MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The two men who have been charged in the Jan. 29 triple homicide in Maplewood pleaded not guilty to the murder charges in Superior Court on June 12.
Lavell Davis, 37, and Jimmy Mays Jr., 34, appeared separately before Judge Ronald Wigler in Newark on an 11-count indictment that charges each man with robbery, burglary and other offenses, in addition to murder and felony murder.
On Jan. 29, Maplewood firefighters found the bodies of Michael Davis, 45, of Maplewood; Roshana Kelson, 30, of Paterson; and Lance Fraser, 44, of Newark during a wellness check. According to police, all three had been shot to death.
Mays, formerly of Egg Harbor Township, was arrested in February in Columbia, Md., by detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Maplewood Police Department, FBI and the Maryland State Police. Davis, of Galloway, was arrested the morning of Feb. 11. Davis was apprehended in Yonkers, N.Y., by detectives from the ECPO, FBI and Yonkers Police Department.
Wigler scheduled both Davis and Mays to return to court July 24 for an initial disposition conference.
These are accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law or enter a guilty plea.
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