Ex-Con Charged With Murder At Manchester Campground: Prosecutor

MANCHESTER, NJ — A man who had been released from state prison in May has been charged with murder in what authorities say was a drug deal gone bad.

John T. Mullen Jr., 50, was arrested Sunday evening at Surf and Stream Campground, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Manchester Township Police Chief Lisa Parker said in the joint announcement.

Mullen, who was released from the Southern State Correctional Facility in Delmont in May, is accused of killing Thomas J. Applegate, 33, authorities said.

Applegate was found dead Sunday, lying in the entrance driveway to the campground, on Ridgeway Boulevard, with a wound to the chest, by Manchester police who received multiple 911 calls. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Dr. Gildan of Newark Beth Israel Hospital about 6 p.m., authorities said.

Authorities did not say how Applegate was killed or what type of chest wound he had suffered.

"Through our investigation, we have determined that this started out as a drug deal," Billhimer said. "Mullen planned on stealing Xanax from the victim. This robbery, however, turned into a murder."

Mullen, who authorities said had been living in Seaside Heights, had spent 61 days in prison earlier this year, from April 3 to May 29, on a forgery charge. He served that time after being released March 7 after serving 2 years and three months of a four-year sentence for forgery and dealing in stolen property, according to New Jersey Department of Corrections records. He had an 18-month concurrent sentence for shoplifting, according to those records.

Mullen, who also has used the aliases Leonard Clax and Donald Stewart, has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, third-degree possession of heroin and fourth-degree tampering with physical evidence.

"All of the involved agencies — OCPO’s Major Crime Unit and High Tech Crime Unit, Manchester Police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office — did a great job resolving this investigation expeditiously," Billhimer said.

The investigation is being led by Detective Brant Uricks of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Detective Danny Barker of the Manchester Township Police Department, and Detective John Strodel of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Crime Scene Investigation Unit.

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