A South Jersey man is charged with murder after a fatal stabbing of an acquaintance and his dog
Police initially had responded to a report of dog attack.
Officials announced late Saturday night that an Evesham Township man has been charged with murder in a case that police initially were called to investigate as a “possible dog attack.”
When police arrived at 9:13 a.m. Saturday at Olympus Apartments on Baker Boulevard, they found Thomas Pierson III, 26, of Evesham, dead of multiple stab wounds, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and township police said. The victim’s dog, a Cane Corso named Django, also had been stabbed to death.
Donovan G. Hollingsworth, 25, was charged with murder and was being held at the Burlington County Jail, officials said.
Residents in the sprawling development said they had heard rumors that a man was killed by his dog, but the victim’s apartment showed signs of struggle.
Hollingsworth and Pierson knew each other, investigators said, and “got into an altercation.” After the stabbings, they said, Hollingsworth went to the Emergency Department at the Virtua Voorhees Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Township police arrested him there shortly after noon.
An autopsy was expected to be performed on Monday.
The apartment complex was the scene of a nonfatal shooting almost a year ago. In February 2021, police charged four people with shooting at the exterior of an apartment in the complex, the Courier-Post reported.