A man arrested Friday in central Pennsylvania is the killer who left a 25-year-old woman along the side of a remote stretch of road in 2014 in South Jersey, authorities alleged Monday.
Timothy Wright, 39, was arrested Friday and charged with the murder of 25-year-old Joyce Vanderhoff, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said in a statement.
Vanderhoff was found the morning of Feb. 14, 2014 on County Road 559 in Hamilton Township, near mile marker 24. A passing driver called police to report seeing the woman’s body. She died of strangulation, Tyner said.
The Press of Atlantic City wrote that Vanderhoff was found naked; her grandmother later left a memorial, along the highway including a shirt and pants. The family wanted answers.
Vanderhoff liked to draw, and enjoyed bowling, snowboarding and camping, according to her obituary. She worked at the Mays Landing Walmart and attended Shore Fellowship Church. She graduated from Egg Harbor Township High School in 2006.
Wright was living in Mays Landing when Vanderhoff was killed, according to Tyner’s statement. Investigators learned of Wright as a suspect and tracked him to Chambersburg, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg Detective Sgt. Jon Greenawalt said Wright had lived there for three to five years, and was working as a commercial truck driver.
Chambersburg officers and Atlantic County detectives arrested Wright when he was getting out of his truck into his personal vehicle. He is now in the Franklin County Jail pending extradition to New Jersey, Greenawalt said.
“I’m glad they were able to find some measure of justice for the family and certainly for the victim,” he added.
“The investigation into the murder of Ms. Vanderhoff has never stopped since her death in February 2014,” Tyner’s statement said. "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.”
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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