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The man accused of murdering a Parx Casino winner in New Jersey has been cleared of murder charges following a three-week trial.
A Middlesex County jury has cleared 31-year-old Jekai Reid-John of all charges but conspiracy to commit armed robbery, in a three-week trial that ended on September 26. Reid-John was accused of murdering a Parx Casino winner, after allegedly following the victim home early in the morning on October 26, 2021.
The jury found that the prosecutors couldn’t conclusively prove he did it, with the prosecution relying on casino footage, toll records, and circumstantial evidence. The defense highlighted that there was no gun match to Reid-John’s weapon and no direct forensic evidence.
The Parx Casino murder
The victim, Sree Aravapalli, was found suffering from gunshot wounds in his Plainsboro home in New Jersey at around 3:30 AM. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 5:24 AM. Prior to the shooting, Aravapalli had won around $10,000 at Parx Casino, with prosecutors alleging that Reid-John and another suspect, Devon Melchor, targeted him as a result.
Surveillance footage showed two men watching Aravapalli throughout the night, with a debit card transaction linking one of the men to Reid-John. Toll data showed that a white BMW later connected to Reid-John went the same route as Aravapalli’s car. A search of Reid-John’s house revealed a loaded 9mm handgun that the defense would later argue didn’t match casings found at the crime scene. No forensic evidence, like fingerprints or DNA, was found at the scene.
Melchor pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree armed robbery and one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit armed robbery and is awaiting sentencing. Reid-John was charged with murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, burglary, multiple weapons offenses, and witness tampering.
The trial that concluded in September was his second trial, after a May 2025 proceeding ended in a hung jury. The conspiracy charge still attached to Reid-John will be addressed in court on October 10.
Violence connected to gambling is not a new phenomenon, with similar cases taking place in the Hollywood Hills and Nevada.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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