Killer Finally Sentenced in 2016 Missing Person’s Case After Bones Were Found Across Multiple Properties

Michael A. Zappley was arrested in 2020, after police found 106 bones belonging to a missing person

NEED TO KNOW

• Michael A. Zappley pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the 2016 death of Miguel Martinez III
• Martinez’s disappearance was reported in June 2016 and the case went cold until a witness told investigators he was killed in 2016, leading to the discovery of 106 bones across multiple New Jersey properties
• Zappley was sentenced to 12 years in prison and must serve 85% of his sentence before he’s eligible for parole

A New Jersey man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday, Sept. 18, a decade after he killed a man and buried the remains across different properties.

Michael A. Zappley, 69, of Westville, N.J., was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for aggravated manslaughter in the 2016 death of Miguel Martinez III. Zappley pleaded guilty to the charge in August 2026 and will have to serve 85% of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.

Martinez’s family reported him missing on June 15, 2016, according to court documents and statements made in open court. Detectives spent months investigating, but came up short in finding Martinez.

The case went cold until January 2020, when a witness told investigators that Martinez was killed in 2016, prosecutors said. The witness also described how Martinez’s body was disposed of.

Investigators then searched multiple properties on Fox Run Road in Deptford, N.J. They found 106 bones, all determined to be human remains, which investigators later determined belonged to Martinez through DNA and genetic testing.

Prosecutors said Zappley admitted to an altercation with Martinez, during which he grabbed Martinez from behind, “restricted Martinez’ airway until he could not breathe, and struck him on the head with a steel door.”

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Zappley said he left the body outside overnight and later took it to a wooded area near Fox Run Road and tried to burn it.

Zappley has been in jail since 2020. In December 2020, he was indicted on charges of murder, disturbing or desecrating human remains and tampering with physical evidence, NJ.com reported.

PEOPLE reached out to the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office for further information.

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