Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Pemberton Township Police Chief David H. Jantas announced that a Wrightstown man was charged with murder today for fatally stabbing a woman behind a vacant store last month in Browns Mills.
Frank Walker III, 41, of the 200 block of Cookstown-New Egypt Road, was taken into custody this afternoon at the Prosecutor’s Office in Mount Holly. He is lodged in the Burlington County Jail pending a hearing in Superior Court.
According to police, on July 13, police were called to the area of Juliustown Road and Pemberton-Browns Mills Road at approximately 8:45 p.m. by a pedestrian who heard screams coming from the rear of a building. Diana Stillwell, 29, of Finch Street, was discovered with severe lacerations to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined the cause of death to be stabbing. The motive is still being determined.
Prosecutor Coffina said “no one deserves the violent end that Diana Stillwell tragically met.”
“She was brutally attacked with a knife and left to die behind a vacant strip mall,” he said. “Today, we are gratified to be able to take this first step towards bringing some measure of justice to Diana and her family.”
A 32-year-old Pemberton Township man was charged last month in connection with the case for providing false information to investigators on the night of the murder.
Darren DeCarlo, 32, of the first block of Coreopsis Street, was charged with one count of Obstructing the Administration of Law (Fourth Degree).
All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.