Suspect in Parx Casino Murder Case Walks Free
Posted on: October 2, 2025, 02:35h.
Last updated on: October 2, 2025, 02:35h.
- Jury acquits Reid-John of murder after three-week trial.
- Prosecutors relied on casino footage, toll records, circumstantial links.
- Defense stressed no gun match, no direct forensic evidence.
A Norristown, Pa. man accused of murdering a Parx Casino winner might have followed the victim home in the early hours of October 26, 2021, but a Middlesex County jury has determined the state couldn’t conclusively prove he pulled the trigger.
Jekai Reid-John, 31, was accused of killing Sree Aravapalli who was found suffering from gunshot wounds in his home in Plainsboro, N.J., by responders at around 3:30 a.m. that night. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:24 a.m.
Aravapalli had won around $10K at Parx, and prosecutors alleged that Reid John and another man, Devon Melchor, targeted the victim at the casino and followed him home.
Reid-John was charged with murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, burglary, multiple weapons offenses, and witness tampering in the case. Melchor pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree armed robbery and one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit armed robbery and is awaiting sentencing.
After a three-week trial, Reid-John was cleared of all charges except conspiracy to commit armed robbery by a Middlesex County jury on September 26. This was Reid-John’s second trial, after a May 2025 proceeding ended in a hung jury.
Tailed by Two Men
Prosecutors had argued that Reid-John and Melchor deliberately targeted Aravapalli after watching him win big at the casino.
Surveillance cameras showed two men keeping tabs of the victim through the night, and a debit-card transaction made by one of the men was linked directly to Reid-John.
Meanwhile, E-ZPass data confirmed that Aravapalli entered the Pennsylvania Turnpike shortly after leaving the casino. At nearly the same time, a white BMW with temporary Delaware tags and a distinctive spoiler — later connected to Reid-John — entered the toll system behind him and exited at the same interchange around 3:20 a.m.
Police later found the BMW parked outside Reid John’s Norristown residence. A search of the car and house uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, which prosecutors said showed the defendant had access to firearms.
Circumstantial Evidence
But the defense counsel countered that the bullets used at the murder scene were .380-caliber shell casings, which they argued undermined any direct link between Reid-John’s firearm and the homicide and showed prosecutors hadn’t met the burden of proof.
No DNA, fingerprints, or eyewitnesses placed Reid John inside the victim’s home, which meant the state’s case largely was circumstantial, and this proved decisive for jurors.
The conspiracy charge will be addressed in court October 10, according to filings.
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