Jackson murder suspect: 'Hey, do you have a shovel? I have a body in the trunk'

TOMS RIVER - A love triangle prompted a Pemberton man to stab his romantic rival, throw him in the trunk of his car while still alive, drive him to a wooded area in Jackson and leave him there to die, an assistant prosecutor alleged Thursday at a detention hearing for the accused killer.

Alan McGinnis, 27, first announced his intention to kill Cody MacPherson to a group of people who were drinking in a house in Browns Mills in Pemberton Township in the early morning of Sept. 24, said Michael Weatherstone, assistant Ocean County prosecutor.

The defendant proceeded to go upstairs and stab MacPherson in the throat while he slept on a couch, Weatherstone said. Then, he took the victim outside and stabbed him again in the abdomen, a wound that eventually caused the 20-year-old's death, Weatherstone said.

More: Jackson body: Man was stabbed, dumped in woods; suspect charged

McGinnis put "a still living Cody MacPherson in the the trunk of his car" and drove to Jackson, Weatherstone alleged.

There, he came upon his cousin about 3 a.m. and asked him, "Hey, do you have a shovel? I have a body in the trunk," Weatherstone said.

That was about a mile from the spot in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area in Jackson where skeletal remains were found during a controlled burn there on March 19, Weatherstone said. The remains were identified as those of MacPherson, who had recently moved to Pemberton from Indiana.

"The defendant left the victim lying in the woods under a pile of debris," Weatherstone said at the hearing, at which a judge ordered McGinnis held without bail to face trial.

"Cody may still have been alive, or not," Weatherstone said. "The state does not know the exact time of death."

McGinnis took a video surveillance system from the home where the stabbing occurred and burned it in the woods, along with the victim's clothing and his cellphone, the assistant prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, the woman at the heart of the love triangle was passed out drunk, and her mother was sopping up the victim's blood in the living room of their home on Pardee Boulevard in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton, the assistant prosecutor said.

Weatherstone said Caitlyn Huertas was McGinnis' ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children, and at the time of the murder, was in a relationship with the victim.

Her mother, Kathleen Huertas, at first claimed to have no knowledge of what happened to MacPherson when he was reported missing in September, but she later admitted "sopping up the blood from the victim that was in her living room," as a younger daughter watched, Weatherstone said.

Melissa Barbier, deputy assistant public defender, argued that the state's case against McGinnis was built on "boldface lies'' and that a third man with whom Caitlyn Huertas was linked romantically may have been the one to kill MacPherson.

On Oct. 19, Caitlyn Huertas referred to that man when she sent a text message to her sister saying, "He killed Cody over me. He will kill me," Barbier said.

Weatherstone said there was no evidence that man was involved in the murder, and Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan said he wasn't charged with any crimes.

Ryan noted some particulars of the sticky love triangle he said gave rise to a motive for McGinnis to commit the killing. Ryan said Caitlyn Huertas was "romantically involved with the defendant and the victim and, perhaps, even others."

Ryan elaborated that Caitilyn Huertas and MacPherson had spent the night together at a motel in Burlington County the night of Sept. 22. The next day, she, MacPherson and McGinnis spent the day drinking together at various places, including her home on Pardee Boulevard, the judge said.

When McGinnis was later arrested on an outstanding warrant, he told police that Caitlyn Heurtas is the mother of his two children, that he was aware she was in a romantic or intimate relationship with MacPherson and that she may have been pregnant with his child, Ryan noted.

"He was aware they had slept together in the motel the night of Sept. 22 to Sept. 23," the judge said.

"Mr. McGinnis essentially admitted he was one of the last persons to see the victim alive on the night in question," he said.

Ryan, in ordering McGinnis held without bail to await trial, said the defendant has an "atrocious" record of failing to appear in court. He failed to appear nine times within the past 19 months, the judge said.

McGinnis was placed on drug-court probation in Burlington County in January for four separate offenses — unlawful taking of a means of conveyance, resisting arrest, receiving stolen property and obstruction of justice, Ryan noted.

The judge said McGinnis also has two prior simple assault convictions in municipal court.

Court records also show McGinnis was convicted in 2009 of knowingly possessing or viewing items depicting sexual exploitation, for which he was placed on probation for two years.

McGinnis now faces charges of murder, kidnapping, possession of a knife for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a knife, desecration of human remains and destruction of evidence. He could face life in prison if he is convicted of murder, Weatherstone noted.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; khopkins@app.com