A Matawan man has been arrested and criminally charged with killing his father in the home they shared earlier this year, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Monday. 

Kenneth Knapp, Jr., 31, is charged with first-degree Murder and second-degree Desecration of Human Remains in connection with the death of Kenneth Knapp Sr., 58.

On Sunday, May 1, members of the Matawan Police Department responding to a request for a welfare check at a residence on the 200 block of Matawan Avenue found the body of Kenneth Knapp Sr. in the basement. Both the cause and manner of death were initially listed as pending following an autopsy, but the finalized autopsy report issued last month revealed that the cause of death was blunt-force trauma, with the manner of death being homicide.

An investigation involving members of the MCPO Major Crimes Bureau and the Matawan Police Department led to Knapp being identified as a suspe­­ct, and he was taken into custody without incident on Friday, August 19 at a location in the Belle Mead section of Montgomery Township (Somerset County). Knapp was then transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI), where he remains lodged pending a detention hearing to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court. 

This case has been assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano. Information about Knapp’s legal representation was not immediately available.

Anyone with information about this matter is still being asked to contact Detective Joseph Mason of the Matawan Police Department at 732-566-1010 and/or MCPO Detective Brian Migliorisi at 800-533-7443.

Convictions on criminal charges of this nature are commonly punishable by terms of up to life in state prison. Despite the charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.

Media courtesy MCPO