The indictments and arrests of two teenagers in the murder of Zackary Dwello, age 17, of Sodus, came to a head last week.
Following the Wayne County Grand Jury indictment on Monday, Hunter Peck, age 18, of Old Lyons Road in Newark and Vaughn Gray, age 19, of Hope Avenue in Newark were arrested by State Police on Tuesday. Both teens had been on the streets since the killing, after State Police had narrowed in on the pair weeks after the incident.
The Newark Police received a report that went through 911 at approximately 10:28 p.m., Friday, December 8, 2017. The caller stated he had been stabbed and police responded to an area adjacent to Perkins Park to find a 17 year old male, later identified as Zackary Dwello of Sodus, unresponsive and lying next to his car.
Dwello appeared to be suffering from seven stab wounds. The Newark Arcadia Volunteer Ambulance responded and transported him to Newark Wayne Community Hospital where he was stabilized and air lifted to Strong Memorial Hospital. Dwello died eight hours later.
The case was what State Police Captain Carolyn Mullen called a “Who Done It”. “We walked into this case with no suspects,” she said. “We put a ton of time into this, we did a lot of work with cellphones in this case… and that was a key element. And just knocking on doors, talking with people, a lot of people won’t come forward, but they will if you ask them, people will give you information.”
Sources close to the investigation indicated that Dwello allegedly met with Peck and Gray in the park to sell them a small amount of marijuana, estimated to be in the $30 range. The deal went bad when Peck and Gray attempted to rob Dwello and the stabbings occurred.
Both Peck and Gray fled the scene, leaving Dwello laying on the ground with the seven stab wounds.
There were 56 state police involved in this case, not including lab people, 8 Newark officers, and 1 Ontario County Deputy (a drone operator for scene photos) – lots of people coming together to do a lot of good work.
Peck and Gray were each indicted for Murder in the First Degree, Murder in the Second Degree and three counts of Robbery in the First Degree.
Upon their arrests, both Peck and Gray were immediately remanded to jail pending a bail hearing. That hearing was delayed on Thursday (3/22) after the Wayne County Public Defender’s Office disqualified themselves due to a conflict of interests. Both Peck and Gray had been defended by the Office in prior cases.
According to the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office, the court has appointed Attorney Joseph Demelio to represent Peck and Attorney Peter Palano to represent Gray. The attorneys were unavailable for the Thursday scheduled arraignment that has been rescheduled for Tuesday (3/27) at 1:15 p.m. at the Wayne County Hall of Justice.
“We have a solid, very good case against them (Peck and Gray) and we are confident of the outcome,’ said one of the State Police involved in the case.
If convicted, both Peck and Gray face Life without Parole on the Murder First charge; Maximum 25 years to Life on a Murder Second charge and one to five years in prison upon the conviction for Robbery in the First Degree.
“There is a lot of forensic evidence in this case of a robbery gone bad”, according to Wayne County District Attorney Mike Calarco.