FREEHOLD - A Monmouth County jury Wednesday found Brookdale Community College honors student Raquel Garajau guilty of felony murder and 15 other crimes in the 2017 shooting death of marijuana dealer Trupal Patel.

Garajau, 20, of Tinton Falls, broke into tears when the jury forewoman announced the panel's verdict shortly after 3 p.m.

The defendant's sister hung her head and wept, and her mother rushed out of the courtroom when the forewoman announced Garajau had been found guilty of felony murder, the most serious charge, for which she now faces 30 years without parole up to life in prison.

Garajau was also found guilty of robbery, theft and other offenses.

Patel's mother and brother, who sporadically attended the trial that began July 24, were not in court to hear the verdict.

Although Garajau's boyfriend, Joseph Villani, 22, of Ocean Township, has admitted fatally shooting Patel, 29, of Brick in his garage on Feb. 6, 2017, prosecutors argued at the trial that Garajau plotted with him to rob and murder Patel, a major marijuana dealer in Monmouth County, so they could steal his drugs, sell them and take over his business.

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Melanie Falco and Stephanie Dugan, assistant Monmouth County prosecutors who presented the state's case, argued that after Patel's death, the pair went about selling the marijuana they stole from the victim and spending his cash. Their purchases included a gaming system for Villani and a promise ring for Garajau, the prosecution argued.

Falco and Dugan declined to comment on the verdict.

Garajau was "very emotional, crying and distraught with the jury's verdict," said Robert A. Honecker, who presented the defense along with his colleague, Tara Walsh.

"We're very disappointed in the jury's verdict," Honecker said. "In all likelihood, we will discuss with the family the filing of an appeal of the jury's verdict."

The defense team unsuccessfully argued that Garajau was a young woman in love who may have helped Villani clean up the crime scene after the fact, but the defense insisted she had nothing to do with planning a murder or robbery.

Villani, who claims he shot Patel in self-defense, is awaiting trial in the case.

In his confession to detectives, Villani insisted Garajau had nothing to do with Patel's death. However, prosecutors presented witnesses, recorded telephone conversations and numerous text messages between Garajau and Villani suggesting her involvement in drug dealing, setting up the robbery and trying to cover up the crimes.

Among the text messages revealed at the trial were some sent by Garajau to her boyfriend telling him to clean the bullets, bleach everything, move the dead man's car from in front of his house and throw the victim's belongings in the ocean.

Garajau even sent messages to Villani after the killing telling him she got "butterflies" every time she looked at her "amazing ring," according to the evidence presented at the trial.

Patel, last seen alive in Asbury Park, was reported missing to police there on Feb. 9, 2017. His body was discovered by a park ranger in Shark River Park in Wall on Feb. 22, 2017.

Testimony at the trial revealed that an acquaintance of Villani, Brandon Wobser, helped him dump the body in the park after Villani offered to give him $300 and some marijuana.

Prosecutors said that while Villani was dumping the body, Garajau was texting him, telling him to "Facetime me please when you are done," and adding, "I love you."

A break in the case came when another of Villani's acquaintances, Tyler Yuhas, came forward when he saw a picture of the victim's Jaguar in a newspaper report of his murder. Yuhas told authorities that Villani had asked him to move that car for him because Villani couldn't drive a stick shift.

That led to Villani's arrest days after the body was found, but Garajau wasn't charged in the case until May 2017.

Garajau was originally charged with murder and disposing of the victim's remains, and conspiring to commit those crimes, but Superior Court Judge Joseph W. Oxley threw out those and other charges at the end of the state's case because he said the state did not produce sufficient evidence to support the charges.

The felony murder charge remained, however, stemming from a death that occurred during the commission of a robbery.

The jury found Garajau guilty of all of the remaining charges, which also included conspiracy to commit armed robbery, conspiracy to steal marijuana, theft of marijuana, conspiracy to steal the victim's cash, theft of the cash, conspiracy to possess a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, three counts of tampering with physical evidence, hindering the apprehension of herself and Villani, and witness tampering.

Oxley scheduled Garajau's sentencing for Nov. 29.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com