A New Jersey court has declared Woodbine man John Schlump legally dead, yet the New Jersey State Police still list him as a wanted fugitive, an unresolved contradiction sitting near the top of the agency's current most-wanted roster. The roster also includes Kurt Young, a retired Dennis Township corrections officer accused of paying to bring a trafficked minor to his home for sex, who has been on the run since skipping his own trial three years ago.
Schlump, whom New Jersey State Police describe as 75, is accused of booby-trapping his Woodbine log cabin with gasoline, firewood, fuses and flares on December 2, 2005, according to nj1015.com. Authorities allege that before setting the scene, he beat his wife, Patricia Barnes, and tied her up with duct tape and nylon cord. State police have not backed off that designation and continue to consider him wanted.
A Dennis Township Case Built on a Child's Identification
Elsewhere on the list is Kurt Young, described as a former New Jersey corrections officer from Dennis Township in Cape May County. Young failed to appear in court to face charges tied to paying for sex with a trafficked minor, and he has remained a fugitive since that no-show. According to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, investigators found that Young allegedly paid his co-defendants to bring the minor to his Cape May County house.
Young was scheduled for trial in September 2023 but never showed up during jury selection, prompting a bench warrant for his arrest, according to WFPG. A child identified Young from a photo lineup and was able to describe his home in detail, according to a criminal complaint cited by the same nj1015.com report. Court testimony from co-defendant Tiffany Davis, per authorities, stated that Young paid her and Derek Ross to bring the teenager to his Dennis Township house for sex.
Co-Defendants Already Convicted in the Case
Young's two co-defendants did not evade justice the way he has. Derek V. Ross of Atlantic City and Tiffany N. Davis of Egg Harbor Township were tried and convicted in 2023, the nj1015.com report notes. Ross admitted that he brought the 14-year-old victim to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City in November 2019, believing at the time that he was connecting with a patron who had responded to an online escort ad — an ad that had actually drawn the attention of an undercover investigator.
Both South Jersey fugitives sit among a broader group state police are trying to track down. The most-wanted roster features photos and descriptions of suspects from around New Jersey, and it includes several names tied to South Jersey specifically, per the WFPG report. Reports on the exact size of that list have varied: NJ.com put the 2025 tally at 13 names, while WFPG's 2026 coverage described 14 suspects on the current list.
What Remains Unresolved
The Schlump case leaves open questions that no source in the record answers. It is not established why a New Jersey court declared him deceased in the first place, nor whether state police have any information contradicting that ruling beyond continuing to list him as a fugitive. As WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM framed it, a judge said he's dead, but state police say he's still a fugitive — and that gap between a legal declaration and an active manhunt remains the defining mystery of his file.
