Man Admits Stabbing 22-Year-Old, Dumping Him In Jackson Woods

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Pemberton Township man has admitted he stabbed another man and dumped him in the woods in Jackson Township in 2017 in a dispute over a woman, the Ocean County prosecutor's office announced.

Alan J. McGinnis, 27, pleaded guilty on Dec. 10 to one count of first-degree murder in the death of Cody MacPherson, before Judge Guy P. Ryan, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, McGinnis will be sentenced to 30 years in prison and will be required to serve all 30 years of his sentence, Billhimer said.

The remains of MacPherson, 22, were found in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area on March 19 by a New Jersey Forest Fire Service district warden who was walking through the area in preparation for a controlled burn. (RELATED: Skeleton Found During Controlled Burn In Jackson: Prosecutor)

During the plea hearing, McGinnis admitted to stabbing MacPherson in the neck and chest at a Pemberton Township home on Sept. 24, 2017, then putting MacPherson into the trunk of a car and driving him to the portion of the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area off South Stump Tavern Road and dumping him.

The probable cause affidavit, obtained by Patch in July, said McGinnis stabbed MacPherson over a woman. The woman had been having sex with both men but on Sept. 23, broke off the relationship with McGinnis. McGinnis and the woman have two children.

According to the affidavit:

On the night of the murder, McGinnis, MacPherson and the woman all were staying at the home of the woman's mother. MacPherson was sleeping on a couch when McGinnis attacked, stabbing him in the throat. MacPherson tried to get away, but McGinnis stabbed him in the chest, then walked MacPherson out of the house, where he collapsed on the lawn. McGinnis put MacPherson into the trunk of the mother's car and took off, witnesses said. MacPherson's blood was found in the trunk, the affidavit said.

In Jackson, McGinnis went to a relative's home and asked for a shovel. When the relative asked why, McGinnis said he had a body in the trunk. The relative refused to help and told McGinnis to leave.

McGinnis took MacPherson to the area off South Stump Tavern Road, took his belongings and clothing, stabbed him in the chest and left him nude. The medical examiner said the chest wound would have been sufficient for MacPherson to bleed to death.

McGinnis returned to the Pemberton home about 6 a.m. and told the woman's relatives he had killed MacPherson, "because he was no good for (the woman) and believed that Cody was responsible for her being an unfit mother."

While McGinnis was gone, the woman's mother and another relative cleaned up the blood in the house.

The woman, who had passed out from drinking heavily that day, slept through the entire incident. When she woke the next day, McGinnis told her MacPherson had left, and the relatives who cleaned up the blood did not tell her about the stabbing.

McGinnis later confessed the killing to the woman, according to the affidavit.

MacPherson, who had moved to New Jersey from Indiana about a year earlier, was reported missing in the evening of Sept. 24, 2017, by his brother. His belongings turned up several months later in a wooded area.

By the time MacPherson was found by the fire warden, authorities already had identified McGinnis as a suspect, the affidavit said. He was charged April 28 with the murder and indicted in August.

The investigation was conducted by numerous law enforcement officers, Billhimer said, including Detective Jay Luis of the Pemberton Township Police Department, Detective Brian Miller of the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, Detective Shaun Clark of the New Jersey State Police Homicide South Unit, New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Detective Scott Conover of the Jackson Police Department and Detective Brant Uricks of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone and Assistant Prosecutor Alyssa Mandara prosecuted the case.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Skeleton Found During Controlled Burn In Jackson: Prosecutor
• Murder Charge Filed As Skeleton Found In Ocean County Identified
• Detention Hearing Set For Man Accused Of Dumping Body In Jackson
• Murder Indictment In Case Of Skeleton In Ocean County Woods

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Alan J. McGinnis, photo via Ocean County Prosecutor's Office