New Brunswick Man Pleads Not Guilty in College Student’s Death

A central New Jersey man has pleaded not guilty to murder charges stemming from the fatal beating of a college student from Tennessee.

A public defender entered the plea for 38-year-old Timothy Puskas of New Brunswick during a court hearing Wednesday afternoon, one day after he was charged in the case. He's being held on $5 million bail.

Puskas is charged in the death of William McCaw, who was found dead in the backyard of a New Brunswick home on Feb. 15. But authorities have not said what spurred the killing.

Prosecutors say McCaw, a 22-year-old Gallatin resident, was a student at Kean College in north Jersey, about 25 miles away from where he was found. But he had previously attended Rutgers University and would often return to the New Brunswick area to visit friends.

McCaw had no connection to the people who lived at the home where he was found, and authorities have not said if that's where the attack occurred.

McCaw was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors have said he suffered blunt force trauma.

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