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FREEHOLD – A local man has been convicted at trial in connection with a 2023 home invasion and subsequent motor-vehicle crash that resulted in a woman’s death, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Friday.
Altonia D. Williams, 47, of Long Branch, will face a term of up to life in state prison when he is sentenced later this year. See story and photos from 2023
Shortly before 4 a.m. on Monday, August 14, 2023, members of the Long Branch Police Department were dispatched to Narragansett Avenue in Long Branch for a report of an armed home invasion involving a man later identified as Williams, brandishing a firearm and demanding money from the home’s residents.
Responding police located Williams in a white BMW leaving the area. Ignoring police orders to stop, he fled from the first-arriving officer, and less than a minute later, crashed into a patrol vehicle that had been responding to the scene. Williams then fled his vehicle on foot, leaving behind his front-seat passenger, 38-year-old Tracee Blount of Long Branch. Responding officers managed to extricate her from the heavily damaged and burning vehicle, but she was pronounced deceased at a local hospital shortly thereafter.
Williams was later found hiding in a bush nearby, in possession of a loaded handgun. The investigation later revealed that he had been intoxicated on marijuana at the time of the collision.
This case was investigated by the Long Branch Police Department, MCPO Fatal Accident Investigation Unit and Major Crimes Bureau, and the Monmouth County Serious Collision Analysis Response Team (SCART). A Monmouth County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Williams in December 2023.
The four-week trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley resulted in guilty verdicts on 18 charges in all, including first-degree Armed Robbery, Felony Murder, Aggravated Manslaughter While Eluding, and Vehicular Homicide, as well as seven second-degree crimes, two third-degree crimes, and five fourth-degree crimes.
The case against Williams was prosecuted by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Ellyn Rajfer and Charles F. Clark, Jr. Defendant Williams was represented by Shane Paugh, Esq., with an office in Middletown.
Sentencing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, September 17, 2025.
