A Union Township man has been sentenced to 25 years in state prison for stabbing his father to death last year, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael A. Monahan announced Monday.
Officials said Jeffrey Adams, 21, must serve at least 85 percent of that term before the possibility of parole, in accordance with New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, under the terms set down Friday by state Superior Court Judge William Daniel.
The Irvington Fire Department and Union Township police and fire personnel members at approximately 11:45 a.m. on May 8, 2017, responded to a home on the 1500 block of Van Ness Terrace in Union on a report of a house fire, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Spagnoli, who prosecuted the case.
Inside the home, first responders found the body of 59-year-old Michael Adams, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Spagnoli said.
An investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force, assisted by the Union Township Police Department and Union County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit, determined that following a verbal dispute, Jeffrey Adams stabbed his father, set the family home on fire, and fled the scene.
Authorities said Adams turned himself in at Union Township Police Department headquarters several hours later. Last month he pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter.