A Brick Township man who hired a hitman to kill his own father will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge ruled this week.
On January 8, 2026, the Honorable Guy P. Ryan sentenced Mark J. Austin, 34, to life in New Jersey State Prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence follows a guilty verdict delivered last October for the 2019 murder of his father, Mark Richard Austin.
“This sentence underscores the calculated and merciless nature of Austin’s crimes,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a statement following the hearing. “By orchestrating the murder of his own father, Austin forfeited any right to now ask the Court for mercy.”
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The sentencing brings a definitive end to a case that began on September 7, 2019. On that Saturday, police were called to a home on Acorn Drive in Brick Township, where they found the elder Austin dead from apparent blunt force trauma. He was beaten to death with a baseball bat.
A sweeping investigation involving multiple agencies—including the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Major Crime Unit, the FBI, and the New Jersey State Police—uncovered a murder-for-hire plot. Detectives determined that the younger Austin had conspired with Jeray Melton, 34, of Salem City, agreeing to pay Melton to carry out the killing.
Both men were arrested less than a week after the murder, on September 13, 2019, and have remained in custody since.
While Austin took his case to trial, Melton opted to cooperate. On February 25, 2020, Melton pled guilty to Aggravated Manslaughter. He is currently awaiting his own sentencing.
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Austin’s trial lasted nearly five weeks before a jury found him guilty on October 2, 2025, of Murder and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon.
In handing down the life sentence, the court ensured Austin would never be released. Prosecutor Billhimer noted that the punishment reflects the severity of the betrayal.
“Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole… delivers permanent accountability and ensures that Austin will never again have the opportunity to harm another human being,” Billhimer said. “While no sentence can undo the harm caused, we are hopeful that today’s outcome delivers some sense of peace and justice to the loved ones of Mark Richard Austin.”
The state’s case was prosecuted by Supervising Assistant Prosecutors Mara Brater and Meghan O’Neill.
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