By: Tracie Carter
A Monmouth County jury has found a Long Branch man guilty on 18 criminal charges stemming from a violent home invasion and deadly crash that claimed the life of a woman in 2023, according to a statement released by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutors said 47-year-old Altonia D. Williams now faces the possibility of life in prison following the verdict, which came after a four-week trial before Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley.
The incident began in the early morning hours of August 14, 2023, when Long Branch police responded to a home on Narragansett Avenue for a report of an armed home invasion.
Williams, armed with a handgun, had allegedly entered the home and demanded money from its occupants.
As officers arrived on scene, they spotted Williams driving away in a white BMW. Despite orders to stop, he fled, and within moments crashed into a responding patrol vehicle.
He then abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene on foot, leaving behind his front-seat passenger, 38-year-old Tracee Blount, also of Long Branch.
Police were able to pull Blount from the wreckage of the burning vehicle, but she died from her injuries shortly after arriving at a local hospital.
Investigators later determined that Williams had been under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash.
Officers located Williams shortly afterward hiding in nearby bushes, where he was found to be in possession of a loaded handgun.
Following a months-long investigation by the Long Branch Police Department, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Bureau and Fatal Accident Investigation Unit, and the Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART), Williams was indicted in December 2023.
The jury convicted Williams on a range of charges, including first-degree armed robbery, felony murder, aggravated manslaughter while eluding police, and vehicular homicide.
He was also found guilty of multiple second-, third-, and fourth-degree offenses.
Williams is scheduled to be sentenced later this year.