New Jersey serial killer who used dating apps to find and kill three women in three months is sentenced to 160 years in prison after victim's friends tracked him down using a fake social media profile

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Khalil Wheeler-Weaver was 20 years old when he lured and killed three women using dating apps in 2016. He will spend 160 years in jail

A New Jersey man who used dating apps to lure and kill three women in three months was sentenced to 160 years in prison on Wednesday after an emotional trial that included testimony from a woman who managed to escape his grip.

Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, 25, sat motionless as the judge gave the sentence in state court in Newark. 

Prosecutors credited one of the victim's friends with tracking him down using a fake social media profile.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, Wheeler-Weaver denied responsibility, telling Superior Court Judge Mark S. Ali that he was framed. Wheeler-Weaver's mother, aunt and brother sat in the gallery but didn't address the court. 

Wheeler-Weaver, of Orange, killed 20-year-old Sarah Butler, 33-year-old Joanne Brown and 19-year-old Robin West in late summer and fall of 2016. 

All three women were involved in prostitution. Prosecutors argued that he targeted them because he didn't think anyone would miss them. A jury took just two hours to convict him back in December 2019.

His sentencing came after emotional statements by relatives of West and Butler. 

Wheeler-Weaver, now 25, sat motionless as the judge delivered his sentence on Wednesday

Laverne Butler, mother of Sarah Butler, wore a shirt with her daughter's picture in state court. Wheeler-Weaver strangled Sarah with a piece of clothing and dumped her body in the woods

Tiffany Taylor, left, was a pregnant sex worker when she woke up to find herself being raped and strangled in the back of Wheeler-Weaver's car. She testified on Wednesday

The sentences covered three murders, one attempted murder and other counts including kidnapping, aggravated arson and desecration of human remains.

The Essex County prosecutor's office had credited friends of Butler, a college student from Montclair, with using social media to help police find Wheeler-Weaver.

They gained access to Butler's social media accounts, found him, set up a fake profile, lured him to a meeting in Montclair and called the police, according to prosecutors.

A fourth woman who survived an attack and testified in the trial also provided crucial information that helped investigators, since the details of her attack were similar to those of the other victims.

Tiffany Taylor was a pregnant prostitute living in a car with her mother in November 2016.

She told NorthJersey.com that she and a friend met Wheeler-Weaver for drinks at his house months before the attack and that he seemed 'like a regular kid. He seemed fun.'

She agreed to meet him again seven months later, planning to rob him.  

Wheeler-Weaver’s killing spree is believed to have begun on August 31, 2016, when Robin West (left), a 19-year-old sex worker was last seen alive. His next victim was Joanne Brown, a 33-year-old sex worker living on the streets 

His final victim was Sarah Butler, 20, whom he solicited for sex and offered $500

Instead, she regained consciousness and found herself getting raped and strangled by him in the back seat of his car.

At Wednesday's sentencing, Taylor described how the attack changed her life.

'My whole life is different; I don't wear makeup anymore; I don't have friends. I'm always paranoid. But I'm happy to still be here,' she said, before addressing the judge with, "I hope you don´t show him any remorse, because he's not showing any remorse.'"

'My whole life is different ... but I'm happy to still be here,' said Taylor, a survivor

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Wheeler-Weaver, then 20, used the dating apps to lure the women for sex and then strangled them. 

Their bodies were found between September and December 2016 in northern New Jersey. 

Investigators also presented evidence from Wheeler-Weaver's cellphone that placed him where the victims disappeared and where their bodies were found.

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Adam Wells noted Wednesday that the killings were separated by weeks, giving Wheeler-Weaver a chance to contemplate his actions before killing again.

Victor Butler, Sarah's dad, told his daughter's killer: 'I hope you suffer, boy, every night.' Butler's friends are credited with tracking her killer down using a fake profile

In a brief statement, Wheeler-Weaver denied responsibility and told the judge he was framed

'The defendant believed these victims were disposable. They were killed and then he went on about his day as if nothing had happened,' he said. 

'But each of these women's lives mattered.'

West, a 19-year-old from Philadelphia, was seen getting into a car with Wheeler-Weaver the night of August 31, 2016. 

She was killed within the next few hours, prosecutors said. 

They allege Wheeler-Weaver dumped her body in an abandoned house not far from his own house in Orange, near Newark, and set the house on fire. It took about two weeks to identify her remains.

West's mother, Anita Mason, described a sometimes headstrong young woman who often showed a softer side.

Anita Mason, mother of Robin West, described her daughter as someone who wanted to help homeless people. West was a 19-year-old sex worker when Wheeler-Weaver killed her

'I will never forget her smile, her face, her walk, her desire to help homeless people,' Mason said Wednesday. 

'The world focuses on the last month of her life. She had a whole entire life before her demise. Hundreds of people were affected by her life and were saddened by her death.'

Joanne Brown, 33, of Newark, was killed about a month after West was identified and also dumped in an abandoned house in Orange, but her body wasn't discovered until six weeks later. 

Butler disappeared around Thanksgiving 2016, about a month after Brown was killed, and her remains were discovered in a wooded area four days before Brown's body was discovered. 

Both Brown and Butler had been strangled with clothing.

On Wednesday, Butler's father, Victor, urged the judge to give Wheeler-Weaver the maximum sentence. 

Then, turning to the defendant, he said: 'I hope you suffer, boy, every night.'