NEWARK, NJ — A New Jersey man has been sent to prison in connection with the 2016 death of Miguel Martinez III, whose disappearance became a long-running missing person case before investigators finally identified his remains. Prosecutors said the case unfolded over years, beginning with a family report that Martinez had gone missing in June 2016 and ending with a guilty plea and sentence for aggravated manslaughter.
Authorities said detectives first searched hospitals, phone records and social media accounts and interviewed people who might have known what happened. For months, they could not find Martinez. The case remained open until a witness came forward in January 2020 with details about the killing and what happened to the body, according to court information.
Witness account reopened the investigation in January 2020
The breakthrough came when a witness provided investigators with information about how Martinez was killed and how his body was disposed of. That statement gave detectives a new direction in a case that had already gone cold for years.
With that information, investigators pursued search warrants tied to properties on Fox Run Road in Deptford. Prosecutors said the searches led to the recovery of 106 bones that were later determined to be human remains. Testing later connected those remains to Martinez through DNA and genetic analysis…