pine Barrens last year. Danielle Lopez, of Willingboro, was 37 when she was reported missing in April 2024 after telling her mother she was camping with her boyfriend in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, which spans Burlington and Ocean counties.
Mom, boyfriend indicted after 2-year-old dies with meth in his system

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A Gloucester County grand jury has indicted a mother and her boyfriend in the death of a 2-year-old found with drugs in his system and cuts and bruises on his head and body. Police were called to the 400 block of Deptford Avenue in Woodbury on June 3 for a child in cardiac arrest. The boy, identified as Ashton in an online fundraiser, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
N.J. boy, 10, was home alone when he was fatally shot in the head, source says

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A 10-year-old boy killed by a gunshot wound to the head was alone in a Gloucester County home when he died Tuesday, according to a law enforcement source. The shooting remains under investigation, but no one is being sought in the incident, said the source, who asked not to be named due to the ongoing investigation. The child’s name has not been released.
N.J. driver indicted after crash kills man, injures 4 family members

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A Cumberland County grand jury has indicted a motorist on vehicular homicide and several other charges following a crash last year that killed a man and injured four members of his family. The crash occurred in the early hours of Oct. 30 as two cars were traveling southbound on Route 347 in Maurice River Township, according to court documents. A vehicle driven by Joseph E. Orozco, 22, of Rio Grande, struck the rear of another vehicle driven by Joseph P. Lowry, of Villas, police said.
Woman sentenced after plowing into N.J. teens with her car

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A woman who drove her car into a crowd of people and injured three teens at a Gloucester County apartment complex has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty. Mikayla A. Rodriguez-Green, 22, of Pilesgrove, was involved in a dispute with the father of her child on Oct. 17, 2022, at Hollybush Apartments in Glassboro, according to investigators. At the same time, police responding to a call about a large fight at the complex arrived to find 50 to 60 people in the street yelling and screaming.
N.J. motorcyclist killed, passenger seriously injured in crash

1 week ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

A motorcyclist was killed and his passenger was seriously injured in a crash last week in Salem County. William Philippi, 63, of Blackwood, was riding east on Route 540 in Pittsgrove around 1 p.m. on April 27 when he lost control of his motorcycle and struck the rear of another eastbound motorcycle, according to a New Jersey State Police spokesman. Philippi’s vehicle ran off the roadway, down an embankment and into a thick briar patch, police said.
Mail sent to N.J. prisons is now being opened in Las Vegas. Here’s why.

2 weeks ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

New Jersey instituted a new mail screening program this year that sends letters and other mail addressed to state prisons nearly 2,500 miles across the country for review before copies are sent to inmates. The new system — which sends the mail to a Las Vegas vendor to be opened and screened — is designed to stem the flow of drugs into New Jersey prisons.
N.J. man was ‘money mule’ for international ring selling child sex abuse videos, authorities say

2 weeks ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

Authorities in Florida say a New Jersey man was part of an international ring that distributed child sex abuse videos. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier recently announced charges in the case against several Florida residents and New Jersey resident Krunal Kumar Nareshbhai Modi. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement discovered advertisements on social media about large amounts of child sex abuse materials for sale.
Woman killed in second fatal fire in 2 weeks in N.J. town

2 weeks ago | nj.com | Matt Gray

Authorities are investigating the cause of a house fire that left a woman dead on Wednesday in Millville in Cumberland County. It’s the second fatal fire in Millville in the last two weeks. The fire was blocks away from the site of an April 9 blaze that killed two children. In Wednesday’s fire, crews responded within three minutes to the 100 block of North 4th Street in Millville around noon and found heavy fire consuming a single-family home, according to Millville Fire Chief John Wettstein.