‘Cauldron of rage’ gets life in prison for 2018 NJ highway murder

A Hightstown man would be 104 years old by the time he is eligible for parole after receiving a lifetime prison sentence Monday, one day before the four-year anniversary of a random, fatal shooting on Route 33 for which he was convicted last fall.

In a release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday, Kader Mustafa, now 40, was described by sentencing Superior Court Judge Vincent Falcetano Jr. as a "cauldron of rage" on the night of May 3, 2018, when an investigation revealed that after following a vehicle driven by Sciascia Calhoun, 24, for several minutes, Mustafa fired a single shot at the Freehold woman.

Falcetano said Calhoun's last act was to pull her car over to the side of the road safely after being shot in the head. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Her boyfriend and 1-year-old daughter were also in the vehicle and were found unharmed.

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Mustafa was arrested the next day at the home of a cousin in Manalapan, at which time two handguns were recovered from his vehicle, according to the prosecutor's office.

Prior to Mustafa's conviction last October, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said Calhoun was a "total stranger" to her killer, and on Monday, Prosecutor's Office Director of Investigations Christopher Decker added that the victim "had done absolutely nothing to him."

A jury found Mustafa guilty of all six charges brought against him: first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and two counts of third-degree endangering another person.

Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com

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