Inset left: Andre Higgs (Essex County Prosecutor”s Workplace). Inset proper: Latrena Could (Obituary). Background: The road the place Higgs shot and killed Could in East Orange, N.J. (Google Maps).
A New Jersey man will spend the remainder of his life behind bars for capturing and killing his ex-girlfriend outdoors of her own residence whereas she flagged down a police officer for assist.
In late December 2025, 53-year-old Andre Higgs, was convicted by a jury of his friends in Essex County for the 2015 homicide of 27-year-old Latrena Could, a longtime instructor at Delight Academy Constitution Faculty in East Orange. The sufferer and the killer had beforehand been in a relationship.
On Friday, the defendant was sentenced to life in jail on the homicide cost, a 75-year sentence within the Backyard State. He was moreover sentenced to twenty years in jail for associated weapons prices.
The underlying incident occurred late on the evening of Could 1, 2015, following an argument between Higgs and Could outdoors the girl’s dwelling on Tremont Avenue in East Orange – a suburb of New York Metropolis.
In the end, the girl’s loss of life was a tragic matter of rage, home violence, and devastating timing.
“The capturing occurred after Could ran from her dwelling to flee an assault by Higgs and flagged down a police automobile,” prosecutors defined in a press launch. “As East Orange Detective Kemon Lee exited his automobile and approached, Higgs fired a number of pictures at Could.”
The detective returned hearth and hit the killer within the legs. Then, Higgs retreated again into Could’s home the place the sufferer’s 4-year-old daughter was nonetheless asleep. After barricading himself contained in the residence, he was finally arrested.
Higgs was initially sentenced to life in jail in 2017 following a trial and conviction for Could’s homicide. However that sentence was overturned by the New Jersey Supreme Courtroom in 2023, which granted him a brand new trial.
In the ruling, the justices discovered that protection attorneys ought to have been granted entry to Lee’s “inner affairs file, which included prior incidents of the officer firing his weapon whereas on responsibility” and will have been capable of query the detective about these prior incidents.
However a second trial didn’t end in a materially totally different consequence.
Higgs was discovered responsible of homicide within the first diploma, second-degree illegal possession of a handgun, first-degree illegal possession of a handgun by an individual who has beforehand been convicted of a criminal offense underneath the No Early Launch Act, and second-degree sure individuals to not have weapons.
“This second conviction for homicide for Andre Higgs was potential solely due to the courageous witnesses who as soon as once more got here ahead to testify concerning the defendant’s callous actions,” prosecutor Justin Edwab stated. “As we stated in 2017 and repeat in the present day, Detective Kemon Lee was a hero that day for responding to Latrena Could and making an attempt to save lots of her from the grip of her abuser.”
Underneath a not too long ago handed New Jersey legislation, Higgs should serve 85 p.c of his sentence earlier than he’s eligible for launch – which equates to only shy of 64 years on the homicide conviction alone.
“Whereas no sentence can convey again Latrena Could, we hope that figuring out Higgs will spend the remainder of his life in jail gives the Could household with some measure of peace and serves as a solemn acknowledgment of their profound loss,” Edwab added in feedback to NJ.com.
