Wall Man Indicted In Murder Of Infant Daughter

WALL—A Monmouth County grand jury has indicted a 23-year-old Wall resident on the charges of murder and endangering the welfare of a six-week-old child on Friday, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

Austin Meli was arrested on March 9 at his home after Wall police responded to a call regarding an unresponsive six-week-old infant. Police discovered that the child had been in the immediate care of her father, Meli.

The child was subsequently pronounced deceased at Ocean Medical Center in Brick, and an investigation determined the manner of the baby’s death to be a homicide.

If found guilty of murder, Meli faces 30 years without parole to life imprisonment and up to 10 years if found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child.

This case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Ellyn Rajfer and Margaret Koping, while Jeffrey Coghlan, Esq., of Freehold, represents Meli.

If anyone has any information about the case, call Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Sergeant Shawn Murphy at 732-431-7160 ext. 7032 or Wall Township Police Detective Chris Lisewski at 732-449-4800 ext. 1140.