MOUNT LAUREL, NJ – Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Mount Laurel Police Chief Judy Lynn Schiavone announced that 29-year-old Taylor Perkins of Riverton has been charged with fatally stabbing 36-year-old Michael Jefferies at the Rodeway Inn on Route 73 in Mount Laurel yesterday. Perkins is facing charges of Murder (First Degree), Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (Third Degree), and Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose (Third Degree).
Perkins was arrested in Camden and is currently being held at the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly, pending a detention hearing in Superior Court. The investigation began when Mount Laurel Police officers responded to a call reporting two men fighting at the hotel just before 10 a.m. They found Jefferies’ body on the ground outside a second-floor room near a stairwell.
Investigators determined that after stabbing Jefferies, Perkins fled on foot to a nearby BMW dealership, where he drove off in an SUV. He abandoned the vehicle in Evesham and then stole a truck belonging to an Xfinity worker. Perkins was eventually apprehended at a residence on Decatur Street in Camden. The motive for the stabbing remains under investigation.
The case was investigated by the Mount Laurel Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, with assistance from the Camden County Police Department, the Cherry Hill Police Department, and the Evesham Township Police Department. BCPO Assistant Prosecutor Bob Van Gilst, supervisor of the Major Crimes Unit, will be prosecuting the case.