FREEHOLD – A Newark man will die in prison, serving the sentences handed down for the 2011 murder of a Freehold man and attempted murder of that man’s girlfriend.
Richard Busby, 61, will serve two consecutive 30-year terms for his role in the home-invasion robbery turned murder on May 14, 2011 in a Jackson Mills Road home in Freehold. He was convicted in September of felony murder, armed robbery and attempted murder. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon.
Michael Conway, then 42, was shot dead and his girlfriend, Cheri Plamondon, was tied and gagged while Busby and his accomplices set the home ablaze.
Plamondon was able to escape from a zip tie that was incorrectly bound, and jumped out a window and ran for help.
The man who admitted to shooting Conway, Jeffrey Mayhue, 54, of Newark, is already serving a 30-year sentence for the murder. Two other man have pleaded guilty to armed robbery.
Busby has a long criminal history, to which Escandon referred. The only time he wasn’t committing crimes was when he was in prison, the judge said of Busby.
