Oregon man charged in stabbing death of Cherry Hill veterinarian to be extradited to N.J.
Cristian Custodio-Aquino, charged in the stabbing death of Cherry Hill veterinarian Michael Anthony, will be extradited to New Jersey, a California judge ruled Thursday.
A Portland, Ore., man charged with murder in the stabbing death of Cherry Hill veterinarian Michael Anthony will be extradited to New Jersey for prosecution, a judge ruled Thursday.
Cristian Custodio-Aquino, 27, was arrested last month in the December slaying of Anthony outside his home in the Barclay Farm section of Cherry Hill. He was taken into custody in Fresno, Calif., where authorities said he had been staying with friends, after investigators linked him to a pair of prescription eyeglasses they say the killer left at the scene of the crime.
Anthony, 45, was stabbed multiple times on the front lawn of his home on Sharrowvale Road and pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say the two men knew each other, but did not say how, and they have given no motive for the crime.
On Thursday, Fresno County Superior Court Judge William Terrence ordered that Custodio-Aquino be extradited to New Jersey within 120 days, said Taylor Long, spokesperson for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
Custodio-Aquino, a native of Peru who had been living in Portland, was charged after investigators linked him to the glasses found at the scene by tracing them to the store where he purchased them in Washington state.
Authorities said Custodio-Aquino owned a black sedan that matched the description of a car seen entering Anthony’s neighborhood on the day he was killed and then driving away from the scene of the crime.
The death of Anthony, a veterinarian with a practice in Haddon Heights and a father of two sons, shook his Cherry Hill community. Neighbors described him as a friendly man who liked to go on early morning runs, and people whose pets he had treated posted tributes on social media lamenting his death.