Crime & Safety

Drunk Driver Who Killed Two Teenagers In Kinnelon Dead At 54

Dover man who ran over two cousins in Kinnelon while driving drunk has died.

A man serving a 40-year prison sentence for killing two cousins while driving drunk in Kinnelon died in a hospital on Monday, according to the Daily Record. 54-year-old Eugene C. Baum of Dover died from complications of Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer, his attorney, Michael Fletcher, informed the Daily Record.

"We have notified the victims' family members of Mr. Baum's death," Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp informed the Daily Record.

Baum had been driving drunk from his home in Dover to his mother's house in Kinnelon on April 20, 2006 when he ran over 16-year-old Athear Jafar from Jefferson and her cousin, 15-year-old Mayada Jafar, of Kinnelon, as they were walking on the shoulder of Kinnelon Road, according to the Daily Record. His car veered off the road and hit them. Baum's blood-alcohol concentration was .305 percent that night, almost four times over the limit in New Jersey, according to notes from the trial.

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Baum was found guilty in February 2010 of two counts each of aggravated manslaughter and death-by-auto in the deaths, according to the Daily Record.

"Hopefully, this will bring some closure to them as all court proceedings will now come to an end. They have endured many years of suffering due to Mr. Baum's unspeakable acts. We sincerely hope they can now go on with their lives knowing that the case has come to an end," Knapp told the Daily Record.

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The families of the victims had been present throughout the trial and Mayada's mother wept when the verdict was read, according to the Daily Record, saying, "Oh my God, it's just a relief. Thank God for America; we have a justice system."

Image via munozgo, Morguefile, used under Creative Commons.

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