A 16-year-old girl has become the fourth suspect arrested in connection with the gang stabbing death last summer of a woman in Orange, Police Director Charles Cobbertt said yesterday.

The girl, whose name was not released because of her age, lives on 17th Avenue in Newark and is "the primary person" suspected of murdering Aliha Reese, 20, of New Street, Cobbertt said. Two suspects remain at large.

Essex County Sheriff's Department Detective Keith Cummings, while patroling on Prince Street in Newark about 5 p.m. Wednesday, saw the suspect and made the arrest, the police director added.

According to Cobbertt, the suspect was placed in the Essex County Youth House in Newark. She will remain there pending an Essex County Juvenile Court hearing, he added.

The events leading to Reese's murder began about 11:30 p.m. Aug. 30 when Reese and another woman got into an argument at Park and William streets in Orange, Cobbertt said.

The confrontation ended, he continued, when the other woman left the scene and drove into Newark, where she gathered some friends who returned with her to Reese's neighborhood in a van and car.

About 1:30 a.m. the next morning five females and a man accosted Reese at Park and New streets, near her home. The woman was stabbed twice, with one blow striking her in the heart. Reese died less than an hour later, authorities said.

According to Cobbertt, the murder apparently stemmed from a dispute Reese had with one of the female suspects regarding a man by whom both had a child.

The day after Reese's murder, Orange police arrested Harvey Holland, 28, of Glenwood Avenue in East Orange, a 17-year-old girl who lives on the same street and Keela Simon, 21, of Ward Street in Orange.

Cobbertt said Orange Police Detective Clarence Derricott and Essex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Roger Spain are in charge of the continuing murder investigation.

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“Reach Back with One Hand and Pull Someone Else Up With You.”

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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