A teen has been arrested and charged in the gruesome murder of a college student from Brooklyn in February, police said.
Isiah Baez was charged with murder, weapon possession and evidence tampering in the death of DeAndre Matthews, who was found on Feb. 7, according to police.
Matthews' body was badly burned and had a gunshot wound to the head when it was found on train tracks near Nostrand Avenue in Midwood. The medical examiner revealed that the 19-year-old had also suffered smoke inhalation.
Police had been trying to piece together Matthews' final 24 hours. His sister, Dajanae Gillespie, said he left his job at Buggy Service Center in Crown Heights around 5 p.m. on Feb. 6 and went home to borrow their mother’s Jeep for the night. She was one of the last people to speak to DeAndre on the phone — before he disappeared.
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The family reported him missing the next day. His body was discovered hours later.
"I want to know why [the killer] did it. What was the reason? DeAndre wasn’t a violent person. This wasn’t for retaliation. He wasn’t in the streets," Gillespie said.
Gillespie added that because her brother was gay, she feels it could have been some sort of hate crime. A motive for the killing is unclear, and Baez does not face any hate crime charges.
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Matthews' mother located the Jeep with GPS outside a warehouse on Troy Avenue. It was also burned.
"I’m a hurt mother. I have my daughter but that was my son, that was my best friend. He made me a mother," Danielle Matthews said after her son was found dead. She couldn't believe anyone would want to hurt her son.
The SUNY Broome Community college student was known for his love of people and his sense of humor. His family said he wanted to become a social worker.
"Now, as a mother, I’m suffering. My daughter don’t have a big brother. My sister don’t have a nephew, my mother don’t have a grandson," the mother said in February.
Attorney information for the 19-year-old Baez was not immediately available. Police said that an accomplice, 24-year-old Remy McPrecia, was arrested on May 4 and charged with concealing a corpse and evidence tampering.
