Mark Lyczak, 45, pleaded guilty to killing Colleen Brownell and Alysia McCloskey in December 2017, as well as to stabbing his then-girlfriend in the incident.
By Matt Skoufalos | December 10, 2018
Camden County Prosecutor’s Office logo. Credit: CCPO.
Almost a year after breaking into the Collingswood home of his estranged ex-girlfriend, and stabbing her and her sister to death, a Burlington County man has pleaded guilty to the crime.
Mark Lyczak, 45, accepted a plea deal in the killings of Colleen Brownell and Alysia McCloskey that will see him sentenced to two, 47-year prison terms.
Lyczak also faces another 10 years for the stabbing of his then-girlfriend, a third, unidentified victim, in the incident.
Those sentences are expected to be served concurrently, and Lyczak will be jailed for at least 40 years before he is parole-eligible.
He will be sentenced at 11 a.m. on January 11, 2019, by Judge Thomas J. Shusted, before whom Lyczak pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree aggravated assault on Monday.
Police were called to McCloskey’s East Narberth Terrace home around 5 p.m. on December 30, 2017 for a report of a man armed with a knife. Upon arrival, they found McCloskey and Brownell dead at the scene, both having suffered multiple stab wounds.
According to a statement from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office (CCPO), Lyczak was found on top of the third victim, his then-girlfriend, whom he had also stabbed multiple times.
She survived the assault after being rushed to the hospital; authorities have not released her identity. Lyczak was taken into custody at the scene, and has been jailed since.
Last year, Brownell’s friends told NJ Pen she feared Lyczak, and had moved in with her sister in Collingswood to get away from him. She reportedly had been quietly planning to move out of state, worried that Lyczak would someday confront her, or come to take away her dogs.
McCloskey is survived by her two children. The women’s families were present in the courtroom for Lyczak’s plea, the CCPO noted.
