Improved DNA testing leads to 2 charged in 2016 New Jersey murder, Burlington County prosecutor says
Advanced DNA testing helped investigators in Burlington County, New Jersey, solve a murder that happened nearly a decade ago, officials said.
Norman Mosley was shot and killed by masked intruders in his home in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township the night of Sept 25, 2016, according to a press release from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.
Kevin D'Costa, 45, of Irvington, and Daemen Hodge, 32, of Browns Mills, are charged with murder, robbery, weapons charges and related crimes in connection with the case, Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Pemberton Township Police Department Chief Jonathan Glass announced Monday.
Mosley, 37, was shot twice during the confrontation at his home on Alfred Drive and died shortly after at the hospital, the prosecutor's office said.
Investigators found a glove at the scene and were able to break the case open years later when improved testing found DNA from D'Costa, Hodge and Mosley on the glove. That finding bolstered other evidence linking D'Costa and Hodge to the crime, allowing investigators to get homicide warrants from a judge, the press release said.
"We are thrilled to finally bring justice to the Mosley family," Bradshaw said. "The public is conditioned by crime shows to believe that the challenges of criminal investigations always fall into place immediately, but nothing could be further from the truth."
Mosley's family kept in touch with detectives over the years and regularly attended vigils for crime victims hosted by the prosecutor's office, the announcement says.
D'Costa was already being held on unrelated charges at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, and Hodge was arrested Friday and is being held at the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly.