Another Fatal Carjacking in Atlantic City

Vehicle sought in deadly abduction at Atlantic City casino garage
By Jacqueline L. Urgo
Inquirer Staff Writer

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - Sunday morning's deadly abduction of two Middlesex County residents from the garage of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort - the same place where a North Jersey man was carjacked and later murdered last year - was a "random crime of opportunity that could have happened anywhere," Atlantic County's top law official said Monday.

Three men suspected in the latest killing "cased" several casino garages before choosing the Taj Mahal, Prosecutor Theodore Housel said during a Monday news conference. It was "mere happenstance" that two fatal carjackings occurred at the casino within 16 months, he said.

Police are looking for a 2003 gray Saturn Ion with New Jersey tags UTN-66U that may be connected to the crime. The vehicle was reported stolen in Haddonfield late last month, Housel said.

Housel released a grainy surveillance-camera video that shows the suspects, believed to be in their 20s, creeping up a stairwell in the concrete parking garage about 8 a.m., moments before they accosted Radha Ghetia, 24, of Sayreville, and Sunil Rattu, 28, of Old Bridge, near their vehicle. The pair were robbed at gunpoint of what Housel described as an insignificant amount of cash.

The two friends were apparently forced into their vehicle, although no video of the abduction exists, he said.

Accompanied by the suspects and with Rattu in the backseat, Ghetia was forced to drive several blocks to Warren Webb Way, a residential alley that runs parallel to busy Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Neighbors called 911 around 8:26 a.m. to report hearing shots fired. Police found Rattu dead from gunshots to the upper torso and an off-duty firefighter who lives nearby tending to Ghetia, who also was wounded in the upper body. Ghetia was listed in good condition at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City on Monday.

Housel would not say whether Ghetia had been able to provide any useful information about the attack. Nor would he say whether the suspects had been captured on surveillance videos at the other casinos, which he refused to name.

"It could have happened anywhere . . . Philadelphia, a casino in Connecticut, or Bethlehem, Pa. These are crimes of opportunity committed by individuals who think there is money to be made," Housel said.

In May 2010, Martin Caballero, 47, of North Bergen, was carjacked in the Taj Mahal garage moments after arriving in Atlantic City to celebrate his daughter's birthday. His body, which had sustained multiple stab wounds and blunt-force trauma, was found in a field about 15 miles from the resort several days later. Craig Arno, 45, of Atlantic City, and Jessica Kisby, 25, of Egg Harbor Township, are awaiting trial in the case.

Asked about security at the Taj Mahal and the resort's other casinos, Housel described it as good. A special Atlantic City Police security detail is routinely assigned to the Taj Mahal, usually overnight, but it was off-duty when the Sunday carjacking occurred, he said.

"I truly believe it is a random coincidence this happened here," Housel said. His best advice to casino patrons, he said, is that they pay attention to their surroundings at all times.



Video of Persons of Interest in A.C. Carjacking Murder Released