DNA Links Missing Mom's Husband to Decades-Old Killing

Gayle McCaffrey disappeared from her West Ashley, South Carolina home on March 17, 2012, leaving behind two children – ages four and ten. She was never found, and her husband, Robert McCaffrey, was long the prime suspect in her disappearance but was never charged.

On April 10, he was arrested in Manteo, North Carolina – not for Gayle’s disappearance, but for the 1990 murder of a New Jersey woman named Lisa Marie McBride. He was 54 years old at the time of the arrest.

A 1990 Murder That Went Unsolved for Decades

Lisa Marie McBride was 28 years old when she went missing in Vernon Township, New Jersey on the night of June 23, 1990, after attending a party and failing to return home. Her body was found months later in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area by a hunter, with the cause of death ruled homicide, and no arrest was made for more than 30 years.

Sussex County Prosecutor Daniel M. Perez announced the arrest last week, saying that a multistate task force had gathered sufficient evidence to charge McCaffrey using DNA technology, according to WCIV CBS News. McCaffrey faces charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, and second-degree burglary in McBride’s death and is pending extradition to New Jersey.

A History That Follows Him

After Gayle McCaffrey disappeared in 2012, investigators determined that a farewell letter attributed to her had been fabricated by her husband. He was charged with obstruction of justice, convicted, and sentenced to ten years in prison, and was released on supervised re-entry in 2023 – the same year he had previously been the subject of a murder arrest warrant in Gayle’s case. A Charleston County grand jury had declined to indict him at that time, citing insufficient evidence.

He had relocated to the Charlotte, North Carolina area after Gayle’s disappearance and was reported to have a new relationship within months, according to family members and prior reporting cited by WCIV.

What Gayle’s Family Is Saying

The news of McCaffrey’s arrest in the McBride case reached Gayle’s family “out of the blue,” according to her sister, Helen, who spoke with WCIV CBS News. “As a family, we were shocked to learn that he might have killed someone before in his lifetime,” Helen said. “And we are glad that her family will get some justice.” She added that the family hopes the new arrest could lead to developments in solving Gayle’s disappearance – a question her two children, now adults, have grown up without an answer to.

Two Families. Two Victims. One Man.

Lisa Marie McBride was a young woman who went to a party one night and did not come home, and her family waited more than three decades for an arrest. Gayle McCaffrey left her children asleep in 2012 and was never seen again, and her family is still waiting.

Authorities have not released information regarding whether the new arrest in the McBride case will reopen or affect the ongoing investigation into Gayle McCaffrey’s disappearance. Robert McCaffrey has not been convicted and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

References: Missing Charleston woman’s husband arrested in connection to separate homicide cold case | Husband of Missing Woman Arrested in Connection to Separate 36-Year-Old Homicide Cold Case