Teen admits murdering father in Kinnelon

A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering his father in February in the kitchen of their Kinnelon home by shooting him twice but he did not give a reason for the crime.

With his mother, twin brother and other relatives watching in the courtroom, Travis J. Hofstetter pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown to murdering his father, James Ernest Hofstetter, and possession of a weapon — a British Enfield .303 rifle — for an unlawful purpose on Feb. 15 of this year.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano has recommended that Hofstetter be sentenced on Jan. 27 to 30 years in prison, with the full 30 years to be served before parole. Troiano elicited a statement in court from Hofstetter which acknowledged that despite any mental health issues or diagnosis he may have received prior to the date of the killing, he acted with the intention and purpose to kill his 57-year-old father.

"You were operating under a clear, lucid frame of mind?" Troiano asked. Hofstetter, who appeared in court with a shaved head and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, replied yes.

Defense lawyers Wayne Morse and Elizabeth Martin declined to comment after the plea on a motive for the murder.

Under questioning by Morse, Hofstetter — whose manner was polite, calm and subdued — told the judge that he and his father were alone in the family home on Wedgewood Drive in Kinnelon on the afternoon of Feb. 15. Hofstetter said he retrieved his father's rifle, loaded it, and shot his father first in the side and then in the head. His father, he said, had been working on a construction project in the basement of the home.

The judge pressed Hofstetter for a few details that led up to the shooting. Hofstetter said he first retrieved eight bullets from a downstairs room and then fetched the rifle from the attic and loaded it.

"Why did you load eight bullets into the rifle?" the judge asked. Hofstetter replied: "To shoot my father."

Hofstetter murdered his father when he was 18 and still attending high school, which included classes at both Kinnelon High School and the Morris County School of Technology.

The victim was the owner/operator of Hofstetter Construction in Kinnelon and worked part-time as a code enforcement officer for Pequannock Township. He had been on the Lincoln Park First Aid Squad and served in the Air National Guard, according to his obituary.

Police were alerted to the murder when they received an emergency call directing them to the home in Kinnelon. At virtually the same time, Travis Hofstetter made a 911 call to Hardyston police, telling the dispatcher a few times, "I did something bad." He then stated to the dispatcher "I murdered my father," authorities have said.

Hofstetter directed police to his whereabouts, his Chevrolet Equinox vehicle, and they found him as he stated — near the Skylands Ice World on Route 23 in the Stockholm section of Hardyston.

At his initial bail hearing in February after his arrest, Hofstetter told a judge that he was born in Florida, where he was adopted as a newborn. He told the judge that he was in touch at one time with his biological mother and some siblings.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.