Riverton man sentenced in 2023 for fatal stabbing at Mount Laurel Hotel

Burlington County District Attorney LaChia L. Bradshaw announced that a 30-year-old Riverton resident was found guilty of stabbing a man to death at the Rodeway Inn on Route 73 in Mount Laurel in the spring of 2023.

After deliberating for about five hours, a Superior Court jury found Taylor Perkins guilty last week of second-degree manslaughter, second-degree escape, two counts of third-degree theft by unauthorized receipt, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

The Honorable Richard J. Nocella, JSC, has scheduled sentencing for October 18 in Mount Holly.

The investigation began on April 20, 2023, after officers from the Mount Laurel Police Department were called to the hotel shortly before 10 a.m. on a report of a fight between two men. They found the body of 36-year-old Michael Jefferies on the floor outside a second-floor room near a stairwell.

The investigation revealed that after stabbing Jefferies, Perkins fled on foot to a nearby BMW dealership and drove away in an SUV. He abandoned the SUV in Evesham and stole a truck belonging to an Xfinity employee who was working on a ladder at the time. He was eventually arrested at a residence on Decatur Street in Camden.

An autopsy performed by Burlington County Coroner Dr. Ian Hood found that Jefferies, of Mount Laurel, died from multiple stab wounds.

Perkins was prosecuted by BCPO Assistant District Attorney Rachel Conte.

The investigation was conducted by the Mount Laurel Police Department and the Burlington County District Attorney's Office with assistance from the Camden County Police Department, the Cherry Hill Police Department and the Evesham Township Police Department.

The lead investigators were BCPO Detectives Shawn McDonough and Melyssa Alonso and MLPD Detective Matthew Jankaitis.

Courtesy of Burlington County District Attorney's Office

Originally published: September 9, 2024 at 10:20 am