On Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010, 27-year-old Michael Muchioki and his fiancee, 25-year-old Nia Haqq had left their engagement party in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Just hours after friends joyfully toasted them at their engagement party, the couple lay dead in the street, shot during what police said was a carjacking.
The couple offered no resistance and were placed face down on the ground. Michael suffered a shotgun blast to the back of the head. His fiancee, Nia, was shot in the back of the head with a pistol.
The killers stole gift cards the couple had received at the party, along with cell phones and Nia’s engagement ring. The trio shot them both twice and then tried to steal Nia’s 2010 Honda CR-V, but failed because of an anti-theft device. They left the scene in a gold Grand Am, authorities said.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said that the motive for these senseless murders was robbery and carjacking. Nia and Michael were found dead near their car.
Latonia Bellamy, Shiquan Bellamy, and Darmelia Lawrence were arrested for the murder of the couple.
Shiquan Bellamy killed Michael with a 12-gauge shotgun just to show his younger female cousin, Latonia Bellamy, how to commit murder.
Latonia Bellamy then murdered Nia.
Why did this happen? It was for the thrill. Latonia said to her cousin, Shiquan, she wanted to know what it felt like to shoot a gun.
Darmelia Lawrence, who pleaded guilty in August 2012 to two armed robbery charges in the case as part of a plea deal, told the jury today that Shiquan Bellamy pulled the trigger, killing Michael after Nia handed over keys to the alleged carjacker.
“The lady gave him the keys, then he ordered both of them on the ground,” Lawrence testified. “Then he shot the man first with the gun. … I heard the lady scream. … Then I heard three more shots.”
When asked why she didn’t call the police following the incident, Lawrence said, “I was scared.”
“I tried to (call the police) but (Shiquan) caught me,” Lawrence continued. “I was scared. He told me if anything happened, he would be out to get my mother and my children.”
In addition to identifying Bellamy as the shooter, Lawrence also testified that the shotgun, a Smith and Wesson Model 1000, and a camouflage jacket, both displayed to the jury yesterday, belonged to Bellamy.
According to officials, the oversized jacket contains blood DNA from both Nia and Michael. Additionally, officials say the shotgun had DNA from Michael on the inside of the barrel.
Michael was a software engineer in Jersey City and Nia was an associate producer for an affiliate of Nickelodeon in New York.
Sandra Muchioki said her family had replaced Nia’s engagement ring and the couple would be buried wearing wedding bands.
In death, as in life, Nia and Michael will be together. Family members buried them side by side at the Rosedale & Rosehill Cemetery.
Shiquan Bellamy was sentenced to life in prison, not eligible for parole for 127 years, for the murders on January 18, 2014.
Bellamy’s cousin, Latonia Bellamy, was convicted of felony murder and numerous charges for her role in the shooting. She’s now serving a sentence of life plus 30 years.
The other accomplice, Darmelia Lawrence, pleaded guilty to robbery and testified against the two Bellamys. Lawrence was sentenced to 20 years since she testified against Shiquan Bellamy in three other murder trials he faced.
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