A hunter discovered McBride's decomposed remains in New Jersey's Delaware Water Gap national recreation area in October 1990, according to authorities. She was identified through dental records and determined to be a homicide victim, officials said. New Jersey cold-case investigators entered DNA from McBride into a federal database containing genetic profiles of people convicted of certain crimes. Public records show McCaffrey had a home address in Sussex County, New Jersey, in 1990. The specific evidence or motive linking him to McBride's murder beyond the DNA match remains unclear, as does the nature of any relationship between them prior to her death.
McCaffrey was convicted in 2019 of intentionally misleading an investigation into the disappearance of his wife, Gayle, in Charleston in 2012, court records indicate. He was charged with lying about a handwritten note he claimed Gayle wrote informing him she had left with another man. Gayle McCaffrey was declared presumed dead in 2018, according to legal documents. A grand jury weighed charging McCaffrey with the murder of Gayle McCaffrey but declined to do so, prosecutors stated. McCaffrey moved to North Carolina and had a new love interest within months of Gayle's disappearance, according to family members and reports at the time. The current status of the investigation into Gayle McCaffrey's disappearance and presumed death is uncertain, and it is unknown if there are other unsolved cases potentially linked to McCaffrey.
Justice knows no time limit or distance.
McCaffrey was released from prison in May 2023, according to South Carolina corrections department records. He now faces charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and burglary once transferred from North Carolina to Sussex County, New Jersey, authorities said. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office in Charleston described justice as knowing no time limit or distance. The top state prosecutor in Sussex County, New Jersey, stated that McCaffrey's arrest brings long-awaited progress toward justice for the family of Lisa Marie McBride. He added that significant advancement in DNA technology led investigators to McCaffrey.