26-Year Sentence in '09 Deptford Fatal Stabbing

PRESS RELEASE
May 20, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO
Phone: (856) 384-5617; Pager (856) 251-4736
Re.: 26-year sentence in ’09 Deptford fatal stabbing

Donald D. Hetrick (DOB 2/25/62), formerly of 812 Winding Way, Deptford Township NJ was sentenced today (5/20) to 26 years in New Jersey state prison for what a prosecutor called a “particularly heinous” February 2009 fatal stabbing of 39-year-old neighbor Roland Webster in the defendant’s Knightsbridge condominium unit.

Although Hetrick claimed in pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter March 31 that he was drunk and unable to recall the multiple stab wounds inflicted on Webster, the victim’s mother told Superior Court Judge Walter L. Marshall Jr. that was “ludicrous,” since he had “the presence of mind” to clean up after stabbing her son 14 times and go out to a bar. Hetrick’s mother discovered Webster’s body when she went to his residence after his arrest on weapons and assault charges at a local bar on Feb 18, 2009.

Webster’s mother, Ceceil Nunes, said she had thanked Hetrick’s mother for reporting the death to police, but added “I honestly do not feel the least bit sorry her son is being sentenced to jail today.” Nunes said her son had gone to Hetrick’s home to pick up a dining table he’d purchased from the defendant to furnish his first home since fighting off a painkiller addiction after a car hit him.

Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Dana Anton, calling the stabbing “particularly heinous,” told Judge Marshall that Nunes and Webster’s sister wanted to speak and show photos of Webster “to put a face to this crime.”