A man from Ocean County has been charged with murder after stabbing another man at a campground in Manchester Township, according to police.

The entrance to the Surf & Stream Campground off of Route 571 is back open following the fatal stabbing Sunday around 9 p.m.

 

Police say John Terrence Mullen, 50, of Seaside Heights, stabbed Thomas Applegate, 33, outside a trailer. He was later arrested and charged with murder, robbery and tampering with evidence.

Detective say the interaction began as a drug deal, but Mullen then planned to rob Applegate of Xanax pills.

Applegate died at the scene of a wound to the chest. It's the third homicide in Manchester Township in 2019.

The manager of the campground said off-camera that the suspect and victim both were not registered guests.

"We are a tight community," the manager said. "We all help each other in here and all look out for each other in here and something like this has never happened in here before."

Online court records show Mullen previously spent time in jail on forgery charges.

Mullen is being lodged at the Ocean County Jail and held without bail.