Salem Man Pleads Not Guilty On Murder Charges In 2 April Deaths

SALEM, MA — The Salem man charged in the killings of an Arizona man and Oregon man, whose bodies were found in April by a person walking a dog in a wooded area near Walmart, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in Salem Superior Court on Thursday.

Jay Blodget, 30, was arraigned in Superior Court on murder charges in the death of Andrew Ross Guempel of Arizona and Jonathan Thompson of Oregon, the Office of Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker announced.

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Salem Police said they responded to a call of a body found in the woods on April 23 and found the two victims with signs of blunt force trauma and stab wounds in the woods next to the Walmart store
at 450 Highland Avenue.

Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said the killings are believed to be "an isolated incident."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)