Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal announced the additional charges of Desecration of Human Remains and Hindering Apprehension filed against Orville Cousins, 40, of Bronx, New York.
According to authorities, on Monday, January 2, 2017, Adrienne Smith, of Bergenfield, contacted the Bergenfield Police Department to report her husband, Randolph Smith, missing.
The Bergenfield Police Department subsequently notified the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that they were investigating a missing person and requested the assistance of the Major Crimes Unit. Detectives from both agencies interviewed family and friends in an attempt to locate Mr. Smith.
During the investigation, it was determined that Mr. Smith was last seen at his Bergenfield residence on or about Christmas evening. According to his wife, her husband left the residence and was not heard from again.
However on January 12, 2017, the Burlington City Police Department and Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office were notified of the discovery of human remains, found within six plastic containers in Burlington City. The remains were later positively identified as those of Mr. Smith.
Detectives from the Bergen and Burlington County Prosecutors’ Offices then jointly investigated Mr. Smith’s disappearance and apparent murder.
During the investigation, detectives determined that on or about December 26, 2016, Cousins, along with his sister, Adrienne Smith, purchased materials that were used in connection with the desecration of Smith’s remains. Some of those materials were subsequently recovered from the Bergenfield residence.
Burlington County and Bergen County detectives located and apprehended Cousins in New York on January 15, 2017.
He was was charged by the Burlington City Police Department with one count of desecration of human remains. On Thursday, January 20, 2017, members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Major Crimes Unit located and arrested Adrienne Smith at a relative’s home in North Brunswick. She was charged with one count of desecration of human remains and hindering apprehension.
Cousins was extradited from the New York City Department of Corrections to the Burlington County Jail and was charged by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office with the additional charges of one count of desecration of human remains and one count of hindering apprehension on April 25, 2017, for his actions in Bergen County regarding the same incident.
These additional charges came about as a result of a continued investigation conducted by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Major Crimes Unit/ Homicide Squad, and the Bergenfield Police Department.
Cousins is currently being held in the Burlington County Jail. A detention hearing date is set for Monday, May 8, 2017, at the Bergen County Court House in Hackensack.