History and mysteries · Wharton State Forest
Jessica Tush: the hikers’ report and the guilty plea (2008)
Documented history · Sources compared
A vehicle leaving a Wharton State Forest clearing prompted a call that led police to a young woman’s grave.
The discovery
On April 3, 2008, two hikers reported a suspicious vehicle leaving a Wharton State Forest location. They then noticed a makeshift memorial. Responding State Police found the body of Jessica Tush, nineteen, of Staten Island.
Contemporary reporting attributed that discovery sequence to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. It also recorded a significant limit: officials would not say whether she had been killed in New York or New Jersey. A recovery site alone did not answer that question.
The case’s disposition
Thomas Paolino pleaded guilty in July 2009 to aggravated manslaughter and hindering apprehension. He received a sentence of twenty-three and a half years that September.
The accepted plea and sentence establish a criminal outcome. They should not be replaced with the original murder accusation as though that were the conviction offense, or with unconfirmed accounts of the victim’s final struggle.
Sources and research limits
Jason Nark, July 31, 2009 plea report. Matthew Spolar, September 18, 2009 sentencing report. Both cite the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office; the judgment itself was not inspected.