SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ – Peter Lestician, a former New Jersey Softball Coach of the Year is alleged to have killed his girlfriend and fled to Pennsylvania where his body was found on Friday. Police believe the coach killed his girlfriend Sheila Maguire whose body was found on August 29th in her home after family members were unable to contact her.
Police found McGuire dead at the couple’s home where they live together on Birch Hollow Drive in Florence Township.
On Friday at around 4 p.m. off-road riders on an ATV trail in Cooper Township notified police after finding his body in the front seat of a locked car. At this time no foul play is expected and police believe his manner of death is a suicide.
According to police, the coach’s driver’s license was located inside the vehicle.
Police said family members have not heard from Lestician since late August. At this time he is identified as a person of interest and Maguire’s death but it has not been confirmed that he was the killer.
The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office issued the following statement today:
Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw and Florence Township Police Chief Brian Boldizar announced that the last known person to have seen Sheila Maguire alive before she was killed inside her Florence home is believed to have been found dead yesterday in Pennsylvania, perhaps from an apparent suicide.
A body preliminarily identified as Peter Lestician, 53, who had been in a relationship with Maguire, was discovered in a vehicle by an abandoned barn near an ATV trail in Cooper Township in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers were called to the scene yesterday at approximately 4 p.m. by two men riding four-wheelers in the area. Upon arrival, they discovered the body of an adult male in the front seat of the vehicle, which was locked. The troopers reported no signs of foul play.
Lestician’s New Jersey driver’s license was located in the vehicle. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death, and also to confirm the identity.
Maguire, 54, was found dead late Monday afternoon after family members requested a wellness check at her residence because they had been unable to reach her for a few days. Maguire and Lestician lived together at the home in the 200 block of Birch Hollow Drive.
An autopsy performed by Burlington County Medical Examiner Dr. Ian Hood determined that she died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Lestician, a teacher at South Brunswick High School, had not made contact with family members since August 26. While he was a person of interest in Maguire’s homicide, there was no evidence linking Lestician directly to the crime and charges had not been filed against him.
The investigation into Maguire’s homicide will continue. BCPO Crime Scene Unit detectives are coordinating with the local district attorney’s office in Pennsylvania to gain permission to forensically examine the vehicle.