Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that a 53-year-old man has been indicted for killing his mother inside of her residence at the Courtyard Apartments in Edgewater Park last year.
Brian Templeton was indicted by a grand jury on charges of Murder (First Degree), Desecration of Human Remains (Second Degree), Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose (Third Degree), and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (Fourth Degree).
The indictment was returned yesterday and signed by Prosecutor Coffina. An arraignment will be scheduled soon in Superior Court. Templeton is currently detained at the Burlington County Jail.
The investigation began on November 11, 2019, after an employee of the apartment complex asked police to check on 77-year-old Doris Templeton because she had not been seen nor heard from in more than two weeks.
The investigation revealed that on or about October 24, 2019, Templeton, who had been staying with his mother at her unit in the complex, killed Doris Templeton inside of her apartment, put her body into a chest and loaded it into the back of his car.
The body was discovered by investigators in the parking lot of Templeton’s employer on November 12, 2019. An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.
Templeton will be prosecuted by BCPO Assistant Prosecutor Bob VanGilst, supervisor of the BCPO Major Crimes Unit – Violent Crimes Section. The lead investigator is BCPO Detective Brian Miller.
An indictment is an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.