'Good Old-Fashioned Police Work' Led To Toms River Hit-Run Arrest, Official Says

When Ocean County Prosecutor’s Detective Mike Proto and Toms River Traffic Safety Officer Ken Thomas arrested a real estate agent on Wednesday and charged him in the fatal hit-and-run death of a pedestrian on Route 37 earlier this month, it wasn’t because of luck or a great tip.

“This was just good old-fashioned police work,” said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, said by phone Wednesday evening. “These guys just worked hard with the information they had.”

The information they had was a piece of blue debris gathered at the scene on March 6 -- a piece of plastic broken off a vehicle that struck Jeffrey Michel, 27, of Colts Neck. Michel, whose body was seen by a motorist that night by the side of Route 37, had been struck by a vehicle. The former Brookdale Community College student was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of his injuries, police said.

>> RELATED: Island Heights Man Arrested In Fatal Toms River Hit-Run That Killed Ex-Brookdale Student

In the days that followed, with the help of local auto dealerships, the prosecutor’s office was able to identify the make and model of vehicle that had struck Michel. But when that information -- on a blue Jeep Wrangler with a model year between 2013 and 2015 -- was disseminated on Monday, there were no real tips generated, Della Fave said.

Proto and Thomas didn’t sit and wait, however, he said.

“They started combing the DMV database for vehicles matching that description,” Della Fave said. The search turned up several in the area, so they began going through it, one by one, to eliminate possiblie suspects.

By the end of the day Tuesday, they had eliminated all of the ones in Toms River, he said, and on Wednesday had two in Lavallette they were going to look at. The first one they eliminated quickly. But when they went to the address where the second one was registered, they found an abandoned home, Della Fave said. Through further investigation, they were able to determine the owners were struggling with issues from Superstorm Sandy and had moved temporarily to Island Heights.

As soon as Proto and Thomas arrived at the Island Heights address, Della Fave said, they knew they might have found their suspect. A blue Jeep Wrangler was parked behind the house, partially hidden from the street, with its front end facing toward a wooded area, away from view.

Della Fave said they knocked on the door, but no one answered. “So they decided to wait for a little while.”

In time, a woman pulled up and prepared to go into the house. Proto and Thomas approached her, asking if the Jeep was hers. The woman said it belonged to her sister, and asked the pair if they wanted to talk to the sister’s husband, who she said was in the house.

As they began talking to the husband, they requested a search warrant to examine the Jeep. It was soon after that Proto and Thomas took real estate agent Mark Rothlein, 51, into custody.

He has been charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash resulting in death, Della Fave said, and his bail was set at $100,000.

“This is a reminder that leaving the scene of an accident is always far worse than the consquences if you stay,” Della Fave said. “Every accident leaves debris, and with the help of car dealerships and auto manufacturers, we will find you.”

Della Fave also said Michel’s death also serves as a reminder of the dangers to pedestrians of trying to walk along Route 37, but also along Route 9 and Route 70, all of which have seen pedestrians struck and killed by vehicles.

“They just named Route 130 the most dangerous highway in the state,” he said, “but we see the same problems here. People think they’re safe walking along the shoulder, but they forget that drivers will drift into the shoulder sometimes.”

“These are highways, with vehicles traveling at speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour,” Della Fave said. “It’s not safe.”

Drivers should remember that there many businesses along those roads and to always be mindful of the possibility there will be pedestrians, he said.

And pedestrians are urged to cross only at intersections, using traffic signals and crosswalks. Trying to cross a road by hopping a cement divider is putting yourself in danger, he said.