New Jersey Man Charged With Murder After Woman Found Dead in Hotel Car

A call for help at a Davidson Avenue hotel ended with a murder charge against Keith Demery, 54, of Ellenwood, Georgia, after police found an unresponsive woman in the front passenger seat of his vehicle in the rear parking lot.

Somerset County authorities said Franklin Township police got the call at about 6 a.m. on May 2 from a person identifying himself as Demery, who asked for an officer to respond to the hotel for a report of injuries. When officers arrived, they were directed to the vehicle behind the property, where they found the woman inside. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Demery was charged on May 2 with first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Authorities said the woman has not been publicly identified because the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office still must make a positive identification and complete a postmortem examination to determine the cause and manner of death.

The case drew in Franklin Township police, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the Crime Scene Investigations Unit, and medical investigators from the medical examiner’s office, signaling a full homicide probe rather than a routine death investigation. Demery was taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries before being transported to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, where he was processed and later lodged in the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.

The announcement was made by Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald, Acting Chief of Detectives Meredith McKay, and Franklin Township Public Safety Director Lloyd Fredericks. Investigators have not yet publicly laid out what happened inside the vehicle or what led to the fatal encounter, leaving the vehicle itself, the hotel lot, and the woman’s identity at the center of the next phase of the case.

Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the Franklin Township Police Department at 732-873-5533, or submit an anonymous tip through the STOPit app.