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Missing Upper Bucks Man Was Kidnapped and Murdered by Co-Worker: DA

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A Sellersville man who disappeared after leaving work in Silverdale borough nearly a year-and-a-half ago was murdered by a co-worker, police in Bucks County said Friday.

Matthew James Branning’s body has not been found, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said, but on Thursday an investigating grand jury handed down a presentment recommending that 49-year-old Michael Allen Stark of Royersford be charged with his murder. Public records for Stark list former addresses in both Bethlehem and Fountain Hill.

According to the version of events outlined by the DA’s office in a Crimewatch post, authorities believe that on Oct. 15, 2021, Stark took an Uber ride to Enchlor Inc., where he is alleged to have laid in wait before abducting Branning at the end of his work shift.

Police believe Stark then forced Branning to drive to a nearby ATM, where he was seen withdrawing money on a surveillance video recording, according to the presentment.

The indictment alleges that from there Stark and Branning drove east, with toll and cell phone data putting Branning’s 2002 Lexus SUV in central New Jersey at around 5 p.m.

At 7:05 p.m., the DA’s office said, Branning’s bank account was accessed at a gas station in Somers Point, near Ocean City, N.J.

Following that transaction there is a nearly two-hour gap in the tracking data until both men’s cell phones were geolocated to a Cape May Wawa, the DA’s office said.

Exactly when Stark is believed by police to have murdered Branning isn’t clear from the information released Friday, but the office said Stark was seen making a purchase at the Cape May Wawa shortly before 9:30 p.m. and that “Branning is not seen in the surveillance footage.”

Authorities said that toll data next tracked the Lexus heading northbound and then westbound on the Atlantic City Expressway, before cell phone data placed Stark at Needle Park in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood.

The SUV was recovered by police in Falls Church, Va., in December 2021 with crack vials inside it that were traced back to the Needle Park drug market, along with forensic evidence that was linked to Stark, the DA’s office said.

Branning “did not use drugs,” the news release noted, and “was an outdoorsman who loved to hike and valued a healthy lifestyle.”

He was also known as a responsible employee who never missed work without notifying someone, it said, and he regularly maintained contact with family members.

“Branning’s family said he would not travel unexpectedly to New Jersey,” the DA’s office said, adding that there has been no activity on his cell phone or bank account since he vanished. Additionally, “he was traditional in that he carried large sums of cash and primarily paid for things with cash or personal checks,” it said.

Stark was arrested in Wayne County, Mich., in April 2022 and was extradited back to Pennsylvania last July.

Following his arraignment by Magisterial District Judge Terrence Hughes on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, kidnapping, criminal use of a communication facility, flight to avoid apprehension, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse on Thursday, Stark was committed to the Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.

He is also charged with two counts of robbery and three counts of theft by unlawful taking, according to the DA’s office and court records.

Note: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This story was compiled using information from the Bucks County District Attorney’s office.

Authorities in Bucks County have charged 49-year-old Michael Allen Stark of Royersford (above, right) with the abduction and murder of Matthew James Branning (above, left) of Sellersville. Although Branning’s body has not been found, an investigating grand jury handed down a recommendation Thursday that charges be filed against Stark, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said. The two men were co-workers at Enchlor Inc. in Silverdale borough when both disappeared in October 2021. (FILE PHOTO)

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