UPDATED: 3:33 p.m.
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Curtis Jenkins III was first reported missing earlier this week. Camden County police say they found his body Tuesday just hours after announcing they had arrested a man in connection with his disappearance.
"I'm just ... it's really sinking in that I'm not gonna see him again," he said. "I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers that I’m getting, but right now I would like my family to have some privacy and let them grieve the loss of my grandson."
Jenkins' family said he was a cook, who delivered food occasionally. He was making a delivery Sunday night, but his father said he never came out of the house where he stopped.
His father said he got a call from the kidnapper and a picture in the middle of the night of his son tied up.
Police say the suspect in custody is Brandon Beverly, a 32-year-old from Westville.
Camden County’s Police Chief Scott Thomson said Beverly was behind a "calculated plot to entrap and abduct the victim."
Beverly is now facing murder charges on top of kidnapping charges after the medical examiner determined the cause of death was asphyxiation.
“It carries a mandatory life imprisonment because it was done in the course of a kidnapping," said Bill Townsend, chief of detectives with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
The medical examiner said there are no other signs of injury.
Beverly is due in court on Friday.
Police have not spoken publicly about any possible connection between Beverly and Jenkins.
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