Duo accused in deadly string of home invasions, charged with murder

Two more people have been charged in a deadly robbery spree of homes throughout Monmouth County — and the murder of one of those home's residents.

Ranu Sinha, 36, of Precedent Place of Manalapan, and Ellis W. Goodson, 38, of Newgate Lane of Neptune, are each facing several charges including first-degree murder after being arrested overnight, Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Charles Webster said.

Both are charged as accomplices to Jeffrey Mayhue, 52, and Richard Busby, 58, both of Newark, in connection with three home invasion robberies at residences in Howell, Freehold and Neptune Township in 2011.

In one of those robberies, authorities say Freehold resident Michael Conway was murdered. They say Mayhue and Busby killed Conway, set fire to the house and fled the scene. Conway’s girlfriend was able to escape from the burning house through a window, ran to a neighbor’s house, and requested the neighbor call 911, the prosecutor's office said.

According to the prosecutor's office, the first home invasion occurred at in May of 2011 a residence on Brickyard Road in Howell, Mayhue entered the residence with a handgun, bound the occupants and stole a large sum of money, the prosecutor's office said.

The second robbery was on July 31 of that year, when Mayhue and Busby entered Conway's home armed with a handgun, and looking for money. the prosecutor's office said. They entered the home, and found Conway and his girlfriend before killing Conway, it said.

Mayhue and Busby were indicted by a grand jury on several charges including murder and felony murder in November 2012.

The third robbery occurred in September of 2011, when Mayhue forcibly entered a residence on Drummond Avenue in Neptune Township brandishing what appeared to be a handgun, the prosecutor's office said. Tha robbery was thwarted by the victims, who held Mayhue until police arrived on scene, the prosecutor's office said.

Sinha and Goodson are being charged as accomplices to all those crimes. It wasn't immediately clear from an announcement by the prosecutor's office how they were tied to the alleged crimes or what their roles were.

Sinha and Goodson were each being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in lieu of $1.5 million cash-only bail Wednesday.

If convicted of murder, Sinha and Goodson each face a minimum sentence of 30 years in a New Jersey state prison without parole and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.