Ninth person charged in Camden killings

In a Camden County courtroom yesterday, a woman kissed the right cheek of her 17-year-old son, who is charged in the February torture deaths of a Burlington County couple, and whispered that she loved him.

Hours later in another courtroom, Shaniqua Pierre, 18, of Deptford, the 17-year-old's niece, was ordered held on murder charges in one of the two slayings. Her older brother, Darryl Pierre, 19, of Merchantville, was charged this week in both killings.

Sources have said the killings of Michael Hawkins, 23, and Muriah Ashley Huff, 18, were gang-related, although it's unclear which suspects were allegedly gang members. But as the investigation continues and more arrests are made, other links among the suspects are becoming clear.

And the links aren't just familial: the 17-year-old suspect, from the Astoria section of New York City, was dating a 14-year-old suspect who lived in the Camden house where the alleged killings took place, according to the elder teen's mother.

Shaniqua Pierre surrendered to authorities Wednesday night, the ninth person arrested in the Feb. 22 killings.

Four of the nine suspects are underage; the youngest is the 14-year-old Camden girl. The names of the juveniles have not been released. Authorities are looking for at least one more person, officials said.

Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Tim Chatten said in Superior Court yesterday that the 17-year-old suspect admitted being at the scene during the killings but denied taking part.

According to authorities, Hawkins was bound, gagged, beaten repeatedly, stabbed, and shot. Then Huff was beaten and strangled.

The two, who had been dating for about a year, were tortured for hours in the rowhouse on the 500 block of Berkley Street, authorities said. Camden police discovered their bodies buried in the backyard three days later.

David Bahuriak, the lawyer representing the 17-year-old defendant, said in an interview that the evidence so far suggested only that his client was at the house.

"Mere presence at the scene of the crime is not a crime itself," he said. "Until I see some real evidence that says otherwise, we will continue to maintain his innocence."

The teen's mother said her son would often travel to the south Camden rowhouse to see his girlfriend. The woman's name is being withheld to protect her son's identity.

The woman confirmed that her son and the 14-year-old girl were at the house on the day of killing.

"He didn't do it," she said.

She said her son, who withdrew from a GED program late last year, wanted to return to Astoria with his girlfriend after the killings, telling her, "We're in danger," without elaborating.

"He said something big happened," she added.

Authorities say Shaniqua Pierre is charged with murder in Huff's killing. She left Camden on Feb. 23 and was in New York until returning on Wednesday, authorities said.

Assistant Prosecutor Mary Alison Albright told the court that Shaniqua Pierre admitted in a recorded statement to punching and hitting Huff.

In taped statements, two witnesses said they saw Shaniqua Pierre and others assault Huff in the house, according to police records. One witness said one of the participants strangled Huff, according to police records.

Shaniqua Pierre was ordered held at the Camden County Jail with bail set at $1 million. Also there are Darryl Pierre; Clive Hinds, 18, a Burlington County College student living in Maple Shade; and Dennis Welch, 19. Welch also lived in the house where Hawkins and Huff were killed.

Another suspect, Lance Fulton, 19, of Camden, was arrested in Whiteville, N.C., last week and awaits extradition to Camden.

Welch and Fulton are charged with killing Hawkins.

The other juvenile suspects are two 17-year-olds from Pennsauken. All four underage suspects are held in the Camden County Juvenile Detention Facility.

Authorities are seeking to try them as adults.

Hawkins and Huff were killed in a dispute between factions of the Bloods and Crips street gangs, sources close to the investigation said.

Hawkins, of Mount Holly, was a known member of the Crips, according to law enforcement sources and one of Huff's classmates at the Burlington County Institute of Technology.

Huff, a bubbly cosmetology student who aspired to own a salon and line of beauty products, was buried Monday.

Hawkins, a high school graduate, spent time in the foster-care system and bounced around the state child-services system until he turned 18.

His funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.