Crime & Safety

Mahwah Man Actual Target of 2010 Kidnapping, Court Papers Reveal

Two men from Missouri accidentally kidnapped a man from Sussex County with the same name, report says.

A kidnapping and murder plot that allegedly saw five Missouri men mistakenly kidnap a man from Sussex County in 2010 was meant for a man who lived in Mahwah at the time, NorthJersey.com reported.

According to court papers recently released, two men from Missouri traveled to a Mahwah home looking for a financier they thought owed money to a developer in Missouri, the report said.

When they got to the Mahwah house, it was vacant and looked abandoned, so they returned to Missouri in search of a new plan, the report said. They used various methods, possibly including a Google search to find the target, a man named Jeffrey Muller, the report said.

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When they returned to New Jersey in January of 2010, they found a Jeffrey Muller of Sussex County, who owns a pet shop in Newton.

They used a taser gun to shock him, stuffed him in their car, and drove for about 24 hours back to Missouri, the report said.

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The problem – the alleged kidnappers had nabbed the wrong guy. They were looking for money broker Jeffrey W Muller, and kidnapped Jeffrey M. Muller.

The kidnapping began with a group from Nevada, Mo., who thought they were starting a new chapter of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang but claim they were actually scammed out of over $500,000, the report said.

According to NorthJersey.com, Jeffrey M. Muller escaped from the car after it broke down in Lake Ozark, Mo. The two men were arrested after he escaped, as were three others alleged to be connected to a plot to kidnap and murder him, the report said.

Court papers filed in Sussex County last week revealed the identity of the actual target, the report said.

Jeffrey W. Muller, 52, who declined to tell the paper where he now lives, said he doesn’t know anything about the case, and is confused as to why he was the intended target, the report said.

Jeffrey M. Muller, 64, still works at his pet store in Newton, but told NorthJersey.com that he thinks about the abduction everyday.  


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