As Cherry Hill veterinarian’s slaying leaves a community shaken, few details of the investigation have emerged
Michael Anthony, 45, was found dead outside his home in Cherry Hill. He was a veterinarian with a practice in Haddon Heights.
As family and friends mourn the death of Michael Anthony, who was found slain outside his Cherry Hill home earlier this week, authorities have released few details about a crime they have labeled a homicide.
Anthony, 45, a veterinarian with a practice in Haddon Heights, was pronounced dead Tuesday morning on the 100 block of Sharrowvale Road, authorities said.
Cherry Hill police have said little about the crime, and the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, which is leading the murder investigation, has not disclosed even the most basic information.
They have not said how Anthony was killed. They have not said whether authorities have recovered a weapon or whether they have identified a suspect, made any arrests, or established a motive for the slaying. Nor have they said whether authorities believe the crime was a targeted attack or whether there might be a danger to the public.
Donna Weaver, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, said Friday that the investigation was active and ongoing and that she had no further information to release.
Neighbors in the Barclay Farm section of Cherry Hill awakened Tuesday to the startling sound of sirens and a crush of emergency vehicles as authorities arrived at the scene to find Anthony unconscious outside the two-story home he shared with his partner of three years, Kyle Bartsch.
Bartsch said Friday that he was grieving and declined to be interviewed. Relatives who gathered at the home this week also said they were too upset to talk.
Outside the house, where a welcome mat with paw prints read “Love is all you need,” and a nearby statue of a puppy signaled Anthony’s profession, a relative sitting on the front porch Thursday was visibly shaken, and held back tears as she declined an interview.
Neighbors on the winding, tranquil block of Sharrowvale Road described Anthony as a quiet, friendly man who went on daily morning runs and mostly kept to himself.
At Haddon Vet, Anthony’s veterinary practice in Haddon Heights, a makeshift memorial had been set up in the front lobby of the practice he had owned since 2018.
A candle was lit in his memory, with the message “Forever in our hearts.” A framed photo of Anthony smiling, with a stethoscope wrapped around his neck as he cradled a grey-and-white cat, was placed on the front desk.
Employees at the veterinary practice declined to speak to a reporter, saying their loss was too fresh. Anthony’s partner in the veterinary practice, Lauren Stevenson, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Anthony’s interest in veterinary medicine traced to his childhood outside Washington, D.C., where he grew up in a household full of pets, according to the website for the business.
After graduating cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in psychology, he attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where he graduated with honors. Anthony worked in veterinary practices offices in Camden, Gloucester, and Ocean Counties before opening his own practice.
Anyone with information about his deathis asked to call Detective Daniel Crawford of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office at 856-580-2223 or Detective Frank Kirsch of the Cherry Hill Police Department at 856-432-8834. Tips can also be submitted at camdencountypros.org/tips.