Authorities arrest Oregon man they say killed Cherry Hill veterinarian Michael Anthony

More than two months after a Cherry Hill veterinarian was stabbed to death on his front lawn, authorities said Friday that they had arrested a Portland, Ore., man in the slaying.

Cristian Custodio-Aquino, 27, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Michael Anthony, 45, in front of his home on Sharrowvale Road, Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay and Cherry Hill Police Chief John Ostermueller said in a statement.

Authorities said the two men knew each other, but it was unclear how.

Detectives conducted “an exhaustive investigation” that led them to conclude that Custodio-Aquino was responsible for Anthony’s death, authorities said. They gave no motive for the crime.

Custodio-Aquino was taken into custody Tuesday in Fresno, Calif., by U.S. marshals and was being held in the Fresno County Jail pending extradition to New Jersey. He was arrested on South Willow Avenue in Fresno, an address listed as a mobile home park called the Willows of Santiago.

Cherry Hill Mayor Dave Fleisher issued a statement thanking investigators for their work in the case.

“Our community continues to mourn the loss of Dr. Anthony and I am pleased that a suspect in his death is in custody,” he said.

Just before 7:10 a.m. on Dec. 10, Cherry Hill police responded to a report of an unconscious man on Sharrowvale Road in the Barclay Farm neighborhood and found Anthony with multiple stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office later said Anthony had been stabbed to death around 5:50 a.m.

Investigators found a pair of glasses next to Anthony’s body that they were able to link to Custodio-Aquino, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. They traced the glasses to a store in Washington state and learned that Custodio-Aquino had purchased them, the affidavit said.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage that showed Anthony walking outside at 5:24 a.m. on the day he was killed, the document said, and later, at 5:53 a.m., screams could be heard.

As they reviewed video from multiple sources, investigators spotted a sedan entering Route 70 from neighboring Haddon Township at 5:24 a.m. that day and entering Anthony’s neighborhood at 5:30 a.m., the affidavit said. The sedan was seen driving from the crime scene at 5:55 a.m.

Investigators learned that Custodio-Aquino owned a black sedan that arrived in New Jersey in October 2024 and was in Haddon Township on Dec. 8, 2024, two days before Anthony was killed, according to the affidavit. That car matched the description of the car seen entering Anthony’s neighborhood on the day he was killed and then driving from the scene of the crime, the document said.

Anthony’s slaying on the quiet block in Cherry Hill left the community shaken. Neighbors, who said they often saw Anthony on early-morning runs, described him as a friendly man who mostly kept to himself.

He owned Haddon Vet, a practice in Haddon Heights, and tributes from people whose pets he and his staff had treated poured in on social media after his death.

Anthony’s interest in veterinary medicine started in his childhood outside Washington, D.C. 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 at veterinary practices in Camden, Gloucester, and Ocean Counties before opening his own practice.