Jury Issues Guilty Verdict In Ocean County Murder Trial

Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus (Photo courtesy Ocean County Prosecutor's Office)

  BRICK – A jury took less than two hours to conclude that a local woman was guilty of a 2020 murder.

  Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, 49, struck and killed her wife, Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, with a container used for chilling wine. After three weeks at trial, the jury decided that she “purposely or knowingly caused serious bodily injury to Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus which resulted in her death,” according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. She was also found guilty of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon.

  She faces life in prison at her November 17 sentencing.

  Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said Senior Assistant Prosecutor Meghan O’Neill and Assistant Prosecutor Kaitlyn Burke ably and skillfully tried the case on behalf of the State. He also thanked the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Victim Witness Advocacy Unit, Brick Township Police Department, Brick Township Police Department Detective Bureau, Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Homeland Security, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, New York City Police Department, United States Marshals Service, and the City of Houston Police Department.