Suspect Arraigned in Fatal Shooting of Gloucester Township Housesitter

Timothy Donnelly, 46, of Elk Township, was formally charged Wednesday with murder, felony murder and robbery for the fatal shooting of Kathleen Korbel in Gloucester Township on September 20.

He was arraigned in Superior Court in Camden in front of Judge Lee Solomon and held on $1.5 million full cash bail.

Donnelly is accused of shooting Korbel, 54, of Washington Township. She was found shot at a home on the first block of Mayflower Drive in the early evening of Sept. 20. She was housesitting pets when she was shot once in the head in an apparent robbery, authorities said.

Donnelly's mother lives in the home. She was away on vacation at the time of the incident and was not involved in the crime in any way, according to authorities.

Donnelly was in a Veterans Administration Hospital in Pennsylvania when he was arrested receiving "psychiatric treatment, the county Prosecutor's Office said.

A statement from the prosecutor said:

Investigators at the scene found numerous signs of robbery, including open and ransacked jewelry boxes and a safe. Fifty pieces of jewelry were reported missing from the home, as well as collectible coins and paper currency.

Within days of the killing, investigators honed in on Donnelly as a suspect. They received information that a motorcycle matching the description of Donnelly’s Yamaha was seen outside the Mayflower Drive around the time of the killing.

They also received information that the day after the killing a witness saw Donnelly carrying a gun in his waistband and a prescription pill bottle that matched the description of a prescription for morphine that belonged to Korbel. Korbel’s name was on the bottle in Donnelly’s possession. Pieces of jewelry matching the description of one of the pieces stolen was recovered in a duffel bag belonging to Donnelly and a search of his uncovered one of the rare coins that were reported stolen. Information also came to detectives that indicated Donnelly had buried a box of ammunition shortly after the killing. That box of ammunition was recovered buried on a property adjacent to the defendant’s home in Elk Township.