Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced that a grand jury in Middlesex County indicted a New Brunswick man today on charges of fatally beating a Kean University student in New Brunswick. Timothy Puskas, 39, was charged in a five-count indictment with the murder of William R. McCaw, 22, of Gallatin, Tenn. on February 15, 2014. In addition to murder, Puskas was indicted on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, and two counts of hindering his apprehension or prosecution. The charges were handed up following a presentation to the grand jury in New Brunswick by Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Sheree Pitchford. Puskas was charged on March 25, 2014, following an intensive investigation that began when the victim was found in the backyard of a house on Hartwell Street in New Brunswick on February 15, 2014. The Kean University student was pronounced dead at the scene, the victim of blunt force trauma. The investigation led by Detective Ronoldy Martinez of the New Brunswick Police Department and Sgt. Michael Daniewicz of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Mr. McCaw previously attended Rutgers University and would return to New Brunswick to visit friends.
It also was determined that the victim had no known connection to the residents of the property where his body was discovered.