Details Emerge In Son's Alleged 'Savage' Murder Of Dad In Brick (2024)

New details emerged in the case involving Mark J. Austin and the alleged "savage" fatal beating of his father at the Jersey Shore.

Posted Wed, Oct 9, 2019 at 1:24 pm ET|Updated Thu, Oct 10, 2019 at 5:40 am ET

That exchange was among several horrific details that have emerged in a case involving a Brick Township man who was found dead in his home on Sept. 7.

Mark Richard Austin, 55, was savagely beaten to death in a murder that was planned by his son and another man, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

Mark J. Austin, 28, of Brick, who allegedly used a baseball bat to kill his father, was ordered to remain in jail Wednesday and await trial in the murder, according to Ocean County jail records.

Austin and Jeray Melton, 27, of Salem City, are both being held in the jail in connection with the killing of Mark Richard Austin, according to prosecutors.

Both have been charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Here are some of the details that have emerged in the case over the past month, before the younger Austin was ordered to stay in jail:

• Melton told authorities that his co-defendant, Austin, put a gun to his head and forced him to beat the elder Austin to death with the baseball bat, according to The Asbury Park Press. Judge Wendel E. Daniels, at the same time, said prosecutors produced probable cause to believe Austin recruited his former prison bunkmate, Melton, to commit the murder, according to the report.
• Michael Weatherstone, supervising assistant Ocean County prosecutor, said the younger Austin sent the message about the cheesesteak when his father was already dead, and his dad's phone was next to him, according to another Press report.
• Detectives eventually learned the phones of both the father and son were tracked on Route 70, going toward Salem where Melton lives, around the time of the Sept. 7 murder, the report said.
• Melton reportedly told investigators Austin took him back to Salem where Austin had him take his clothes off, put them in a garbage bag, pour bleach on them and put them in a garbage bin, according to NJ101.5.
• Mark Richard Austin was found lying on a sofa in the living room of his home around 9 p.m. Sept. 7, with blood spattered on the walls and ceiling, by friend Jeremy Londino, according to NJ101.5. More friends and his ex-wife, Barbara Austin, arrived to help and found a baseball bat.
• An old phone used by Mark J. Austin was recovered during the investigation, according to NJ101.5, containing a Facebook message conversation with Jeray Melton that said: "This s**t" "He went in his room to do his hit he told me he was a junky he noticed the cameras"
• At the father's home, police found a beer, spoon, a belt and possible drug paraphernalia on a table, according to the affidavit. The younger Austin eventually told police his father said he was going to Bayonne to buy heroin, and his father also asked him to go to a location on Route 70 near Route 72 to pick up a black male who was standing on the side of the road. The story turned out to not be true, investigators said.