ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

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Manhunt for
Calif. shooters
At least 14 dead, more hurt in San Bernardino mass shooting. Page 1B
In N.J.: Assembly to vote on overriding veto of gun-control bill. Page 13A
Check APP.com for the latest developments.

MAN CHARGED IN
MURDER FROM 06
Jakeema S.
Kelly

Victim Jakeema
Kelly, 21, was
found shot on
Asbury sidewalk

Suspect in slaying
has extensive
criminal record
dating back to 1998

THURSDAY 12.03.15

Arrest is countys
second in a cold
homicide case in
as many weeks

Lakewood
seniors:
Growth out
of control
SHANNON MULLEN @MULLENAPP

catch whoever did that to (my) baby.

LAKEWOOD - On its face, a proposal to build a threestory retail and office building in a highway zone
doesnt seem like the sort of Planning Board matter that
would bring out angry residents by the busload.
Not in a town in the throes of a torrid development
boom, anyway, with new duplex subdivisions, yeshivas,
synagogues, office buildings and strip malls rising at a
breathtaking pace.
But come they did Tuesday night, by the hundreds.
Virtually all were seniors from several of the townships
adult communities opposed to plans to develop the property on Cross Street, just west of Route 9.
You cant do this. Youve got to plan, Bill Hobday, a
resident of The Fairways at Lake Ridge, told the board.
Smart growth is not that, he said, pointing to a map
of Cross Street. That is dumb growth.
But while the residents failed to derail plans for the
new building, which won the Planning Boards unanimous approval, their calls for an overhaul of the townships master plan were heard loud and clear.
Township Manager Thomas Henshaw said such a
process is already in the works. The Township Committee was expected to discuss appointing members to a
master plan review committee at the governing bodys
workshop meeting Wednesday night.
It needs to be done, Henshaw said.
Whether a new master plan would slow down, or
merely redirect, Lakewoods dizzying growth remains

SHARON KELLY,

See LAKEWOOD, Page 6A

DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Defense attorney Joshua Hood talks Wednesday to defendant Joey Johnson of Long Branch, charged with the 2006 murder of
Jakeema Kelly of Asbury Park, in the Freehold courtroom of state Superior Court Judge Honora OBrien Kilgallen.

KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

(My mother) always knew they would

FREEHOLD - Her whole life, Sharon Kelly said, she

never heard her mother cry until March 26, 2006.
That was the day that her 21-year-old nephew, Jakeema Kelly, was fatally shot in Asbury Park.
I never heard her cry until that day, Sharon Kelly
said of her mother, Ginny Kelly, who she said raised Jakeema and his younger brother, Donte, in Asbury Park.
After that, Sharon Kelly said, she would see her
mother go into her bedroom on a regular basis and
weep.
Things would get worse. Donte Kelly also was shot
dead in Asbury Park. He, too, was only 21 when he was
murdered on April 7, 2013.
It took a toll on her when she lost those boys, Sharon Kelly said of her mother. Her health declined.
For years, the young mens murders went unsolved,
but Ginny Kelly always held out hope.
She always knew they would catch whoever did it,
Sharon Kelly said. She said, I might not live to see it,
but theyre going to catch whoever did that to (my) baby.
Ginny Kelly died on Jan. 13 at age 77, her daughter
said.
Police made an arrest in Jakeema Kellys murder
Tuesday.
Detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutors
Office and the Asbury Park Police Department, along
with officers from the New Jersey State Parole Board,
arrested Joey Johnson, 35, of Long Branch at his place

catch whoever did it. She said, I might

not live to see it, but theyre going to

WHOSE LATE MOTHER RAISED MURDER VICTIM

JAKEEMA KELLY AND DIED EARLIER THIS YEAR AT AGE 77

See a video of the court

Court: Insurer
need not pay for
botched surgery

appearance by the suspect

KATHLEEN HOPKINS @KHOPKINSAPP

in Jakeema Kellys murder on your

desktop or mobile device
at

www.app.com

See MURDER, Page 5A

Home & School

PARCC results
Younger New Jersey students outdid their U.S. peers on the
PARCC test, but the states older students didnt. Page 4A

The New Jersey Supreme Court, in a divided opinion

on Tuesday, allowed an insurer to backdate its cancellation of a medical malpractice policy for a former Ocean
County podiatrist, leaving a Lakewood patient with no
recourse to recoup damages for a botched surgery.
Its a bad day for consumers in New Jersey, said
Michael D. Schottland, an attorney representing Thomas De Marco and his wife, Cynthia De Marco, in a lawsuit against Dr. Sean Robert Stoddard and the Medical
Malpractice Joint Underwriting Association of Rhode
Island.
Schottland said surgery performed by Stoddard on
Thomas De Marco in 2010 basically inverted his foot,
leaving it turning inward, and now his client has no recourse.
The Supreme Court absolved the underwriting association from liability because the physician lied on his
application to obtain the insurance policy.
Schottland said that leaves the citizens of New Jersey in a precarious situation.
All of the people who are treated by physicians in
See INSURER, Page 5A

ADVICE
CLASSIFIED
COMICS
LOCAL
LOTTERIES

5D
1E
4D
3A
2A

OBITUARIES
OPINION
SPORTS
WEATHER
YOUR MONEY

14A
17A
1C
8C
8A

VOLUME 136
NUMBER 289
SINCE 1879

All of the people who are treated by physicians in

New Jersey are now at risk, and basically, theres
nothing we can do about it.
MICHAEL D. SCHOTTLAND, LAWYER FOR SURGERY PATIENT