A former Mays Landing resident has been arrested in the killing of an Egg Harbor Township woman found dead on the side of a Hamilton Township road in 2014.
Joyce Vanderhoff was 25 when her naked body was dumped on the side of County Road 559-Weymouth Road near mile marker 24, just before 10 a.m. Valentine's Day.
Timothy Wright, 39, was charged with murder on Friday, and was arrested in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he now lives, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said Monday.
Vanderhoff's grandmother just wants to know why.
"I just want to be able to see him face-to-face, and ask him why this happened," Kathy Lydon told BreakingAC. "If I can get some answers to why he did such a thing."
There is still a long way toward closure as the case works through the criminal justice system, she said.
"The people that worked on the case were wonderful," said the 71-year-old grandmother, who has kept in contact with them.
And she's thankful for Tyner.
"Since he stepped in they really stepped up things. It seems a lot of things have been solved since he's been there," she said.
“The investigation into the murder of Ms. Vanderhoff has never stopped since her death in February 2014,” Tyner said. “I want to credit the hard work and dogged determination of the detectives of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office who pursued this matter. This arrest, more than five years since the incident, should continue to serve as a message that the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office will never stop in its pursuit of justice for victims and their families.”
This investigation was a cooperative effort between the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the Township of Hamilton Police Department and the Chambersburg Police Department, Tyner said.
Wright is in the Franklin County Jail.
It was not clear how the two were connected, but Vanderhoff was friends with a Tim Wright on Facebook whose picture appears to be the same man.
