Murder Indictment In Case Of Skeleton In Ocean County Woods

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Burlington County man has been indicted on charges of kidnapping and murder in connection with death of a man whose skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area in Jackson in March, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Thursday.

Alan McGinnis, 27, of Pemberton, was indicted by an Ocean County grand jury in the death of Cody MacPherson, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

MacPherson, 20, was reported missing to the Pemberton Township Police Department on Sept. 24, 2017. He had moved to the Browns Mills section of the township from Portage, Indiana not long before he ws killed.

McGinnis is accused of stabbing MacPherson to death in the early hours of Sept. 24, 2017, and then dumping his body in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area, where it remained until March 19, when Richard Byrne, a district warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, was walking through the area and discovered the remains. (READ MORE: Skeleton Found During Controlled Burn In Jackson: Prosecutor)

"Byrne was preparing the area for the burn when he observed human remains under logs close to the area of the burn," Della Fave said. "He then moved closer and noticed what he believed to be a human skull." Byrne called his supervisor and the burn was halted so they could preserve evidence.

Authorities were able to make a preliminary identification of MacPherson based on dental records and the cause of death ruled to be a stab wound to the left abdomen. He was positively idenified through DNA analysis by the New Jersey State Police laboratory on April 17, 2018. (READ MORE: Murder Charge Filed As Skeleton Found In Ocean County Identified)

Investigators allege McGinnis stabbed MacPherson multiple times at a home on Pardee Boulevard in Pemberton then put MacPherson in the trunk of a vehicle available at the house and drove him to the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area on South Stump Tavern Road in Jackson. McGinnis allegedly traveled back to Pemberton, where the scene was cleaned of visible blood and other evidence of the murder, they allege. Authorities allege he returned a week later to the site where they say he left MacPherson to destroy evidence associated with the crime.

McGinnis was indicted on charges of first-degree kidnapping, for allegedly driving MacPherson from Pemberon to Jackson;, two charges first-degree murder, for allegedly causing the injury and allegedly causing the death during a kidnapping; possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of weapon, and desecrating human remains, for allegedly leaving MacPherson in the wildlife area and covering his body with logs, according to the indictment.

Information on McGinnis's motive or who notified authorities that MacPherson was missing was not released.

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Alan J. McGinnis, photo provided by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, via the Ocean County Corrections Department