TOMS RIVER, N.J. — A Browns Mills man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the 2019 drug-related death of a 29-year-old man at a Toms River motel, authorities said.
William Anderson, 60, entered the plea on February 27, 2025, before Judge David M. Fritch in Ocean County Superior Court, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Prosecutors will seek a seven-year prison sentence when Anderson is sentenced on May 2, 2025.
The case stems from an incident on February 28, 2019, when Toms River police responded to the Pelican Inn for reports of an unresponsive male. Officers and EMS personnel attempted life-saving measures, and the victim was transported to Community Medical Center, where he died on March 2, 2019.
An investigation determined that Anderson had distributed heroin and cocaine to a third party, who then supplied it to the victim. Toxicology results confirmed the presence of fentanyl and cocaine in the victim’s system, and the Ocean County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that these substances caused his death.
Anderson was charged with strict liability for drug-induced death on August 20, 2021, and was arrested four days later by Burlington County and Pemberton Township authorities. He was later released under New Jersey’s bail reform guidelines.
