Man Indicted In Girl’s Death

(originally published by CBS3 Philadelphia Feb 9, 2005)

TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) A man being held for the killing of a 16-year-old Brick Township girl has been indicted on a single count of murder, but he won’t face the death penalty, authorities said Wednesday.

Jack Fuller, 39, is jailed on $1 million bail in the slaying of Brittney Gregory, a straight-A student at Brick Memorial High School. She disappeared July 11, and her body was found two weeks later beneath a power line tower in Lakewood.

Fuller, of Howell Township, is being held on $1 million bail.

Fuller, who was a friend of Gregory’s father, has a history of drug and theft-related offenses. He had been released from prison in 2003.

Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas F. Kelaher announced Wednesday that he won’t seek the death penalty, citing the absence of aggravating factors. A capital case committee that reviewed the evidence against Fuller wasn’t satisfied any existed, Kelaher said.

Under state law, aggravating factors may include whether the murder was committed during the commission of another crime such as a robbery, whether the victim was a child younger than 14 or whether the crime was a case of murder for hire, among others.