NJ cold case cracks open: Suspect in woman’s murder also tied to ‘missing’ wife

🚨 DNA breakthrough links Robert McCaffrey Jr. to a 1990 Sussex County murder

🚨NJ victim Lisa McBride vanished after a night out; remains found months later

🚨Suspect was previously probed in his wife’s 2012 disappearance in South Carolina

A former New Jersey man whose wife mysteriously vanished more than a decade ago is now accused of something even more chilling: killing another woman decades earlier in New Jersey.

Robert McCaffrey Jr., 54, has been charged with murder in the 1990 killing of 27-year-old Lisa McBride — a case that went cold for more than 30 years before a DNA breakthrough finally pointed investigators in his direction.

But the arrest is raising even darker questions.

McCaffrey was already under suspicion in the 2012 disappearance of his wife in South Carolina, a case that was never solved.

🕯️ A woman vanishes in the night

State Police and the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office confirm that 54-year-old Robert McCaffrey Jr. is accused of kidnapping and killing McBride in June 1990.

The 27-year-old vanished from the Highland Lakes section of Vernon Township after a night out with friends. Neighbors said they did see her return home around 2 a.m., but she failed to show up for her job at a bank later that morning, New Jersey Herald reported.

A co-worker contacted McBride's brother, who went to find her car still in the driveway. Vernon police were called and found the outdoor phone wire had been cut, along with a window screen to the home, the same report said.

Read More: Police say DNA links dead NJ man to two Camden County murders

Remains found months later in remote wooded area

Four months later, on Oct. 20, 1990, a hunter found skeletal remains in a wooded area off Old Mine Road in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Sandyston Township. Cause and manner of death could not be determined due to decomposition.

Dental records were used to confirm that it was McBride — an exam also found a broken cheekbone, believed to have been caused by blunt force trauma, the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office said.

The case remained with the State Police, which created its Cold Unit in February 2020. Within months, evidence was submitted to DNA Laboratories International for advanced testing.

Advanced DNA testing leads to suspect identification

At the time of McBride’s death, DNA could only confirm that a male profile was “suitable for direct comparison.”

It was not able to be entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) for a digital DNA profile.

Over the next five years, detectives continued to compare the DNA profile against more than 50 individuals and even more polygraphs.

In 2014 in South Carolina, McCaffrey’s DNA profile was entered into CODIS, when he was arrested in connection with the disappearance of his wife, who has since been presumed dead.

During the COVID pandemic, with court sessions severely slowed, detectives combed through the McBride case and decided a better sample was needed to work with advanced analysis, New Jersey Herald reported.

State Police had McBride's remains exhumed in 2022 to collect a clearer DNA sample.

Modern genotyping allowed investigators to separate the unknown male’s DNA from a mixed sample and enter it into the index system — to see if a match could be made.

In February, a CODIS match identified the male DNA recovered on McBride as Robert William McCaffrey Jr.

Investigators confirmed that at the time of McBride's disappearance in 1990, McCaffrey was still living in Sussex County, where he grew up.

⚠️ The missing wife who never came home

The arrest is now drawing renewed attention to another case.

In 2012, McCaffrey’s wife, Marjorie “Gayle” McCaffrey, vanished in South Carolina. She has never been found.

Authorities considered McCaffrey the main suspect  but lacked enough evidence to charge him with her murder. He claimed she left a “goodbye” letter. Investigators later determined the letter was fake.

He was convicted of obstruction, but never charged in her death. In 2018 a South Carolina grand jury declined to indict him for his wife's murder and he posted bail on the lesser charge, Live 5 WCSC reported.

Arrest in North Carolina

On April 10 in North Carolina, Nags Head Police pulled McCaffrey’s car over and arrested him. A court-authorized residential search warrant resulted in the recovery of five firearms.

McCaffrey is now charged with murder, kidnapping, and burglary in the McBride case.

He has been held at the Dare County jail, pending extradition to New Jersey.

Anyone with information related to the New Jersey murder case, including anonymous tips, is urged to contact the State Police Cold Case Unit tip line at 1-833-4NJ-COLD or by email at coldcase@njsp.gov, or to contact Detective I Dominic Rubino at 609-477-2348.

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