UPDATE: New details emerge after arrest in 1990 Sussex County cold case; suspect’s wife still missing
VERNON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (Sussex County) — Authorities have arrested a North Carolina man in connection with the 1990 murder of Lisa Marie McBride, marking a major breakthrough in a decades-old cold case, officials said Saturday.
Sussex County Prosecutor Daniel M. Perez announced that a multistate task force took Robert William McCaffrey Jr., 54, of Manteo, North Carolina, into custody at about 8 p.m. Friday.
McCaffrey, who previously lived in Charleston County, South Carolina, and Sussex County, is accused of killing McBride on or about June 23, 1990, in Vernon Township. He is being held in Dare County, North Carolina, pending extradition.
He will face charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree burglary, Perez said.
The arrest follows a renewed investigation aided by advances in DNA technology and years of investigative work by the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Police and Vernon Township Police Department, with assistance from the Dare County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said McBride’s remains were discovered in 1990. She would have been 27 years old at the time.
Authorities described the arrest as a significant step toward justice for McBride’s family after more than three decades.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office at (973) 383-1570. Additional details will be released as they become available.
