A Pleasantville man will spend a quarter-century in a New Jersey state prison after being sentenced for killing a woman in Atlantic City in April of 2018, Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Cary Shill announced on Friday afternoon.

Mark Huff, 58, was sentenced to 25 years in New Jersey state prison, subject to the No Early Release Act, for Aggravated Manslaughter, a charge he pleaded guilty to back on January 6, 2022.

Atlantic City Police were first on the scene, on April 14, 2018, after receiving a 911 call about a body being found behind a business on South Tennessee Avenue, near the Hampton Inn, around 11:28 pm.

Once there, police found the body of 56-year old Vernell K. Vance, who had suffered significant blunt force trauma to the head.

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When the Southern Regional Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Vance, he determined that she was the victim of a homicide due to blunt force head trauma.

As the investigation continued, Huff was identified as the suspect and was arrested in Pleasantville on April 16, 2018, by detectives from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, Atlantic City Police Detectives, and Pleasantville Police.

Acting Prosecutor Shill said that New Jersey Transit Police were "instrumental in identifying Huff as the suspect in the homicide."

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