What began as a miraculous survival story turned into a chilling murder case that stunned investigators and devastated a family.
In November 2015, Tyrita Julius and her teenage daughter Chanel Colbert were ambushed outside their home in Linden when a gunman opened fire, striking Tyrita eight times in the chest and torso.
Chanel, just 15 at the time, was also injured, with bullets grazing her mouth and wrist. Against all odds, both survived.
“I just remember trying to take cover,” Chanel later recalled, describing the terrifying moments before realizing she too had been shot.
As Tyrita fought to recover in hospital, investigators began piecing together motives, focusing on her personal relationships, including a past romance with Jennifer Sweeney, a fellow member of the Ruff Ryders Motorcycle Club.
Initially, Jennifer Sweeney was not considered a suspect. The shooter seen in surveillance footage was male, and Tyrita herself insisted from her hospital bed that her ex was not involved. But as weeks passed, troubling details began to surface.
Prosecutors later revealed that Sweeney had maintained an obsessive interest in Tyrita, even presenting herself publicly as still romantically involved and planning a future together without Tyrita’s consent.
Behind the scenes, investigators uncovered that Sweeney had merged their phone plans, giving her access to Tyrita’s communications and movements. When Tyrita was discharged from hospital three months after the shooting, she suddenly disappeared—triggering alarm and suspicion.
Sweeney claimed she had dropped her off at a train station, but surveillance footage contradicted her account, placing neither woman at the location that night.
The case took a grim turn when police traced connections to Andre Harris, a longtime acquaintance of Sweeney who owned a silver SUV matching witness descriptions from the shooting. When authorities searched Harris’s property, they made a horrifying discovery: human remains buried in the yard.
Under questioning, Harris confessed that the body was Tyrita’s. He admitted to participating in the crime but claimed Sweeney orchestrated the plot. According to investigators, Sweeney allegedly lured Tyrita to Harris’s home, where she was strangled with an electrical cord before being stuffed into trash bags and buried.
Evidence suggested that jealousy and control were key motives, particularly after Sweeney discovered Tyrita had been communicating with another man.
In court, prosecutors painted a disturbing picture of obsession that escalated into violence. Harris accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in exchange for testifying.
Sweeney, however, faced the full weight of the charges. In May 2022, a jury convicted her on multiple counts, including murder and desecration of human remains. She was sentenced to 95 years in prison, effectively ensuring she will spend the rest of her life behind bars.
For Tyrita’s family, including her mother Queen Julius, the case remains a painful reminder of a life nearly saved—only to be taken in a far more calculated and tragic way.
