McCaffrey pleads not guilty in 1990 murder of Lisa McBride
Vernon. Robert McCaffrey pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder indictment in the 1990 killing of Lisa McBride, whose death remained unsolved for decades before investigators linked DNA evidence to the defendant.
Robert McCaffrey pleaded not guilty on June 29 to an indictment charging him with first-degree murder in the 1990 death of Lisa McBride.
The plea was entered before Judge Janine Allen in county court. McCaffrey’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 27. He was indicted on June 18.
The indictment, signed by Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Jerome Neidhardt, reads in part:
“... Robert W. McCaffrey Jr, on or about June 23, 1990, to on or about Oct. 20, 1990, in the Township of Vernon and/or the Township of Sandyston, County of Sussex aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, did purposely cause the death of Lisa M. McBride or did purposely cause serious bodily injury to Lisa M. McBride resulting in the death of Lisa M. McBride ...”
McCaffrey’s attorney, Brian Kenney, told Allen he will need to review grand jury transcripts and discovery.
McCaffrey, 54, of Manteo, N.C., pleaded not guilty April 20 to murder, burglary and kidnapping 36 years after the remains of McBride, a 27-year-old resident of Highland Lakes, were found in Sandyston.
Background
A 1981 graduate of West Milford High School, McBride was working as an executive secretary at Lakeland Bank in Newfoundland and living alone at 118 Glen Road in the Highland Lakes section of Vernon prior to her murder.
After work on June 22, 1990, McBride and some friends attended a concert in New York City before stopping at Big John’s Pub on Old Route 23 in Newfoundland on the way home. Police reports said McBride drank three beers, gave three old friends her phone number and left at 1:15 a.m., saying she had to be at work in the morning.
She did not show up at work the next day and went missing. At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 20, 1990, four months after she disappeared, a hunter found McBride’s remains in Sandyston. Ruled a homicide, investigators ran into dead ends for nearly 36 years.
According to court documents, evidence from the headboard of McBride’s bed was submitted for DNA testing in 2020. In 2022, McBride’s DNA was obtained when her remains were exhumed.
In February of this year, through advancements in DNA testing, court documents show McBride’s DNA and McCaffrey’s DNA were identified on the headboard evidence.
McCaffrey’s DNA was in the national DNA database for criminal defenders after he was convicted of obstruction of justice after the 2012 disappearance of his wife in South Carolina.
The complaint warrant and affidavit of probable cause were submitted by the state police and signed by Vernon Township Judge Peter Laemers on April 6. McCaffrey was arrested in North Carolina on April 10 and extradited to New Jersey.