Investigators built an interstate case from DNA, license-plate records, a bloodstained vehicle and the suspect’s digital activity.
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — A pair of prescription eyeglasses found beside a slain veterinarian became the first major link in an investigation that stretched from a South Jersey neighborhood to California and ended with an Oregon man pleading guilty to first-degree murder and receiving a 30-year prison sentence.
The case began Dec. 10, 2024, when Cherry Hill officers responded to the 100 block of Sharrowvale Road and found Michael Anthony, 45, unconscious outside his home. He had suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead there. The killing initially presented investigators with an outdoor crime scene, no publicly identified eyewitness to the attack and a suspect who had already begun traveling away from New Jersey. Over the following weeks, detectives assembled physical, digital and travel evidence that pointed to Cristian Custodio-Aquino of Portland, Oregon.
Among the objects recovered near Anthony was a pair of prescription transition glasses. Prosecutors said forensic testing detected Custodio-Aquino’s DNA on them. Investigators examined identifying information connected to the glasses, including their model, and traced them to a retailer in Washington state. The retailer confirmed that Custodio-Aquino had purchased a matching pair, according to accounts of the investigation. That connection gave detectives a named person whose movements, relationships and vehicle could be examined against other evidence from the morning Anthony was killed.
The inquiry then turned to a black Nissan Altima associated with Custodio-Aquino. License-plate readers recorded the vehicle entering and leaving Anthony’s neighborhood around the relevant period, prosecutors said. Other cameras and tracking systems documented its travel into New Jersey before the killing and away from the state afterward. When authorities later recovered the car, forensic specialists found blood inside that was identified through DNA analysis as Anthony’s. Together, the glasses and blood evidence tied Custodio-Aquino both to the immediate area around Anthony’s body and to a vehicle used during the interstate journey.
Investigators also examined Custodio-Aquino’s phone and online activity. At a detention hearing, prosecutors alleged that the phone had been wiped about four hours before Anthony was killed. They said information about Anthony’s memorial service was later found on the device. Other reporting said Custodio-Aquino searched for news about the homicide while away from New Jersey and attempted to sell his car. Those claims were offered as part of the state’s account of his conduct after the crime and contributed to a judge’s finding that he should remain jailed pending trial.
The suspect’s route gave the investigation a national dimension. Police and prosecutors said the Nissan was detected in several states after leaving New Jersey, including states in the South and West. Authorities filed a first-degree murder charge against Custodio-Aquino on Feb. 7, 2025. Four days later, members of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him in Fresno, California, about two months after Anthony’s death. He was later returned to New Jersey, where prosecutors presented the evidence during a hearing on whether he could be released while the case was pending.
At that June 2025 hearing, Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Kevin Moran described the attack as planned rather than spontaneous. Prosecutors said Custodio-Aquino had traveled across the country, waited outside Anthony’s residence and attacked after Anthony came out for a morning walk. The state linked the crime to a past romantic relationship between Custodio-Aquino and Anthony’s partner. The defense questioned whether the state’s evidence could prove murder beyond a reasonable doubt, but the judge found that Custodio-Aquino presented a danger and a risk of flight and ordered him detained.
The investigation never had to be presented to a trial jury. On June 9, 2026, Custodio-Aquino, then 28, pleaded guilty in Camden County Superior Court to one count of first-degree murder. The negotiated disposition called for a sentence of 30 years in New Jersey state prison without early parole eligibility. By entering the plea, he accepted criminal responsibility for Anthony’s death and gave up the opportunity to require prosecutors to prove each element of the charge at trial. The agreement also removed uncertainty about the length of the primary sentence.
Judge Judith Charny imposed the agreed term July 9. Anthony’s relatives used the sentencing hearing to describe harms that could not be measured by DNA reports or travel records. His sons, siblings, partner and other family members spoke or submitted statements about the life events he would miss. They described a devoted father, caring brother and accomplished veterinarian whose humor and kindness shaped his home and workplace. One son said his father was no longer available to hear about college experiences, while Anthony’s sister urged that he be remembered for his life rather than his violent death.
Custodio-Aquino briefly addressed the court and acknowledged that the world was worse without Anthony. The judge then ordered the 30-year term. CBS Philadelphia reported that, with credit for time served, he is not expected to be eligible for parole until 2055. The sentence concluded a case in which small pieces of evidence became important only after detectives connected them: a pair of glasses to a buyer, a license plate to a neighborhood, blood to a vehicle and a car’s route to a person traveling across the country.
Anthony’s identity outside the investigation remained central to the sentencing. He owned Haddon Vet in nearby Haddon Heights, where clients and colleagues knew him for combining medical skill with patience toward worried pet owners. His obituary said he cared not only for animals but also for the people concerned about them. He was a father of two, enjoyed jogging and music, and had organized his professional life to remain close to his children. Those details provided the human context missing from the technical account of forensic tests and electronic records.
Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay credited detectives and prosecutors with continuing the search until Custodio-Aquino was identified and found. The case required coordination among local police, county investigators, forensic laboratories, retailers, agencies monitoring vehicle movements and federal officers who carried out the arrest. Each source contributed a separate part of the chain. No single camera image or data point publicly described the entire crime, but the combined evidence placed the defendant, his possessions and his vehicle in a sequence that supported the murder charge.
With the conviction entered and sentence imposed, the investigative phase and prosecution are complete. Custodio-Aquino remains in state custody under the 30-year judgment. For law enforcement, the case stands as an example of physical evidence working alongside modern tracking systems. For Anthony’s family, the same evidence answered who was responsible but could not answer the broader question relatives voiced in court: why a dispute rooted in a past relationship was allowed to take the life of a father and community veterinarian.
Author note: Last updated July 15, 2026.