COURT HOUSE: (12.27) With the Dec. 23 arrest of Seth Gordon Cooper, 18, of this community by South Carolina authorities, the homicide investigation has ended.
County Prosecutor Robert Taylor and Middle Township Police Chief Joseph Evangelista jointly announced the end of the multi-jurisdictional homicide investigation when Cooper of Goshen Road was arrested for the murder of John Cavicchio III, 23, of Wildwood on Dec. 10.
Seth Cooper signed a waiver of extradition agreeing to return to New Jersey voluntarily.
At this time, detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office and Middle Township police are making arrangements for Cooper’s transport back to New Jersey.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported that, based on information developed by detectives from its office, Middle Township Police Department, Suffern, N.Y. Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Regional Task Force, police officers from the Walterboro, S.C. Police Department and the Colleton County, S.C. Sheriff’s Department, located Cooper in a rural section of that state.
Colleton County Sheriff’s deputies located Cooper. He was seated in a Waffle House restaurant in Walterboro, S.C. a few hundred yards from the Interstate 95 exit ramp.
When approached by authorities, Cooper surrendered, and was taken into custody.
Through information obtained from employes of the Waffle House, it was learned that Cooper was in that establishment for a number of hours, and told employes he was waiting for a ride.
Following apprehension, Cooper was transported to the Colleton County Jail, and charged as a fugitive from justice.
Cooper was identified as the person that allegedly fired the fatal shot that led to Cavicchio’s death the next day.
Immediately after the murder, Cooper and two alleged accomplices, identified as Riley Cooper, 20, also of Goshen Road, Court House and Raymond Fryar, 21, of the 300 block Bayview Avenue, Rio Grande, fled the scene.
Seth Cooper and Fryar traveled to Philadelphia.
Fryar was arrested Dec. 13 by the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit, and charged as a fugitive from justice, based on his conspiracy charge to commit aggravated assault, obstruction of justice and possession of a weapon.
He was housed in the Philadelphia House of Corrections.
He, too, signed a waiver of extradition and will be transported to Cape May County Correctional Center.
Riley Cooper was arrested at his residence later that same date, and charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, obstruction of justice, and possession of a weapon. He was remanded to county jail.
Seth Cooper remained at large until his Dec. 23 arrest.
The prosecutor stated that the homicide investigation revealed that the shooting occurred following a confrontation between two groups of young men on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Burleigh and Whitesboro.
The prosecutor said persons convicted of murder can be sentenced up to a life term in state prison.
He also lauded the cooperative effort of the five law enforcement agencies involved in the successful resolution of this investigation that led detectives into five states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina as well as the Garden State.
County Prosecutor Robert Taylor and Middle Township Police Chief Joseph Evangelista jointly announced the end of the multi-jurisdictional homicide investigation when Cooper of Goshen Road was arrested for the murder of John Cavicchio III, 23, of Wildwood on Dec. 10.
Seth Cooper signed a waiver of extradition agreeing to return to New Jersey voluntarily.
At this time, detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office and Middle Township police are making arrangements for Cooper’s transport back to New Jersey.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported that, based on information developed by detectives from its office, Middle Township Police Department, Suffern, N.Y. Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Regional Task Force, police officers from the Walterboro, S.C. Police Department and the Colleton County, S.C. Sheriff’s Department, located Cooper in a rural section of that state.
Colleton County Sheriff’s deputies located Cooper. He was seated in a Waffle House restaurant in Walterboro, S.C. a few hundred yards from the Interstate 95 exit ramp.
When approached by authorities, Cooper surrendered, and was taken into custody.
Through information obtained from employes of the Waffle House, it was learned that Cooper was in that establishment for a number of hours, and told employes he was waiting for a ride.
Following apprehension, Cooper was transported to the Colleton County Jail, and charged as a fugitive from justice.
Cooper was identified as the person that allegedly fired the fatal shot that led to Cavicchio’s death the next day.
Immediately after the murder, Cooper and two alleged accomplices, identified as Riley Cooper, 20, also of Goshen Road, Court House and Raymond Fryar, 21, of the 300 block Bayview Avenue, Rio Grande, fled the scene.
Seth Cooper and Fryar traveled to Philadelphia.
Fryar was arrested Dec. 13 by the Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit, and charged as a fugitive from justice, based on his conspiracy charge to commit aggravated assault, obstruction of justice and possession of a weapon.
He was housed in the Philadelphia House of Corrections.
He, too, signed a waiver of extradition and will be transported to Cape May County Correctional Center.
Riley Cooper was arrested at his residence later that same date, and charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, obstruction of justice, and possession of a weapon. He was remanded to county jail.
Seth Cooper remained at large until his Dec. 23 arrest.
The prosecutor stated that the homicide investigation revealed that the shooting occurred following a confrontation between two groups of young men on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Burleigh and Whitesboro.
The prosecutor said persons convicted of murder can be sentenced up to a life term in state prison.
He also lauded the cooperative effort of the five law enforcement agencies involved in the successful resolution of this investigation that led detectives into five states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina as well as the Garden State.
