Steven Goff was visibly upset when he appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. Still, the 41-year-old Ventnor man was anxious to admit to a murder that happened more than two decades ago.
"I did the crime," he said. "I'm prepared to do whatever I have to do."
Goff turned himself in to Galloway Township Police yesterday morning for the 1990 murder of 15-year-old Frederick Hart, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Officer.
Prosecutors say Goff, then 18, stabbed Hart multiple times behind the Clubs Condominiums in Galloway Township on May 7, 1990.
The next day Hart was reported missing and about a year and a half later a hunter found his remains in the woods ending the missing person search, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors and police have not yet revealed what led to the murder. They did say however that Goff walked into the Galloway Police station Monday morning to confess his crime.
During his court appearance on Tuesday, the judge explained to Goff that he had not yet been indicted and that he has the right to waive a grand jury investigation but must hire an attorney or public defender first. Goff stated he was prepared to enter a guilty plea right away however and that he couldn't afford an attorney. He is currently being held on $1 million cash bail.
One of Goff's neighbors in Ventnor, who did not want to be identified, says she isn't shocked by the confession.
"Anybody who has known him slightly, I don't think they'll be surprised," she said. "Not that he demonstrated a bad temper to everyone. But it's something about him."
Photo Credit: NBC10.com
