A Pemberton man has been arrested in connection with the death of a man who was reported missing last year.
Alan McGinnis, 27, is charged with murder, kidnapping, improper disposal of human remains, destruction of evidence and related weapons offenses in connection with the death of Cody MacPherson whose remains were found in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area last month.
MacPherson, 20, who recently moved to Browns Mills from Portage, Indiana, was reported missing on September 24.
Last month, an official with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service was conducting a controlled burn in the area between 433 and 483 South Stump Tavern Road when he saw human remains under logs. Police later determined the deceased body was MacPherson.
A medical examiner ruled MacPherson’s cause of death to be a stab wound to the left abdomen and the manner of death to be homicide.
Prosecutors say the investigation eventually revealed that McGinnis stabbed MacPherson multiple times at a residence on Pardee Boulevard in Pemberton on September 24. McGinnis then put MacPherson’s body in the trunk of a car and drove it to the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area on South Stump Tavern Road in Jackson.
McGinnis later went back to the crime scene and cleaned blood and other evidence of the murder, according to prosecutors who say he returned to the dump site a week later to destroy evidence associated with the crime.
McGinnis was arrested Saturday. He is currently being held in Ocean County Jail.
The motive for the killing remains unclear.