The Murder of Brittney Gregory

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/19/05
REASON: She objected when he lit up a crack pipe while they sat in his car
PLEA BARGAIN: Killer likely to get 30 years with no chance of parole

Plea avoids need for trial in Brittney Gregory case

BY KATHLEEN HOPKINS
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

TOMS RIVER — Brittney Gregory died because she asked her killer to stop smoking crack in front of her.

With that, Jack Fuller punched the 16-year-old Brick honor student in the head "at least twice." Then he continued to get high, even though the teen was unconscious, bleeding profusely and apparently choking.

Only after Fuller finished smoking the cocaine did he check on the girl.

By then she was dead.

That is what Fuller, 39, of Howell, said happened to the pretty, blond teenager who went missing on July 11, 2004, spurring hundreds of law enforcement officers to comb woods and swamps in a search that ended with the discovery of the victim's body in a shallow grave 16 days later.

Fuller relayed the story by responding affirmatively to questions from his attorney Tuesday in pleading guilty to murder before Superior Court Judge Vincent J. Grasso. He faces 30 years with no parole when he is sentenced on Jan. 13, under a plea bargain he accepted a week before he was scheduled to stand trial for Brittney's murder.

Victim's family overcome

Authorities said it was the first revelation to the victim's family and authorities of how and why the girl died.

The girl's father, Joseph Dunn, walked out of the courtroom, overcome with emotion, when Fuller admitted punching Brittney in the head after she asked him to stop smoking crack in front of her.

Brittney's mother, Deborah Gregory, her sisters and an aunt also were among those in the courtroom. Many of them were weeping quietly.

None of them would comment after the court proceeding. Brittney's older sister, BobbiJoe Dunn, was administered oxygen by Ocean County sheriff's officers when she began hyperventilating in the courthouse hallway afterward. Sherri Seiling of the victim-witness unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said later in the day that BobbiJoe Dunn was fine, although still upset.

In court, Fuller merely responded affirmatively as his attorney, John Goins, asked him questions, setting forth what happened on the night of July 11, 2004.

In that fashion, Fuller said he drove to Joseph Dunn's home in Brick with an acquaintance, Tom Long, and when they learned Joseph Dunn was not home, he agreed to give Brittney a ride.

Her mother, who lived in Beachwood, previously has said that Gregory — a straight-A student who had just completed her sophomore year at Brick Township Memorial High School — called her that night, looking for a ride to her boyfriend's house.

Killer's account

Still responding to Goins' questions, Fuller relayed that after he dropped off Long at his home in Howell, Brittney climbed into the front seat of his car.

"Soon afterward, did you stop the vehicle and take out a pipe to smoke cocaine?" Goins asked. Fuller responded that he had.

"Did Miss Gregory yell, scream and raise her hand to the pipe and ask you to stop smoking and not to do it in front of her?" Goins asked. Again, Fuller responded affirmatively.

"Did you punch her in the head at least twice with the purpose to incapacitate Miss Gregory?" the attorney asked.

"I did," Fuller responded, showing no emotion.

Brittney began bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth and slipped into "a deep unconscious state, with her head leaning back," Goins said.

"That's true," Fuller said, matter-of-factly.

"After she reached unconsciousness, she began to choke and make gurgling noises," Goins said.

"That's also true," Fuller said.

"You proceeded to smoke cocaine without rendering aid or assistance to her?" Goins asked.

"Yes," Fuller said.

"After you were done getting high, you checked on Miss Gregory," Goins said, but by then the girl was lifeless and not breathing.

"That's correct," Fuller said.

With that, Fuller pleaded guilty to the murder charge.

Incriminating tape

No mention was made of what Fuller did with the body after the girl died.

However, a police informant several days later made a secret audiotape of Fuller asking him whether burying someone 4 feet in the ground was deep enough to protect the body from animals or predators. On the audiotape, Fuller also says he has to "take out" Long because he last saw Brittney alive with him in his car.

Searchers found Gregory's body in a shallow grave just under a power line off Ridge Avenue in Lakewood, not far from where Brittney lived with her father in Brick, and about a mile and a half from Fuller's Howell home.

An autopsy revealed that Brittney suffered head trauma, although it could not pinpoint a cause of death. But Dr. Hydow Park could not rule out asphyxiation or suffocation.

Blood found in Fuller's car was eventually determined to be the victim's.

Executive Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Ronald F. DeLigny, who was set to try Fuller for murder, would not comment outside the courtroom on the guilty plea. In court, he did say that he discussed the plea offer with Brittney's family.

"They wish to proceed with this plea agreement," he said.

When asked why Fuller decided to plead guilty a week before his trial was scheduled to begin, Goins said: "I believe Mr. Fuller knew it was time to step forward and let people know exactly what happened and take responsibility for his actions. He understands, as devastating as that would be for the family, a trial would be more devastating.

"According to state Department of Corrections records, Fuller had served time in prison twice in the four years preceding the murder for burglary and theft convictions in Ocean and Monmouth counties and for violating terms of his parole.

His trial was set to begin in Ocean County on Tuesday, after Grasso in July turned down a request by Goins to move the case to another county because of the pretrial publicity it had received.