Prosecutors said on Tuesday that two brothers were found guilty of murder in the 2018 death of a Newark woman and their failed attempt to cover up the crime by disposing of her body in a garbage bag containing corrosive chemicals and leaving the scene.
Gualberto Lebron, 37, of Newark, was found guilty by a jury on Monday of murder, assault, sexual assault, burglary, witness tampering, desecrating human remains, conspiracy, and endangering the welfare of a minor.
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Assistant Prosecutor Adam Wells described Lebron’s murder and the horrific cover-up as “monstrous.”
LeBron’s attorney during the four-week trial, Sebastian Bio, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
After allegedly choking and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend Julia Vega in her Newark home in May 2018, LeBron James reportedly fled the scene. Vega, who was 30 years old at the time of her murder, was the mother of her killer’s children.
The police started looking for the suspect. Prosecutors maintained, however, that four days later he went back to Vega’s apartment, broke in, and killed her.
According to official versions of the incident, after cleaning the murder scene and putting Vega’s body in a rug, Lebron hid her remains for days as he plotted how to dispose of them.
According to the state, on January 1, 2021, the body of Vega was found on a property in Irvington, where he and his brother, Gilberto, also 38 and from Newark, had hidden it along with chemicals designed to speed up the decomposition of her body.
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Because he assisted his brother in evading arrest and covering up Vega’s murder, Gilberto Lebron was also found guilty by the same tribunal of desecrating human remains, delaying prosecution, and conspiracy.
Because of his aggravated murder conviction, Gualberto Lebron is facing an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. Because of his desecrating of human remains, Gilberto Lebron could spend up to ten years in prison. The sentencing for both men is set for April 3.
