He is also charged with two counts of robbery and three counts of theft by unlawful taking, according to the DA’s office and court records. Stark was arrested in Wayne County, Mich., in April 2022 and was extradited back to Pennsylvania last July.įollowing his arraignment by Magisterial District Judge Terrence Hughes on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, kidnapping, criminal use of a communication facility, flight to avoid apprehension, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse on Thursday, Stark was committed to the Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.
Additionally, “he was traditional in that he carried large sums of cash and primarily paid for things with cash or personal checks,” it said. “Branning’s family said he would not travel unexpectedly to New Jersey,” the DA’s office said, adding that there has been no activity on his cell phone or bank account since he vanished. He was also known as a responsible employee who never missed work without notifying someone, it said, and he regularly maintained contact with family members. The SUV was recovered by police in Falls Church, Va., in December 2021 with crack vials inside it that were traced back to the Needle Park drug market, along with forensic evidence that was linked to Stark, the DA’s office said.īranning “did not use drugs,” the news release noted, and “was an outdoorsman who loved to hike and valued a healthy lifestyle.”
and that “Branning is not seen in the surveillance footage.”Īuthorities said that toll data next tracked the Lexus heading northbound and then westbound on the Atlantic City Expressway, before cell phone data placed Stark at Needle Park in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. The indictment alleges that from there Stark and Branning drove east, with toll and cell phone data putting Branning’s 2002 Lexus SUV in central New Jersey at around 5 p.m.Īt 7:05 p.m., the DA’s office said, Branning’s bank account was accessed at a gas station in Somers Point, near Ocean City, N.J.įollowing that transaction there is a nearly two-hour gap in the tracking data until both men’s cell phones were geolocated to a Cape May Wawa, the DA’s office said.Įxactly when Stark is believed by police to have murdered Branning isn’t clear from the information released Friday, but the office said Stark was seen making a purchase at the Cape May Wawa shortly before 9:30 p.m.
Police believe Stark then forced Branning to drive to a nearby ATM, where he was seen withdrawing money on a surveillance video recording, according to the presentment.
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