Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw announced that a 30-year-old Riverton resident has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison for fatally stabbing a man at the Rodeway Inn on Route 73 in Mount Laurel during the spring of 2023.
The sentence was handed down to Taylor Perkins this week in Superior Court in Mount Holly by the Hon. Richard J. Nocella, J.S.C.
A jury convicted Perkins in August of Manslaughter (Second Degree), Eluding (Second Degree), two counts of Theft by Unlawful Taking (Third Degree), Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose (Third Degree) and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (Fourth Degree). The jury deliberated for approximately five hours before finding him guilty.
The investigation began April 20, 2023, after officers from the Mount Laurel Police Department were called to the hotel just before 10 a.m. for a report of two men fighting. They found the body of Michael Jefferies, 36, on the ground outside of a second-floor room near a stairwell.
The investigation determined that after stabbing Jefferies, Perkins fled on foot to a nearby BMW dealership and drove off in a sport utility vehicle. He abandoned the SUV in Evesham and stole a truck belonging to an Xfinity worker who was up on a ladder working at the time. He was eventually apprehended at a residence on Decatur Street in Camden.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood concluded that Jefferies, of Mount Laurel, died from multiple stab wounds.
Perkins was prosecuted by BCPO Assistant Prosecutor Rachel M. Conte.
The investigation was conducted by the Mount Laurel Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’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.