Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*           Date: February 26, 2010  
 
 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Edison man charged with murder; hindering

 

 

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and North Brunswick Police Director Kenneth McCormick today announced that an Edison, N.J. man has been charged with killing a woman, taking her body to Ramapo, N.Y., and setting it on fire.

 

Dwayne Jackson (DOB 10/28/84) of 3 Weldon Road was charged with murder and hindering his apprehension in the death February 21, 2010, of Patricia Belizaire, 25, of North Brunswick, N.J.

 

Bail was set at $2 million after Jackson was charged at about 10:30 p.m. on February 25, 2010, at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center.

 

He has been held there since he was charged earlier in the day with kidnapping and endangering the welfare of his daughter, Hanna Belizaire Jackson, a 20-month-old child who was left at a gas station restroom in Newark, Del. Patricia Belizaire was the child’s mother.

 

Jackson previously was held on $750,000 bail. The amount, which was raised by Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves in New Brunswick, N.J., brings the total bail to $2.75 million.

 

An investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the North Brunswick Police Department preliminarily determined that Jackson killed Ms. Belizaire in North Brunswick and drove the victim to Ramapo, N.Y., where the body was set on fire in a park shortly before 5:22 a.m. on February 22, 2010.

 

The cause of death is believed to be asphyxiation. The woman was dead before her body was set on fire.

 

In Delaware, Jackson has been charged with first degree reckless endangering for leaving the child at a Shell service station on South College Avenue in Newark, Del. on February 21, 2010.

 

The child was identified after her photograph was published by the news media. She remains in the custody of Delaware authorities.

 

Prosecutor Kaplan commended and thanked the North Brunswick police, as well as police in Newark, Del. and Ramapo, N.Y. for their efforts.

 

The investigation into Ms. Belizaire’s death is continuing.

 

Anyone with information on the homicide, or on the kidnapping of the 20-month-old child, is asked to call Detective Michael McGinn of the North Brunswick Police Department at (732) 545-3200, or Investigator Paul Miller of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-4466.

 

As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Jackson are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.