Union Man Admits Stabbing Dad, Setting House On Fire: Prosecutor

UNION, NJ — A Union Township man has admitted to stabbing his father to death last year and then setting the family house on fire, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan announced. Jeffrey Adams, 21, pleaded guilty Feb. 5 before state Superior Court Judge William Daniel to a single count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter in connection with the death of 59-year-old Michael Adams, Monahan said. (See Related: Union Man Killed Father, Prosecutors Say)

The fire broke out at about 11:45 a.m. at the home in the 1500 block of Van Ness Terra on May 8, 2017. Irvington Fire Department and Union Township police and fire responded. Inside, first responders found the body of Michael Adams. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Spagnoli, who prosecuted the case.

Jeffrey got into a verbal fight with his father and stabbed Michael before setting the family home on fire and fleeing the scene, according to an investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force with assistance from the Union Township Police Department and Union County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit.

Adams turned himself in hours later at Union Township Police Department headquarters.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 16 before Judge Daniel, at which time the state will request a term of 25 years in state prison, with at least 85 percent to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.

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