Update on Egoavil murder case

John DeRosa

Edmir Sokoli

Elvis Feratorvic

Third suspect turns himself in yesterday afternoon

JERSEY CITY – Bloomfield resident Edmir Sokoli, 23, turned himself into the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Squad yesterday at 2:15 p.m. at 555 Duncan Avenue, according Hudson County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Paul Laroquet
All three suspects are currently in Hudson County Correctional Center in South Kearny. The arrests were made by timely and intensive work by the Kearny Police Department and the Homicide Squad.
Judge Kevin G. Callahan set John DeRosa's bail at $2 million cash, (he was convicted of manslaughter in Essex County in 1987 for a murder committed in 1980, serving 14 years for that offense;) Elvis Feratorvic and Sokoli 's bail was set at $750,000 cash each.
Sokoli has retained Newark Attorney Richard Roberts of Frank Lucas (American Gangster) fame, according to Laroquet.
Sokoli will go to Central Judicial Processing Court today. Next comes the scheduling of the Grand Jury trial. There is not yet a scheduled date set.

DeFazio says Rachel Jewelers shooter found

Xavier Egoavil's murderer charged

JERSEY CITY – John DeRosa, 51, was arrested and charged today at approximately 5:30 a.m. with the Aug. 18 murder of Xavier Eoagvil, and the armed robbery of Rachel Jewelry on Kearny Avenue, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. DeRosa was apprehended while riding in a taxi in Belleville, DeFazio said. His last known address was in Newark but he is believed to have been a resident of Kearny at one time.
The arrest was based on the extensive investigation by the Kearny Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Squad. DeFazio said, “It’s been a cooperative effort and a lot of work.”
“Based on various facets of the investigation it led to DeRosa being charged. It’s our theory that he is the gunman – the shooter in the case,” he explained.
There is a warrant out for the third individual in the homicide/robbery who is believed to have been in the store at the time of the shooting of Egoavil, Bloomfield resident Edmir Sokoli, 23, who is not yet in custody of police.
Getaway car driver Bloomfield resident Elvis Feratorvic, 24, was arrested and charged with felony murder on Sept. 3 after he was found at an auto repair shop in Passaic ready to change the appearance of the car that was used in the Aug. 18 incident. Feratorvic is currently in Hudson County Correctional Center in South Kearny.
DeRosa will have his first appearance, in person, at the Jersey City Central Judicial Processing Court. Because of the early morning time of arrest he was brought straight to the Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Squad at 555 Duncan Ave.

Getaway car driver charged with felony murder

Elvis Feratovic

JERSEY CITY/KEARNY – Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio today at noon, that Bloomfield resident Elvis Feratovic, 24, was arrested and charged with felony murder on Thursday evening, Sept. 3 based on information from a concerned citizen received by Kearny police. That information lead the prosecutor’s homicide unit to the defendant’s car – the getaway car used during the Aug. 18 robbery that resulted in the death by gun shot wounds of Xavier Egoavil, 37, at Rachel Jewelers at 397 Kearny Ave. The car “fits the bill” of the suspected vehicle that was captured on video and presented in the Aug. 26 edition of The Observer in the Wanted Poster issued by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Feratovic was apprehended by police at an auto body shop in Passaic County where the vehicle was having its “appearance altered,” according to DeFazio. The suspect's bail was set at $750,000 with no 10 percent by Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan. Feratovic has his first appearance in court on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Hudson County Correctional Center in South Kearny via video link.
The investigation by the Kearny Police Department and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office is continuing. DeFazio said, “It was good work done so far, with more to be done.” The two other players involved in the crime are still at large.
Kearny’s Chief John Dowie always says that his officers never disappoint him, especially while chasing after individuals who committ such heinous crimes as this. I imagine he’s quite happy with them right now, as are the detectives in the prosecutor’s office.
Dowie also has been known to say that he makes it known to “my guys and the bad guys that if anyone comes from out of town to do a crime in Kearny, we’ll come out of town after you.” With both agencies hard work, the other two suspects could be in handcuffs by the time the next edition of The Observer comes out.

HCPO composite photo

JERSEY CITY – The latest information out of Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio's office is the above composite of the suspected shooter of Tuesday's murder in Kearny of Rachel Jewelry store owner Xavier Egoavil. The poster also includes a surveillance camera still photo of the getaway car and a more detailed description of the armed robbers/murderers, according to the homicide unit reports. Click on the poster for a larger image.